I half agree.
Everton are 5 points better off than they were at the same stage of last season.
Our current tally of 41 points is the best we have ever achieved after 21 games in The Premier League era (we had 40 in the year we finished 4th).
I think it's a bit unfair to underplay how good we've been, but I do agree with your point about the need to invest. I think that on 2nd September, we had a squad with enough depth to challenge this season. Injuries since then have stretched us - Mcgeady makes a lot of sense as the injury to Deulofeu left us without cover in wide areas and we now lack cover in central midfield and in attack. If we are able to sort out players in those two positions this month (centre mid really only needs to be a temporary solution), I think we'll be ok. We may not get top 4 because there may end up simply being 4 or more better sides than us, but two more players this month is a must to ensure we have the right squad depth to achieve what we want to.