HAD Everton supporters been told back in May their team would stand only three points adrift of Arsenal going into 2009, the delight would have been unanimous.

Yet it’s a sign of how perceptions have shifted at Goodison during the past 12 months that there remains a lingering sense matters could and should be even better.

When David Moyes arrived almost seven years ago, he swiftly placed the raising of expectations at the very top of his agenda.

It’s been a long, and at times painful, process but last season’s fifth-placed finish, which secured a second successive European qualification, and the lengthy runs in both the Carling and UEFA Cups suggested the foundations were now firmly in place.

However, a summer largely spent being led down blind alleys while their nearest rivals strengthened in the transfer market meant all that momentum was lost going into the opening game at home to Blackburn Rovers.

The 3-2 defeat that afternoon was almost inevitable. As for Everton’s subsequent fortunes, supporters are split into two camps: those who see the glass as half-full, and those who believes it is half-empty.

The former would point to a team that has dragged itself back from a dismal start, performed heroically in the face of a debilitating injury crisis and moved within touching distance of the top four.

The latter, though, would state that, despite breaking their transfer record for a fourth successive year with the signing of Marouane Fellaini, Everton cheaply surrendered interest in the Carling and UEFA Cups and have a weaker squad than last season.

That both parties have valid arguments underlines the contrary nature of what has so far been a schizophrenic campaign.

Struggling to win at home, but magnificent away. Shorn of their senior strikeforce, yet in their absence able to construct a best sequence of results this season. Unable to keep a clean sheet, then recording five shut-outs in their last six games.

Moyes, not wholly convincingly, sought to take the blame for Everton’s failure to move early in the market during the summer, but the question remains of when the board released sufficient funds to compete for the top-level signings needed to improve the squad.

It led to the now-traditional mad scramble as the deadline neared brought in the usual bargains and loan deals, with Louis Saha, Lars Jacobsen, Carlo Nash and Segundo Castillo all coming in.

The surprise came mere minutes before the window slammed shut when Fellaini, having impressed for a Standard Liege side who frightened Liverpool in a Champions League qualifier, was snapped up for £15million to augment a midfield still struggling to come to terms with the loss of Lee Carsley.