Improvements on last season's results must be seen as a sign of progress

As the disappointment of yet again blowing a lead at home to Fulham sets in you can't help but notice a general despondent feeling creeping back amongst supporters. Some decided to boo the team off the field at the final whistle despite them having lost only one of their opening dozen fixtures, the more reactionary of our online following quick to vent their rage at the 'naive' manager, whilst some have seen enough of England regular Joleon Lescott to have written him off as a donkey all of eight weeks into his five-year contract.

What can't be denied is that we're still conceding sloppy goals, and that failing to go on to collect three points whilst two up at home isn't really what might be expected of a team hopefully challenging for a top four place. We've all a right to feel a bit aggrieved on both points, a defence that looked watertight initially now appears to be very leaky, and even teams with a basic understanding of the game will recognise that we're capable of looking like a bunch of retards if called upon to deal with balls in the air.

Whether Hughes did get his team selection wrong on Sunday is hard to say, but even if that was the case i certainly don't think trotting out the old questions about his tactical acumen is really warranted. Do we really need to play Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry when at home? Possibly not, but many of those now asking that question are the same who'd point to de Jong's good form of late and who would almost certainly have something to say were the Dutchman dropped.

The recent run of games was always going to be tough, and five points from nine would have been a respectable return, if not spectacular by our earlier form. A point apiece at both Villa and Wigan was probably fair in the end, but although we at times demonstrated a soft centre in both fixtures we certainly ended the game at Villa Park the more offensive, and were looking like doing likewise at the DW Stadium until Pablo Zabaleta got himself sent off.

Given the circumstances, i was reasonably happy with two points from those tricky games, and i'm not sure the 'good sides should always win at places like Wigan' spiel really sticks. Whether we agree or not with what's just been said i'm sure each of us would concur that yesterday was two points dropped rather than one won, despite Fulham looking capable of snatching a winner. We need to bear in mind, though, that we have been spoilt over the last few months as far as home form goes. Sixteen wins from our last seventeen home games since going out of the cup with a whimper in early January, a slip-up was always going to come.

What i find encouraging is that we're getting results from games we haven't in previous seasons. Though the money spent should mean we pick up considerably more points than last year, it's by no means a given. As the season wears on comparing our results like-for-like can only be a good measure of progress. Of the eight league sides we played last year we've bettered our result against five of them (Blackburn. Portsmouth, Villa, Wigan & Fulham), matched our return against a further two (Arsenal and West Ham), and although we again lost at Old Trafford we certainly pushed them harder than during May's drab 0-2 defeat.

As lots of people have pointed out, we shouldn't be dropping points at home, but as well as us generally not doing, as mentioned above, all sides do occasionally, even those who are better than us. United have already slipped up to Sunderland this season, and Liverpool were well beaten on their own patch by Villa. Last year the Big Four dropped 58 points at home, to the likes of Hull, West Ham, Newcastle, and more than one of them to Roy Hodgson's side. All sides occasionally drop points at home in the same way that even the very best of them sometimes concede sloppy goals.

It's fair for any supporter to point to problems with the side; Joleon Lescott shouldn't be getting beat in the air like he did yesterday, perhaps we're not getting the best from Stevie Ireland, we'll all have our opinions. An eight-point swing compared to last season, however, does show considerable improvement. We'll get some weeks where we'll be a bit flat, or make errors, but the points on the board are what matter. In all likelihood we'll have to earn an extra 20 or 25 points this year to achieve a Champions League place, despite the obvious chinks in the armour we do seem to be finding them.