Prince Rupert's Tower
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Yes again Everton lose away from home!

By Matt Townsend

BRIGHTON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 26: Lucas Digne of Everton looks dejected after scoring own goal during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Everton FC at American Express Community Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Brighton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 26: Lucas Digne of Everton looks dejected after scoring own goal during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Everton FC at American Express Community Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Brighton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images) /
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Everton went down away from home yet again yesterday losing 3-2 at Brighton to register their sixth loss already this season.

I’m still struggling to get my head around what happened yesterday with Everton defeated even though they had recovered from being a goal down to lead the game 2-1.

Yes the penalty decision was dubious with VAR adding its own special brand of idiosyncrasy to the game, and Lucas Digne’s own goal that won it for the Seagulls was a classic example of serious bad luck.

But once more the Toffees were unable to come from behind and get anything from the game in the end, continuing a truly miserable run under Marco Silva.

In truth the manager cannot really be blamed personally for this loss, after all what can he do about the interventions of VAR? While Brighton’s winning goal was a classic piece of bad luck and an individual mistake from Digne.

To be fair to Silva, apart from bringing in Mason Holgate for the injured Yerry Mina, he picked the same side that beat West Ham last weekend, something that will have probably pleased most Evertonians.

However when Bernard went off why didn’t Moise Kean replace him on the left hand side? When is he ever going to get a proper chance in the team? Silva also took off Alex Iwobi – why!? He seemed to revert to type again yesterday.

And after once more going behind away from home, the Blues did respond better and almost straight away got the goal back through Richarlison’s deflected header.

The Toffees had a period on top after that slow start and when Dominic Calvert-Lewin came on and found the net to give Everton a 2-1 lead, it gave the team a chance to end that dreadful record under Silva.

The intervention of VAR changed all that. It could at a stretch be argued that Michael Keane did step on the Brighton player and therefore impede him. Equally that might have been interpreted as essentially accidental, as indeed the referee seemed to do.

What to really make of VAR in football? In other sports like cricket and rugby it can be used more naturally given the natural breaks in those sports and the often clearer situations such as whether a batsman has nicked the ball or if a rugby player is crossing and offside.

I’m not sure it can ever work the same way in football, which is such a different type of sport with none of those natural breaks or clear situations. In the end no amount of technology in football will remove the need for a human being to interpret and judge an incident.

In yesterday’s situation VAR interceded to reverse the referee’s decision not to award the penalty. Neal Maupay made no mistake with the spot kick.

After that Brighton improved and they were now looking more likely to win the match as Everton heads dropped and as so often the Blues struggled to retain any control over the game or cut out silly errors.

It was then almost inevitable that somehow the Toffees would find a way to lose this game, and they did.

So where does this latest defeat leave Everton and Marco Silva?

Although as I’ve said I’m not sure Silva can be really blamed for this particular defeat, it is yet another immensely frustrating loss that compounds the Blues wretched start to the season.

Every team in the Premier League must be licking their lips when they look at when they are due to host the Blues.

This defeat also points to some serious issues with the players confidence and ability to stay focussed and re-group after a controversial decision has gone against them. After all this is Everton and we rarely seem to get the rub of the green in any game!

For some reason, which the manager cannot seem to rectify, the players just cannot re-produce their verve and energy away from the grand old lady.

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I think that this season is in real danger of disintegrating and leaving the Toffees in the very real position of a mid-table finish at best. That’s simply not good enough for Everton.

So I still feel that we must look at making a change and as soon as possible. A new man in is needed to rejuvenate the team and restore the faith of supporters, many of whom are now deeply disillusioned with Silva’s reign.

The Everton board must make a decision and soon. In the end whether the  hierarchy want to or not, if you’ve lost the fans, that’s not a situation that can ever really end in any outcome other than a manager losing his job.