A draw at home to Aston Villa at the weekend lifted the Toffees up to seventh, just behind near-neighbours Liverpool and above Bolton.
"We move up every game. It's strange because I think the fans, and us as players, are frustrated," said the centre-back.
"But when you look at where we are now, seventh, and the teams around us and what they've spent and the size of their squads, I think we should be prouder.
"Look at our bench compared to Villa's. We had young players, several teenagers and none of them with Premier League experience. They had Robert Pires, Emile Heskey, Stiliyan Petrov and people like that.
"I can understand the frustration from the fans and the players are the same but you have to look at the big picture and be proud of what we're doing. We didn't spend much last summer and again in January."
Source: PA
Source: PA