Cissé gave the referee a decision to make, and Mark Clattenburg pretty much blew the whistle for a free-kick to us instantly, so it wasn’t like the incident wasn’t being dealt with. It was an unnecessary reaction to the situation from an experienced player, and is yet another time where we’ve led a game, only to go a man down for doing something they didn’t need to and then losing the match.

We can’t keep making excuses either. The proof is in the pudding and in the points you acquire, and we’ve got nothing to show for it.

Wolves hadn’t really got into the match until the red card either, but I thought they played particularly well once we’d been reduced to ten. They stayed calm and played sensible football, especially in the second half and they used the extra man to their advantage really well. They deserved to win.

Matt Jarvis played well and scored a lovely goal, which resulted in another costly mistake by Joey Barton in midfield. In the first half, he gifted them possession twice that almost led to something more and he didn’t heed that warning and once again chose the wrong option on the ball and got it all wrong and the rest was history.

I’ve had a long look at Barton over the weeks now and it’s clear that he has too much influence in the side for someone whose passing is not up to standard. It’s this aspect of his play that really lets him down, and I have to say, his inability here is causing us to collapse both going forward and in defence as so much goes through him. He’s spoiling a lot of potential attacks and causing them to break down because he can’t play the right ball, and at the same time, when he risks them in the wrong area we’re being hit on the counter and punished severely. The problem magnifies with Alejandro Faurlin’s absence, where you can really see the stark difference between his quality on the ball and Barton’s.

I’m not really sure what the answer is though, because we practically only have Shaun Derry and Barton to choose from in the middle at the moment, and unless Barton can find a serious improvement in his style and form, we’re going to continue to be very hit and miss in these areas for the time being.

On the positive side, I enjoyed Taye Taiwo’s performance and felt some of his passing was excellent. He really found the strikers well with those inside channel passes to feet, and he played some decent balls over the top into space as well. There’s lots of potential here and once we work a bit on our attacking play we should be able to utilise this further.

Bobby Zamora should be able to take advantage of this because of his style. It was good that he got a goal on his debut too, it’s important the strikers we’ve brought in get off the mark, so that was another positive to take away. I wasn’t however that impressed by Zamora’s work rate. I found his performance to be somewhat lazy and sloppy overall, but you can see he will have influence on our style of play. I liked his leadership in the first half as well, where he was visibly going around telling players how and where he wanted the ball, and what he was trying to do with it in terms of movement and laying it off.

It was great to see Adel Taarabt back in the side as well. He looked nice and sharp and played very well. I loved how he always wanted the ball and just ghosted and skipped past players like they weren’t there and looked a threat every time he galloped forward. It’s a real eye opener for just how little Shaun Wright-Phillips is doing by comparison, who had another lukewarm game and just can’t do the simple things right. There comes a point in time when you wonder whether having him in the team is counter productive, especially when we desperately need to pick up points and there were even a couple of times when he chose not to pass to Taarabt in good positions, or simply didn’t even look up or see him.

Overall Cissé’s sending off had a massive impact on proceedings, but I was disappointed with how we played after that. I expected us to have a bit more about us when we were down to ten, but we retreated into a shell and apart from Taarabt, we created very little and didn’t look likely to do much without him once we’d been pegged back and then gone behind.

I think we could have done much better in possession of the ball, and when you’re down to ten men, you have to be really to give yourself a chance. But instead, we allowed Wolves time on the ball to build up their attacks, and actually they did a really good job of keeping things alive in and around the box. A couple of overhit crosses were put back across the face of the goal, and they hit the bar and had one cleared off the line from those moments. We never really seem to do that when we go on the attack. Either the crosses are over hit, or the player on the end of it tries a wild attempt and usually puts it out for a goal kick. Small lessons can be learned here that could result in opportunities for goals.

I also think for the second game running that some of the substitutions were a little bit strange. I’m not sure why we played Tommy Smith in centre midfield when he came on against Aston Villa on Wednesday and neither am I sure why we played Armand Traore in centre-midfield when he came on today? Traore still needs to learn how to play in his favoured positions, let alone in central midfield. He didn’t do a lot wrong to be fair, but it didn’t have any kind of positive impact for us either.

Still, if we can keep eleven players on the pitch, we’ll have a chance. But right now it’s not the millions and millions we’ve spent on replacing the manager or bringing in new players that’s going to save us and take us to that next level – it’s the man who got us here last season who’ll do that, Adel Taarabt.

Cissé was different class. His touch and movement were on a level we’ve not seen for a long time, but the way he took his goal with that crisp snapshot strike was also one that not many of our players are capable of technically. A cracking finish.

He tired towards the end of the match and became more and more isolated, but it’s early days and hopefully he’ll be able to reproduce his first half showing on a regular basis. A lot to like here.

It was a shame we didn’t make half time with a two goal cushion, but after we doubled our lead, our passing and possession of the ball became sloppier and sloppier.

Joey Barton had a better game all round here, but he still gave the ball away needlessly a couple of times, just when we needed to put our foot on it and maintain some territorial possession. That sequence of being cheap on the ball led to Villa getting a chance to pull one back just on half time, which is never a good time to concede.

But we were poor in the second period, and really, while nobody in particular played poorly, the negative approach we adopted cost us the chance of taking all three points and that was well within our grasp.

I was a bit puzzled by the way we came out, and the changes we made, because they didn’t help us and I can only point to Mark Hughes’ style here, as well as perhaps having a few new faces in the side who don’t know each others games.

The same traits that have reared their heads in recent matches showed up here, and we were almost non-existant going forward in the second. You might say a lot of that was down to the removal of Rob Hulse, who had a good game, and you can see where Bobby Zamora would fit into that picture and help the team.

We were resolute at the back mind, but despite all the good organisation and discipline, Villa reigned in chance after chance on our goal. We dealt with the pressure well, but there were some very hairy moments indeed. I thought Anton Ferdinand and Nedum Onuoha both had very decent games, even if Bent nicked in ahead Onuoha for his goal.

It’s still a very good point in the end though, as Villa will feel on the basis of possession and chances created, they should have won the game. I think I can see now where the team is heading and that individual quality we need is going to be the difference on whether this system and style suits us and works or not. Cissé looks like he will be key, and if he can strike up a good partnership with Zamora, then it should allow us to find the attacking opportunities we need to win games.

He has been a little bit out of his depth at this level, but not enough for the alarm bells to start ringing. It’s a case of needing time to adjust, but unfortunately he was never really going to get that time in the struggling situation we find ourselves in.

I’m sad to see him go, but I’m also really pleased for him that he’s managed to nab himself another Premier League club, even if that may only be for the rest of the season. If Blackburn go down, they’ve got a great right-back on their hands and one of the best at that level.

Thanks Bradley and all the best.

So we had a cup match contested by two pretty average teams really. Chelsea dominated possession, but they were just so one paced and ordinary on the ball, that it was pretty baffling to watch and they struggled to break us down.

They’ve so many quality players, but they’re really playing without any kind of confidence or belief in themselves. If you compare the two performances against us versus the ones that Tottenham and Manchester United dished out, well, they’re some way behind those teams and need a lot more work to get themselves back in order.

I found their whole performance just odd and unusual. They played better with nine against us last time around.

But for us, well, I am not sure what to say really? We had very little going forward, there isn’t an attacking plan, and I was disappointed by that as I expected to see the first signs of those possibilities and what potential we might have under Mark Hughes today – and that’s irrespective of the result.

There was also a chronic lack of urgency or tempo from us, as well as Chelsea too. It’s like this game didn’t really matter to either team and they were happy to just play it out. The last time we came up against them we were in their faces, putting in challenges and really inspiring each other and the crowd to give our all. There was none of that here, even with seven minutes stoppage time on the board, we looked barely interested in trying to force an equaliser.

The positive however was that we were disciplined and kept our shape well, but when you do that, it’s always at the risk of reducing the output at the other end. And that’s what we’ve done, compounded by the fact that we’re missing players too.

But we concentrated throughout the ninety minutes and Chelsea never really looked like scoring or prying us apart. It was a sad sight seeing what’s become of Fernando Torres too, a once feared marksman looking completely shot and very strangely, out of his depth. His passing was poor, his movement was poor and he was largely anonymous and nothing like I expected him to be. Fifty million? Are you having a laugh or what?

In that sense, we’ve taken a step forward in organisation and discipline, but football is about winning games, and we quickly need to address the other end if we’re going to achieve the goals we want in terms of Premiership survival.

If you don’t score, you don’t win. If you don’t concede, you don’t lose. But not winning is worse than not losing in most cases, because you make the football uninspired and tepid, and lose fluidity and dynamism in expressive and creative play.

I said last week against Wigan, that despite the win, we didn’t really do a lot in the attacking third to convince me, and that I was alarmed by that. We didn’t get behind the defence at any point, turn them around, put any crosses in or find through balls. It was the same here in this game, and against better opposition, you don’t get the chance to take so many pop shots from range at goal like we did against Wigan. That avenue was a closed shop this time around and hence we created very little.

I think we’re still in that transitional phase right now and that probably between now and the end of the season, we’re going to see a lot of games end goalless or decided by the odd goal. That seems to be the way the set-up is going by Hughes.

That’s fine to do, but there’s a risk and a danger than when you play for one goal either way that the players mentality adapts to that situation, so when they concede, they find it an uphill battle and a struggle to turn it around, or when they score, it becomes about that next goal and whether you can keep the other team out. You don’t want too much emphasis and importance placed on that first goal when you’re down at the bottom. You need to believe, like we did away to Stoke, that if you fall behind you’ve got enough about you to come back and score one, two or in that case, three goals to turn it around.

You lose a crowd more easily playing the way Hughes currently is, if you can’t grind out results too, so it’s a very delicate time for us and a dangerous game to play.

I noticed in this match that at times on some attacks, I visibly saw the winger and full-back on the opposite side checking and holding their position, to ensure we maintained our shape and protected ourselves from counter attacks. I saw us getting into wide positions, but the two central midfielders holding their positions and staying deep, but us giving the ball away because we didn’t have enough numbers in the box, or, when a second ball situation arose, didn’t have anybody anywhere near enough to contest it, thus, still being hit on the counter attack anyway.

While these aspects are good defensively, it’s not going to help us win games. I just hope for now that we’re sorting aspect of the team out before working really hard on the other end. I’d have liked us to have gambled more. We never tested Chelsea’s resolve and believe me, they were there for the taking if we wanted to have a go.

I wasn’t impressed by Federico Macheda’s second half showing here either. While he didn’t get much service, he was lazy, and whenever the play broke down he just walked back slowly from offside positions and disregarded the disciplined shape and defensive work we’d worked so hard to achieve.

Shaun Wright-Phillips continues to flatter to deceive at the moment, and just needs the rub of the green to get himself going and Jamie Mackie’s still approaching play with all brawn and no brains. Somewhere along the line, we need these players to step up and take the next step forward if we’re to progress.

But I was pleased with Joey Barton’s performance. It was much better than against Wigan and he kept his play much more simple and tidy. Anton Ferdinand did well considering the circumstances too and despite his critics, it was nice to see Rob Hulse out there as well.

Overall, while the defensive aspects are all well and good, and a positive, even if it sounds like I’m nagging, I’m just hoping that this is going to be a foundation that’s being laid in order for us to move forward at the other end too.

What we really need though is an injection into the midfield or attack, and it might be that Adel Taarabt is still our best answer here and we’ll know for sure by the time we face Aston Villa just what the situation is, because once that transfer window shuts it’s down to the players and the manager to do what is necessary to win games.

We just need that bit of inspiration and hopefully we can find it from somewhere.

Wigan started really brightly too and came dangerously close to taking the lead on two occasions in the opening minutes. First they came a whisker away when several of their players somehow failed to connect to a cross and then then Hugo Rodellega skinned Luke Young and flashed a great ball across the box that evaded everybody.

They generally held territorial possession and passed and moved the ball better than we did throughout, especially at the back or in the final third, but they lacked penetration overall, just like we did.

We seized on moments to take pop shots from distance and dealt with some changeover of possessions. Jamie Mackie and Akos Buzsaky threatened on more than one occasion too.

Buzsaky had a good game in midfield, and his goal to put us 2-0 up was simply sensational. He needed that.

His partner in the centre, Joey Barton however, didn’t. While he played some tidy passes early on in the half he also bottled some tackles early doors and was poor overall and largely anonymous, though he’s played worse, so this was by no means his poorest display for us. The weight of his pass was substandard though and he caused at least three potentially very good attacking opportunities to break down by playing the ball out of play for a goal kick. His decision making and understanding in these situations really shows his flaws here, and I hope Mark Hughes and the coaching staff can spot these problems and help rectify them. I didn’t like the dives he did either to try and win free-kicks.

Shaun Wright-Phillips is still also very hit and miss and served up another lukewarm performance. Some of his passing was just so sloppy and he continuously ran blindly into opposing players and conceding possession in the process. He did it twice in quick succession at one point when we were 2-1 up and Wigan swiftly countered and should have equalised when Connor Sammon went through on goal but shot poorly wide.

Jamie Mackie played in a similar sort of vein to Wright-Phillips as well, and was pretty much all brawn and no brains. He bumbled his way into players and often didn’t look up to see support around him, causing some good moments to break down and he and Wright-Phillips had a lengthy bickering session at one point in the second half over their lack of understanding and communication.

But there were other positives. Heidar Helguson put in a great shift, and although he missed a penalty, it seemed like a soft decision to give it in the first place. The referee was pretty dire and seemed a bit like a homer to me. He awarded us some very soft decisions, but the first one that Heidar did score from, seemed more like a crazy error of judgement by James McCarthy.

I thought DJ Campbell had his best half since joining and tracked back really well, but he was replaced at half-time and in the second, we didn’t look great in the 4-4-1-1 formations we adopted with Wright-Phillips in the hole.

Fitz Hall and Anton Ferdinand were much better at the back and relatively untroubled throughout as well, which was a far better performance than we’ve seen in the past few matches from any of our central defensive pairings.

For them, I thought Ben Watson had a good game and Victor Moses and Hugo Rodellega were always a threat with their pace and power, but the more the match went on, the less they found them and that played into our hands.

It was end to end stuff though, but we found the cutting edge with some great finishing. Tommy Smith’s goal was a result of a well worked counter attack. Barton won a tackle just outside our box, which ended up with Wright-Phillips who played Smith in, who still had plenty to do. He probably should have passed to Mackie who was supporting down the right, or even take it closer in to goal, but it was a fabulous turn and hit all the same. It did take Smith about 16-17 minutes to get his first proper touches of the ball though, which occurred around the 62nd minute.

And there lies the problem. While we look a little more organised in terms of our structure and formation, we still don’t seem to have much of a plan with our forward play. It was all rather random today with stretches and periods that saw some of the players completely isolated and like passengers.

It does however allow us to react to changeover in possession well and we look like if we continue working at it, we can improve the potential of our counter attacks in these situations too.

We looked comfortable by the end, but mainly because Wigan lacked the confidence to believe in themselves and became more toothless as the match wore on.

It’s a great win and three points for us though, however way you look at it, and you hope that these recent victories is a springboard for the players to progress and step on. They’ll need to do that because there are classier teams out there or even ones similar to us who’re ready to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in, and we need to be able to match that and be ready for it.

Three goals, two of which were thrilling, also puts some goals into the side and that’s another good step forward to take.

But it’s important we keep our focus now and not get distracted by some of the recent events surrounding the club again, which have been distasteful to say the least.

The performance wasn’t great, but we were tired and very leggy in parts of the game and it was a bit of a bold decision to keep the side as it was from Sunday’s game. Players generally need around 72 hours recovery before they can realistically compete again at optimal levels in match situations, but I did like the idea of keeping it as similar and consistent as possible too.

I’m thankful it didn’t go to extra time, because we would have struggled to handle that given our fitness levels, and even then, you do wonder how ready they’ll be for Saturday. It’s a lot to ask the majority of your key players to play three games in six days. I hope this doesn’t back fire on us.

Shaun Wright-Phillips had a good last fifteen minutes and put in a peach of a delivery for Danny Gabbidon’s first goal for the club. If he can repeat that side of his game a little more often, it will raise our level a couple of notches. He’s still in patchy form though and his miss in the first half spoke volumes for a man who is not in form or playing with confidence.

Our passing generally was quite sloppy. There were plenty of overcooked or undercooked balls, particularly from Shaun Derry in the midfield, but also the runners and receives mistimed and misjudged their moves as well, but that’s likely to be because of tired and heavy legs more than anything.

When confidence is low it restricts movement too, and we had many players who seemed a bit scared to make forward runs, penetrative passes or overlapping runs. But when we did get some momentum, suddenly all those things started to happen, so you have to hope that the win is a big stepping stone for the players returning to form.

It also takes some getting used to in terms of who needs to take responsibility and risks when playing in a 4-4-2 formation as well, because when you don’t, the play becomes very straight lined and less dynamic. If we can notch up another win soon, we should see a radical transformation in the players body language and their ability to do what they’re instructed to by the coaching team. The fatigue never helped us here though because we lacked the energy to get forward and support our own attacking play.

I’m a little worried at how we’re falling asleep at the back when it comes to marking as welk though. Too often we’re letting the main striker ghost in free and unmarked around the six yard box, and it’s something we really need to address. If we can bolster the squad with some new players in this department, that will probably help.

It was good though that some of the players who haven’t featured so much this season got important minutes under their belts, and that includes your Jay Bothroyd’s, Federico Macheda’s and Akos Buzsaky’s of this world. If we can strengthen the squad, we’re going to have to rely on what we have and that means ensuring they are physically and mentally as ready as we can make them.

Buzsaky still looks very short of match sharpness, so these past two matches have been massive for him and his progress. The ability is still there but someone who has had as many injuries as he’s had over the years really needs a consistent run of games. It was great to see him whipping in some excellent crosses and for us to look threatening from direct free-kicks. But he had plenty of nice key moments including unlocking the door for Wright-Phillips in the first half with a great through ball.

Overall the positives are plain and simple. We’ve won for the first time in a long time, progressed in the FA Cup for the first time in 11 years and Mark Hughes has got that first win under his belt. And we needed it, because today was about getting a positive result. We also scored from a set piece as well and looked more threatening in that area than we have for a while.

MK Dons played really well too. I’ve been impressed with them over the two matches and they can rightly feel disappointed to not progress to the next round. They’ve played football properly and deserve a lot of credit for that. I like the way they were composed and patient, and also the speed they tried to hit us on the counter attack and overloaded the wide areas. They just lacked that bit of composure in front of goal to make the difference.

I liked the fact that we switched back to an orthodox 4-4-2 formation and that there was much better shape and balance about our side, and that allowed us to start brightly.

We had a strong opening twenty minutes or so, where we created plenty of chances at goal, albeit pot shots more than anything but every man had a greater sense of their roles and responsibilities.

But we fell away and while we played well in some patches, we were ropey in others. It was a fairly even game and one that was always going to be decided by a genuine moment of quality, which arrived for Newcastle’s Leon Best rather than us.

I was disappointed by the performance of Shaun Wright-Phillips in whatever position he occupied on the pitch. He was involved in a lot of the action but his end product and final quality was just so poor. Had he been just a fraction better we’d have been able to impose ourselves far more, but he just had one of those games, as he had many under Neil Warnock, where he was just lukewarm. He made too many elementary mistakes for a player of his quality and it’s a shame he’s in this bad run of form.

That also led to a general lack of quality in the final third and an inability to improvise or create that spark needed to unlock a defence. We played well until the point we needed to penetrate, and for all the will in the world, we just weren’t good enough and I never really believed that we believed we were going to score.

Confidence is obviously fragile, but you hope a new manager can inspire the players to new levels. That’s not really happened here, although Mark Hughes had a weakened sided and has only worked with them for a few days.

I felt we lacked a little bit of personality on the pitch when we needed it in key moments during the match, and maybe Joey Barton’s suspension was the missing ingredient I’m talking about.

But I did like the way we had that better shape, you could see the players understood their defensive responsibilities better than recently. I do worry however that the amount of organisation and discipline may just take away the creativity and improvisation required for a side like us to break the deadlock.

It’s important Hughes’ style doesn’t hamper that improvised, unpredictable spark that teams sometimes need to create that magic, because for all the defensive work you do in the world, you still need to score goals to win games.

Leon Best’s goal was a touch of class though and a fine piece of quick feet, trickery and composed finishing. It was interesting to see Luke Young twisted and turned inside out again, and he’s generally been at the thick of the action when it comes to conceding goals and should have done better here.

Young has had a habit of allowing defenders to cross or losing his man at vital moments, despite all the good work he’s done going forward this season. He needs to get a grip of this stuff and quickly as he’s being punished frequently.

Some of the football was quite straight lined from us today and while I think it can work, it does often need better players and if we struggled to bring new faces in and have key men missing at the African Cup of Nations, then we could find ourselves going into a critical period with a weakened squad, which is a concern.

We still have a lot of players who’ve not seen a lot of football either and it showed here. The likes of Shaun Derry, Akos Buzsaky and Tommy Smith all need more time on the pitch to reach the level required. Jamie Mackie’s touch is also starting to let him down more often that not too, and you just hope he can ride that out and start getting that sharpness back that can be the difference from him turning a lost cause into something more.

Still, now that Hughes has got this one out of the way, he’ll start to have more time to prepare his side over the coming weeks and I’m sure we’ll see both at MK Dons and against Wigan, what sort of impact he will have on the training pitch.

It’s still early days, but time is not a luxury we have anymore. On the balance of play, this was another one that we’ll look back on as points dropped.

The Toffees however were the better team in the majority of departments. They passed the ball better than we did, controlled possession better than we did and they countered attacked more slickly and were tactically more astute too. They were also physically a lot stronger than us, so you can see why it was such a good result.

I was impressed with Everton’s John Lundstram who controlled play from deep in midfield and generated lots of Everton’s attack, where they often used left back Jasper Johns to good effect as he bombed on and made overlapping runs.

Hallam Hope and Anton Forrester had good games for them as well, with Hope drifting in from a right sided position and causing us plenty of problems throughout with his quick feet and vision. Forrester held the ball up well with his back to goal and was also tidy on the shoulder too.

Hope is probably a year away from making it at professional level, probably with a loan deal and the other two aren’t much further behind either.

But we defended resolutely. The back four got in their faces and managed to get many blocks and headers, so even if it was a little bit on the ugly side at times, they put their bodies on the line and showed real spirit and determination to see us through.

Jamie Sendles-White was heavily involved and got his head or foot to most things and there were some other great blocks and interceptions in the mix as well, even if Everton did strike the woodwork and the bar. The latter was from a free-kick that produced an outstanding save from Gareth Deane in the sticks, who also has one almighty kick on him.

Frankie Sunderland has got a good delivery on him as well, and he put in several gorgeous balls into the danger area from attacking free-kicks and corners. These deliveries were at a standard worthy of the professional game, though he was sadly sent off in the second half for a dangerous tackle. It looked a somewhat harsh decision, but it was wild.

And then there’s Bruno Andrade, who still has a long way to go and a lot to learn, but took his goal wonderfully well after what was some of our best football of the match. We kept possession sensibly and knocked it around before spreading it across the backline and finding Andrade high up the pitch. His pace and willingness to dribble allowed him to drive forward and he finished coolly with his left foot from a good 20 yards or so out. Everton’s James Fitzgibbon may have felt he should have done better, but nevertheless, it was a really good goal.

We did have to hang on for much of the second period, even before the red card for Sutherland, but we showed great grit and brawn to see it out. And that’s how I see where we are at the moment. There’s not a great deal of guile and finesse in our kids yet, not in the style of play anyway, so on this evidence I think most of them can hope for careers in the lower leagues of the game at best, but hopefully as we progress as a club and improve our facilities, we can help move them onto the next level.

There was a gulf in class between Everton and us, but having said that, they didn’t really leap out at you with anything particularly special either. But the difference is, you could see more potential in their players over ours.

Sometimes both teams were prone to really playing that safety first type of ball and just hoofing it away at the first sign of danger and I think that’s a pity really.

We’ve got to let our kids go out and play with confidence and not worry about mistakes, and to drum into them that they’ve got to keep playing the right way and be willing to take the ball in difficult areas and challenge themselves to come out on top in any 50-50 situation. That way they’ll improve their technical and mental skills and be able to cope with these things when they need them for real in the professional game.

I am also always concerned by how many of these young men go down with cramp from very early on in the match. Towards the end, both teams were struggling and at one point, four or five players were needing attention for cramp related issues long before the final whistle. This is impacting the quality of the play and either something needs to be done on a preparation side to sort it out, or as part of a bigger picture, perhaps we need to reduce matches ever to slightly or play on slightly smaller pitches.

Overall though, a lovely result for us, even more so considering we had ten players for a fair period of time against a strong outfit. Well done young Rs!

There was such a lack of interest and focus, and we didn’t manage to find any proper rhythm or flow to our play and barely showed any interest in pressing the play or getting back into position throughout. It was criminal how many players just walked back after we lost the ball and that happened time and time again.

The only consolation is that it was just about a better display than the one we showed in the Carling Cup earlier in the season, but it’s still a real pity to see us like that.

There has to be some pride in performances and some self dignity and respect, but we’ve not shown that here and nobody can come away proud about how they performed.

These kind of games can cause problems with players mentality and it can be difficult, but there were so many on the cusp of returning from injuries, such as DJ Campbell, or so many with a point to prove, and they simply just passed up on that opportunity.

We played poorly. MK Dons played well to be fair, but we didn’t do a great deal right in possession, nor did we do a great deal right when out of possession either.

But when you come to these kind of games, when you’re just going through the motions and not really bothered, the easiest way to ride it out and find that bit of quality is if you keep the ball and pass it well. We didn’t do that, at all. In fact, we looked worse here than in other games, because our decision making was poor, as was our tempo, and that further compounded the problem.

There was such a lack of movement or desire from everybody that it was almost embarrassing to watch. There were few forward runs, few overlapping runs and few penetrative passes made. You can’t win matches if you don’t want to do those things and ask questions of the opposition.

The team we put out was more than good enough for the task, even if a lot of them haven’t had much football in recent weeks. It was a side that could have and should have done so much better. I just don’t get how we can perform in that way. Everybody can have a bad day at the office or sometimes just not get going, but the lack of effort on the whole was alarming.

I did like the way Heidar Helguson atoned for his error for their goal though, because he took his really well and kept calm and composed when so many would have panicked and rushed that effort. We were obviously lucky with it, seeing as it looked offside, but we’ve not had the rub of the green lately so hopefully that will continue for us.

And I preferred Federico Macheda out on the left side, which is something I called for at some point during the first-half. I just think he’s a bit better on the ball out there as he tends to go on dribbling runs, a little too wildly in the centre, but out wide he can concentrate on getting to the byline and crossing the ball in. And he put in some decent crosses in the second half, even if his overall performance wasn’t top drawer. But it’s early days and he’s just a boy. He needs time to settle in and find his feet, and also on this evidence, a little time to adjust and find match sharpness too.

The game has no bearing on the league though, it’s irrelevant in many ways, but it was an opportunity to put the wheels in motion to top up confidence and fitness levels, which we have passed up on.

The sending off of Joey Barton spoiled the game for us and raises a lot of questions of the officials. It was a pretty shambolic display from all of them, but let’s not take anything away from Norwich City either because they would have been pleased with the disciplined performance they gave too.

But these major decisions have a huge bearing on what can happen in a match. We were 1-0 up here and reasonably comfortable, so to have the tables turned so early on us by a poor decision by the officials is naturally frustrating.

To be fair though, we did well with ten players and we couldn’t have asked too much more from them. It never looked like we had ten at any point, and we worked a few chances and played some nice stuff too.

I thought Adel Taarabt was excellent, both in attack and defence and he’s been our best player based on his past few performances. He tracked back well, worked hard, passed well and offered some moments of sublime skill. Someone tell me why he shouldn’t be in this time or why he can’t be effective at this level for us?

We scored a great goal too, which was probably the best football of the match and Alejandro Faurlin found the kind of pass that he couldn’t against Arsenal, and what a lovely cross by Clint Hill too and a really tidy finish for Barton. You felt he needed that goal, but the red card soured things for him obviously as well as the result.

We can also be pleased with Shaun Wright-Phillips’ performance, who looked lively on the counter attack and did relatively well down the right. I hope we see a bit more of him out there in the future, particularly if we’ve got nippy strikers like Frederico Macheda and DJ Campbell to use.

But we’re still struggling to get the ball to these kind of players when they enter the pitch. Campbell is still rarely to see the ball in his time here and Macheda didn’t get much of it either – you sometimes feel Neil Warnock is always just five minutes too late with some of his substitutions and not really giving them a chance to get into the ebb and flow of the game.

I thought Norwich played well. They kept their discipline and their shape and width, and while they were aggravating in the way they went about their business in a somewhat underhand fashion at times, they kept patient and eventually got the opportunity they were looking for.

They didn’t create much, but they looked assured of their roles and a settled side, and the difference is, they took their chances while we didn’t take ours. I was disappointed we allowed Anthony Pilkington lots of time to line up and shoot, and equally so at allowing a cross into the box and someone the time to set it back to an unmarked Steve Morison to score the winner.

Still, we’re slowly putting in better performances and returning to better form, despite the run of results, and we’ve got to keep believing and working hard at it to ensure we get some points on the board soon. The game against MK Dons offers a bit of a pressure reliever from the league, but it’s a game we can go and try to win to rebuild some confidence, so it’s more important than we might like to think.

I was also pleased that the fans were on song today as well, because we’ve had a few strange games lately where we’ve not really been at the races, but we kept with the side till the very end and were a credit to the club.