Good season ? yes; great season ? could have been

We had an indifferent start with some good wins (Spurs) and awful performances ? Kharkiv (home); Reading; Villa; with a close loss to Man Utd setting the tune against Sky4 for the rest of the season. However, a great away victory at Metalist put us trough to the group stages of Uefa Cup and set up the derby. Say whatever you want but in my eyes it was Clattenburg 2 Everton 1 ? biased, incompetent and corrupt, take your pick.

The Toffees used the injustice as a stimulant and went to one of the best unbeaten runs this decade, playing some great stuff and scoring great goals along the way, winning every single Uefa Cup group game, reaching the semi-finals of Carling Cup and climbing the table. We lost our unbeaten run to United and Arsenal, although we were on par with Man Utd and even outplayed Arsenal, individual errors cost us dearly.

We managed to bow out of FA Cup at home to Oldham resting some key players for the Carling Cup semi-final against Chelsea. That was the first time this season that I thought we blew it. Yes, we were without Arteta but with Mikel sent off and Yakubu scoring the game was balanced firmly in our favour, instead of pushing for the killer and taking advantage to GP, we let Chelsea of the hook, being happy with a draw and ended with nothing. DM should learn to kill teams when he smells blood. We were taught defensive lesson in the return leg and out of the Cup but in my eyes we lost it at the Bridge.

After that we went on another great unbeaten run in the EPL and Uefa Cup, winning almost every game and the team was playing with maturity and class, yet at the time we were getting less and less refereeing decisions in our favour with number of blatant penalty appeals turned down and disallowed goals. We marched towards 4-th spot in EPL and a showdown with Italy CL contenders Fiorentina.

Injuries were taking their toll and Everton went to Florence with injury problems but a confident if uninspiring outfit; however, late goals contributed to a 2-0 loss and mountain to climb. The second leg at GP was the best Everton team performance I have seen, we played Fiorentina out of the park, we wiped the floor with them and still it wasn?t enough, with penalties proving again our Achilles heel. This game proved to be our downfall for the rest of the season.

The physical and psychological consequences of the long campaign and Fiorentina game were evident in the run-in. Everton were hit by injury and confidence crisis, losing precious points in the race for 4-th spot and eventually putting even a European place in jeopardy. Nevertheless we managed to cross the finish line and secure a third European campaign in 4 years ? for the first time in our EPL history.

The slump after Fiorentina was down to the lack of depth in our squad and the injuries of our key players. Arsenal's challenge faded after their FA cup loss for the same reasons, when Chelsea were missing Cech, Terry, Drogba they were struggling as well, not to mention MU ? which are an average team without Rooney, according to some fans, yet when we are playing Neveille and Crasley as CM and missing Arteta, Cahill, Osman and half fit Pienaar, who has to be withdrawn around hour mark, to cope with its an excuse ? go figure it out.

So well done blues or? I don?t know why but I have the feeling that this season can be classified as what could have been as well. We lost to Chelsea because of our inability to kill games and it?s the only time I can fault David Moyes of not going for a win when the chance was there. The Fiorentina tie was decided by penalties and we could and should have won with more than 2-0 in the second leg based on the performance but again we missed something ? maybe it's luck, maybe it's maturity... who knows.

What?s next? Well it's evident that we need more depth in the squad and it's imperative we get a bit of bite and flair in the centre of the park. Sad to say but AJ and Victor are also not up for it, so maybe a new forward. Nevertheless, the most important signing has to be tying Moyes to a new long term contract and giving him funds to compete in the market.

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