I can’t believe some of the stories going around in the press at the moment following our defeat against Everton.

It always happens, of course. 95% of teams suffer a defeat and it is just one of those things that happen when engaged in competition. Everyone reports on it and moves on.

When Manchester United lose a game, it is given the kind of post-mortem that might be expected to be performed if someone found a dead alien in their front garden.

We lost a game. An important game, admittedely but hardly one where we were “expected” to win. This was Everton. A decent side with some great young talent. And it was at their own ground.

The excuse being put forward by Fergie is fatigue. It does sound a bit lame when you consider that he made around five changes to the team that played in midweek against AC Milan.

However, it is worth just taking a look at the fixtures we have had in the last month…

19th January – Manchester City (away) Carling Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg

23rd January – Hull (home)

27th January – Manchester City (home) Carling Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg

31st January – Arsenal (away)

6th February – Portsmouth (home)

10th February – Aston Villa (away)

16th February – AC Milan (away) Champions League

20th February – Everton (away)

Ok, we can probably remove Hull and Portsmouth from that little list because both ended up complete routs so that leaves six massive games against top quality opposition, five of them away from home. We lost two of them and drew one of them (with ten men) but away wins against Arsenal and AC Milan suggest that there’s still plenty about this Manchester United team and the panic switch can be left alone for a little while longer yet.

Personally, I think that Evra was nearer to the mark with his assessment of the defeat. There seemed to be a lack of focus from the players. It was almost as if after so many massive and important games against top opposition that we lost sight of the fact that nothing has been won yet and this was yet another massive and important game against top opposition and was another step of the journey that the team are on this season.

In any journey, no one step is more or less important than another and each one must be taken in order. Steps cannot be “skipped”. You have to keep focus on each step. Right, left, right, left. To attempt to go right, left, left is likely to result in a slip and a fall.

I think this is exactly what happened on Saturday and the lesson has been learned.

It won’t happen again between now and the end of the season.