WE have worn our flat caps, shook our rattles and devoured the prawn sandwiches.

Are we now becoming the booing generation? Even Arsene Wenger, who by a long distance is the most successful manager at Arsenal, got booed at the weekend.

Fans showed their displeasure after the Frenchman decided to take off the impressive Oxlade-Chamberlain for the ever vanishing Arshavin.

All those years of experience, quality football and trophies meant nothing.

Patience in the stands is wearing thin with supporters quick to use phone-ins to lambast managers from pillar to post.

Our own David Moyes can find no hiding place from the barrage of calls questioning his formations, to substitutions and team selection. Why does he play Saha? How does Neville get a game? Cahill is finished. Every week the clamour grows and grows. Why doesn't he play Barkley?

All I can say is he watches the players eachday in training and works with them day in and day out. The cards have been stacked against him greatly this season and he can only pick from the players he has available.

Ah but many would say, look at Swansea, they produce attractive, crisp and imaginative football. A glance though at the league table and it tells you we are level on points with them.

Okay, some of his changes do come too late and on many occasions we only replace like for like. Surely though, the unrest has been coming now for the past two years. Losing the likes of Pienaar and Arteta, we lack quality.

Maybe most of us should now respect that.

There are no gimmes in the Premier League anymore, just ask Kenny Dalglish after last Saturday night.

Most of our games this season have been tight affairs and results back that up. Narrow wins against Swansea, Blackburn and Fulham – while we have also been unlucky to lose against the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham.

Three points can quickly slip through your hands into one as the Blackburn game showed.

Moyes only re-iterated this point last week when he said the Premier League is getting tighter and tighter every year. Fans won’t like it but we are now on a par with Sunderland, Fulham,Villa and co. You have to go back to April and a lunchtime kick-off at Wolves being the last time we can say we coasted to victory. With goals in short supply the last time we scored twice in the league was back in November.

It maybe a while before we can get the cigars out again.

A couple of bright spots from Saturday saw Tim Cahill get on the scoresheet again and we all know that phrase – you wait for one bus and a convoy will arrive. Safe to say another Cahill goal against Fulham or City will not come as a surprise.

The other highlight was the performance of Shane Duffy who has shone brightly in the last two games.

Looking ahead to tomorrow night we welcome Fulham to Goodison, yes if it had been a league game then we would be dead certs but this is the cup.

Friday night football has been good to the blues in the past – but fearing a Clint Dempsey last minute winner we all know whats coming next don’t we?

BOOOOOOOO