Another season, another failure in the League Cup and once more a chance of a trophy for Everton has gone again.
This defeat to Southampton on penalties is a very frustrating and depressing one for Everton.
The Blues record in this completion is frankly woeful and yet again Everton have been bungled out of the competition very early on in the tournament.
The Toffees put out a weakened side last night without first-choice keeper Pickford or forwards Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Theo Walcott. Young midfielder Kieran Dowell was in the although he made little impact and was eventually substituted.
The first half was pretty even with few chances in what is becoming a regular theme of Everton’s season.
But the Saints went ahead as Danny Ings yet again scored against the Toffees. Blues teams and fans are probably sick of the sight of the on-loan Liverpool striker. This goal though was their only shot on target all night!
Everton struggled to get into the game although they had plenty of possession and brought on forwards Oumar Niasse, Richarlison and Walcott.
The Blues had a few chances but couldn’t put together any real sustained spell of pressure. Eventually the Toffees managed to fashion an equaliser as Walcott scored with a few minutes to go.
After a goalless extra time came the inevitable penalties. Everton have a dreadful record in penalty shootouts and so it continued as senior players Richarlison and Walcott missed and Southampton won the shootout 4-3.
This highly disappointing night just raises more questions about how much progress the Blues are really making.
Such a poor and underwhelming performance in a competition that Everton really should be taking very seriously, makes me think that there is still a long way to go in the latest re-building project.
The Blues again seemed lacklustre and limited in attacking creativity. Only Bernard seemed able to produce anything really incisive. The team lack quality and strength in-depth as this game seemed to underline.
One player I felt we could have done with signing in the summer is James Maddison who went to Leicester City. He has been excellent for the Foxes and offers the kind of creativity and goal threat from the middle.
This was a chance for another of Everton’s young academy graduates, Kieran Dowell, to make his mark and although it was only one game and unfortunately he wasn’t able to take that chance.
There is an increasing sense that most of the young players in the Blues squad are still a long way from making the grade at Premier League level.
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Mason Holgate, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Jonjo Kenny, Tom Davies and Dowell have all had to various degrees opportunities to impress.
But apart, for example, from the debut season of Davies and some flashes of the potential of Calvert-Lewin, there has been little sign of real progress from them.
There is a very strong argument the Toffees should have played a full-strength side in this game to maintain momentum, especially after a good win against Fulham. Although of course there’s no guarantee, given recent matches, that would have resulted in a win.
Well anyway Everton next travel to Leicester City for a very difficult away match in the Premier League on Saturday.