Everton manager Roberto Martinez says players as unhappy as the fans

Everton didn't play badly on the day, but certainly didn't play well either and would have been lucky to have left Old Trafford with a draw. However, Lady Luck is anywhere but on the Blues' side lately and were almost unfortunate to lose to a ponderous Manchester United side that huffed and puffed and then scored off a defensive miscue that has been a motif of this season's Toffees.

After the game, Roberto Martinez acknowledged the frustration of the fans -

"We all are. You could hear our boos in the dressing room. It's exactly the same, we're a football club that over the last three years there has been a bit of a change of generation.

"A lot of players that have come into the scene, we have given them big roles. I believe that they have got incredible talent, and incredible young talent needs know-how, lessons and it needs to develop.

"The disappointment and the frustration that we all have is that we can see the quality that we have in our squad and we can gain some sort of momentum.

"It's 1984 since the last time we got into two semi-finals of domestic cups so I think this generation can make us very, very successful."

Despite this being Everton's third loss in the last four Premier League games, Martinez stubbornly insisted that his side were not performing poorly -

"I wouldn't agree with that. Our performance against Aston Villa was very good; our performance against West Ham, where with 10 men we were the better side for 78 minutes then in 12 minutes we lost the game. Then we had an outstanding performance against Chelsea, a team who are undefeated in the league under their new manager and got into the semi-finals of the FA Cup. We had a really poor performance against Arsenal and I don't think we coped with not having Gareth Barry around.

"We're a team that probably needed direction with outstanding footballers and outstanding young talent, but we need that guidance and that experienced head.

"Today was different. I think we finished the game in a very different manner. We came with a strong mentality, the only criticism I have is that we're a lot better in the things we didn't do well today."

Martinez once defended the players' mentality, saying that they were still motivated to finish the season on a high note -

"What we want to do is in the next two months make sure we're still involved in two competitions.

"We got to the semi-final of the League Cup and were very unfortunate not to get to the final and now we're in the semi-final of the FA Cup and going to Wembley. That shows you the mentality of the group is growing all the time and we're starting to know how to progress in those big moments.

"In my league my only criticism is the results at home. The results away have been consistent, we've been very strong and have played eye to eye with everyone. What we need to correct is finding enjoyment of playing in front of our fans with the talent that we have."

The optimistic-to-a-fault Catalan finished off with yet another dose of sunshine, saying did not deserve to lose today -

"There were two games within a game. Up until the goal, we were the team with a better tempo and we always looked a threat.

"The goal was a very soft action, it's not up to our standards. The performances were very, very level and we shouldn't have lost the game.

"It's that sort of game that came down to small margins - the ball hitting the crossbar is the difference between us getting something out of the game.

"We are a young group with great potential, but our home form hasn't been anywhere near good enough."