I actually thought Lukaku improved this when he returned from injury but his bad first and second touch has returned and he doesn't put himself about much neither which is frustrating!!!

I was talking to some evertonians on Saturday and one of them said "we we easily beat palace" and I said this is Everton matey its never that simple if it was we would comfortably be in the top four!!!

I would like to see Jags at centre half and john stones play alongside McCarthy for the Utd game but back to the point we always bottle these big games and I'm gutted no radio, no newspapers, no sport for a few days until i've calmed down!!!!

Every time we have have chance of doing something good we just mess it up why!!! I could go on forever!!!!

I don't really feel disappointed; just kind of deflated and numb. I think I see 4th disappearing over the horizon.

Roberto's putting on a positive spin on the situation, as usual. There are probably going to be a few more plot twists for every club before this seasons ends. Hopefully this result is not the momentum killer.

Let's destroy the Mancs on Sunday!!!

I don't blame Martinez or the front line, I blame the defensive staff as whole. I will analyse their goals to see if Harold's suggestion that Stones was badly positioned for all 3 has legs.

We missed McCarthy for sure. Hope he is 100% for Sunday.

As Harold rightly pointed out, I think they wouldn't have scored 3 had Jags played, as Stones, while great on the ball, has still to learn a few things defensively.

They were strolling through our midfield and let's be fair, they deserved the 3 points.

Too light in midfield, big error by Martinez.

We botched the first three games because there was the early season expectancy. Then, as soon as the pressure was relieved, we started winning up until the turn of the year when suddenly we were in a good position and had the chance to hurt our rivals. Of course, we didn't; we lost just enough that everyone wrote us off.

We revel in that position of unseen underdogs so stormed back to win seven in a row. As soon as the spotlight was shone back on us, though, we crumbled. If you present this Everton an opportunity, they'll present it back straight away.

Quite simply, they only win when it doesn't seem to count. Any meaningful game of note over the last decade or so we've messed up. I have no doubt we'll probably beat Man Utd or City now and finish one behind because that is where Everton are comfortable. There is only one specialist in failure and it's not Wenger — it's Everton. I pity Martinez having to work with these weak-willed players. So much quality there but so little mentality or respect for the fans.

Like this season, for instance, Arsenal home and away, Man-Utd away, Liverpool home, Chelsea. And yes, I know, just to level the see-saw folks will leap on Liverpool A, Arsenal in the cup blah, blah, blah, blah .....

Provide for me concrete evidence of a bunch of teams who do not lose big games against big teams or in finals in much the same way as we appear to have done or it is claimed that we do. The insinuation here implicit but actually explicit is that somehow Everton are exceptional in this bottle issue when in fact that is 100 per cent Tom O'Connor dogsbollocks!

Yep, I was at the '77 final(s) and was well pissed off and the '80s lost finals and was well pissed off bordering on clinically depressed, but "bottling it" was not the reason that we lost a single one of those finals. Hmmm '95 doesn't fit the bill really does it?

Chelsea final, Liverpool semi, yep truly awful experiences with memories of dumb mistakes and being clinically tactically out-thought. Hang on, the Man Utd semi doesn't fit the bill either, does it?

We lose big games, so do others. We lose finals, so do others. We perform in such inexplicably hopeless ways at times that the only available explanation seems to be that we bottle it, so do others.

I have had too many disappointments to count over the last 35 years and many, many glorious experiences. This Everton bottle it/don't turn up for big games thingy is a lazy, convenient red herring. We are neither exceptional in our record or in fact consistent in it.

Ho hum off to the airport soon for another 'big game' Sunday and let's hope we don't "bottle it", eh! Don't wanna be down in the dumps flying back over the Atlantic Monday hitting the bottle musing on the lack of bottle I saw the previous day!

COYB

I think this 'bottling' situation is a relatively recent phenomenon and it includes the 2009 Semi-Final with United and last season's capitulation against Wigan. The problem is exactly what Roberto described last night - we failed to be ourselves. The reason is perhaps understandable as the players are so very desperate to give the supporters what they want that they get caught up in the excitement and expectation and then fail to produce when it matters.

That is a good sign but it has to be better managed and I'm sure we have the man to alter that mind-set but it will take him time and let's be honest Roberto picked the wrong starting eleven last night which didn't help the nerves of the players or the fans. But if we can get the players to believe that they are as good as the best and better than the rest we will see that psychological barrier broken and have something to celebrate in the near future.

However, he is a defender first and foremost and I feel he was at fault for their 2nd and 3rd goals, his defending being more Jack Bauer than Beckenbauer!

But he is a young lad who will learn from his mistakes in good time. It ain't over yet for that 4th spot.

We destroyed Arsenal a couple of weeks ago. There was huge expectation on us to put a decent performance in. Would we have managed it last season? Or the season before? No, we wouldn't. I think we will see more performances like it next season.

Man Utd or Chelsea have won the majority of these games in recent years because they have the experience of being there every year. They have developed the mindset to deal with the expectation as a result. We have developed that mindset this year. It was the one thing missing from our locker in recent years.

McGeady, Mirallas and Deulofeu are too similar to play together unless it all clicks straight away. They haven't got the balls to dig themselves out when the foot starts going in, so we could carry one or two for 10 or 15 minutes but not three.

Our midfielders were isolated whereas Palace seemed to have two lines of four with clear sightlines to each other disturbingly often.

Chelsea v Sunderland yesterday, for example... and Palace won another away game against West Ham against Newcastle lost at home to Swansea.

The games don't come much bigger than today and hopefully we can put a little twist on the subject after doing the double over Man Utd... We're Everton it's what we do! COYToffeeeeeeees!!!!

1988 - FA Cup Final. Wimbledon. That's right. First penalty missed in a final as well, ger in there Aldo lad. Oh...

1989 - The League. Emotion still high after the tragedy of Hillsborough, but in the final game of the season, live on ITV on a Friday night (before all final games had to kick off concurrently). Grudgingly watching with the arl fella saying "they deserve it after that tragedy" etc, but as Mickey Thomas slotted as "It's up for grabs now!" we cracked open the beers and just quietly watched. The twats got their revenge on me and my old man at Wembley, and I was there for that.

1990 - FA Cup semi final. Beaten 4-3 by Crystal Palace. The LFC comedy back four was in full swing by then (soon to appear in 4-4 at "Goodison, End of Kenny"). Yes they won the league, but after that semi defeat, I actually liked Alan Hansen for a bit when he said their new song should be "We're forever blowing doubles".

Were they bottlers? No. Anyone could beat anyone back then, just as they do today. The key thing though is you have to at least be taking part in big games to lose them. Too often in the past we've had nothing to play for at this stage (or even still scraping points to be "mathematically certain").