Having had a chest infection, I thought the worst yellow and green stuff I'd see this week would have been something I'd coughed up, but the first half against Everton was just as bad and left a similarly unpleasant taste.

We were simply horrible in that first period and but for a couple of timely interventions, some festive profligacy from Lukaku and Baines finding the post instead of the net, they could have been out of sight.

Second half, a slight reshuffle and the seasonal conditions making it seem like it was now Everton that were unable to clear their lines and it was a different story entirely.

I'm sure that Alex Neil had a 'bit of a say' at half-time and that will have had an impact but it's equally likely that Martinez didn't perform some sort of anti-alchemy to turn their golden Brazilian first half performance into that of a base metal pub team.

I think it's fair to assume that City stepped up their intensity, Everton perhaps lost some concentration but that the driving wind had a sizeable impact on proceedings too.

We scored early, Wes with a Goal of the Season contender, after substitute Bennett climbed highest in the box.

There were other chances too, the best of which fell to Cameron Jerome who somehow contrived to go for the conversion rather than just knock it in from six yards out.

So, a point. A point that I reckon we'd all have been happy with before the game and ecstatic with at half-time during the game but somehow that miss left us disappointed that we didn't snatch the win.

Understandable? Perhaps. Jerome should have scored. By the same token, Lukaku should have secured the match ball before half-time and the prospect of a point been as likely as pulling Beyonce in Chicago's. It was a good point.

However, the remainder of the weekend has suddenly made good 'points' look inadequate.

Bournemouth have now secured back-to-back wins against Chelsea and Man United, Newcastle bagged a late winner at the Lane against Tottenham and, oh look, we're in the bottom three.

Slipping below that hashed line that rears its ugly head about every thirty seconds on Sky Sports News brings an altogether more intense style of panic.

If we want to be positive about it, the fact that we've fallen below the line before Christmas must mean that there's a ready acceptance that we're in a battle and will need to buck our ideas up to survive.

It also means that we have a transfer window coming up in which we can look to make improvements to personnel; had we slipped to this position in a few weeks time, that wouldn't be open to us and perhaps the realisation wouldn't be quite so apparent to everyone at the club.

Inevitably, recriminations are rife.

The most popular being that the manager wasn't backed by the board in the summer window and that he's having to try and manage us to safety with a previously relegated squad while blindfolded and with one hand tied behind his back.

All a far cry from the last time we were relegated when the same folk were telling us that the squad was easily capable of mid-table in the top-flight and only the gross mismanagement of Chris Hughton had led to our demise.

That's not meant as a dig - we did get relegated after all - more that there's always something that we can latch on to as an avoidable reason for our predicament.

Our squad's perceived lack of depth and our inability to sufficiently strengthen in the summer seems to be many people's idea of the reason behind our current struggles.

There's obviously some truth in that; the bids that we submitted for players that failed to materialise are testament to it.

But by the same token, if it's accepted that we lack depth, can we please stop clamouring for players that aren't being picked to come into the team?

Yes, I'm talking about Kyle Lafferty.

Love for Lafferty

I love the bloke, I even wrote about him early last season and stated that his endeavour, work rate and commitment could make him a cult-hero at Carrow Road.

And so he has set the crowd on fire but without fanning the flames from the pitch.

He hasn't scored many goals, in fact, he was sent to Turkey on loan last season when we were in the league below and nobody batted an eyelid. It was readily accepted that he was behind Jerome, Grabban and Hooper. We've now brought in Dieumerci Mbokani, retained the services of those ahead of him last season but are now expected to believe that he is the 'answer'. Pull the other one, it plays Jingle Bells.

Like Becchio before him, the hard and fast of it is that he isn't as good as those in front of him and that is why he isn't playing, not some conspiracy theory.

At a recent Norwich City Fans Social Club event, Alex Neil spoke very openly and frankly about his pursuit of players in the summer.

With no reason to disbelieve him, it appears that we need to do more to sell the area to people because financial constraints were not the deciding factor.

He also stated that plenty of groundwork had been put in for the forthcoming window. Let's hope that this work bears some fruit because as another manger once said: '..the lads need a hand'.

• Blog post written by Duncan Edwards