So, was Saturday just a mirage? It certainly feels that way tonight as Everton reverted to type and their usual ways and were easily defeated 3-1 at Newcastle United.
Make no mistake this was a catastophic loss, which has pushed Everton right in the mix for relegation. It never seems to sink in with this squad but if this team keeps producing performances like this the Toffees are going to be playing in the Championship next season.
I know I keep saying it but I’m sick to my stomach of this team losing football matches. Without wanting to sound too melodramatic, being an Evertonian sometimes feels akin to having a long-term illness charaterised by dull, numbing pain and punctured by the occasional good day of relief.
Saturday was one of those brief respites, but tonight eveything was back to normal as the Blues slipped and stumbled to yet another Premier League defeat that leaves them teetering ever closer to the relegation zone.
We all, including me, probably allowed ourselves to get carried away a bit after seeing so much positive stuff at the weekend. Maybe, just maybe, we thought this team could finally find a way to turn the corner.
But, tonight all the problems we’ve seen over and over again were once more on display. Lack of confidence, an inability to pass the ball five yards with any consistency or do the basics, unforced individual errors and of course mind-bogglingly bad luck with injuries.
Honestly, I know I say this almost every week but I cannot understand how this club and team can suffer so many injuries?!
The latest casualties were Demarai Gray and Yerry Mina. Both had to go off in the first half as Everton were struggling to get a grip of a frantic, fast and furious game.
Of course, these injuries disrupted the team but in truth the Magpies were already largely in control of it. They wanted it so much more and deserved their win tonight.
I don’t know how long either of these two will be out, but knowing this club it will likely be weeks for both players. Given Mina’s endless problems I wouldn’t be surprised if he now missed the rest of the campaign.
The failure to add a defensive midfielder or centre-back in the transfer window is I think going to be very costly. I wanted one or other, preferably both if possible.
Instead bringing in Anwar El Ghazi who no one wanted but the wretched owner and his new pal Kia Joorabchian, and then signing Dele Alli instead of a powerful, energetic box-to-box midfielder, were major mistakes.
This was a game for digging in and just getting a result, and additions such as those types of player would have helped. As always this current side just can’t manage that whenever it’s really needed. I suspected this would be the case after the weekend and so it proved to be.
A comfortable 4-1 win over a really poor Brentford at a rocking Grand Old Lady proved as I suspected it might be, a false dawn yet again.
These players are a disgrace the way they consistently allow opponents to take control and dominate them in these sorts of games.
Why can’t they find the professionalism and self-respect to fight and find a way to get a result? Even a point earned with grit and determination, despite a poor quality performance would have been something. Once again they’ve let down yet another manager in a crucial match and we’ve seen it so many times it’s uncountable.
Newcastle bullied them physically, and psychologically always had the upper hand. Every team that plays the Toffees sees them as a soft touch and that’s exactly what they are.
I’m just getting to a point now of thinking how much more of this utter crap can I put with. That’s one league win since mid-September, simply indescribably dreadful form.
After evenings like this I think maybe this club is in terminal decline and no matter who comes in as manager, or what players are signed, nothing ever seems to change for the better.
Well, Frank Lampard has been given a serious reality check just like every other manager who has come to Everton for what seems like forever. Is he now regretting the decision to cancel that family holiday and join this Titanic of a football club? Who would blame him if he was?