Everton return to play this weekend after falling to Manchester United at home on Monday, yet another in a long run of recent poor form at the Blues' new ground.
The 1-0 scoreline doesn't tell the whole story, as the lone goal came as a result of a poor setup by manager David Moyes, one that didn't prepare the players on the pitch to succeed in situations just like the one that United scored on.
That doesn't even take into account that the Toffees never looked like scoring, as the blunt attack produced just four shots on target through the whole match, none of which caused much trouble for United goalkeeper Senne Lammens.
Even worse: the Red Devils weren't exactly an attacking juggernaut on the day either. They managed few total shots (11) and shots on target (3) than Everton, the big difference being that two of those three were considered big chances that called Jordan Pickford into action.
Heading into the weekend's trip to St. James' Park to take on Newcastle United, Moyes cannot afford to get the tactics so dreadfully wrong again. Let's take a look at some alterations the Everton manager could make to his setup to get the most out of his squad on Saturday.
No.1: Play an actual winger opposite Iliman Ndiaye
At this point, it barely matters if that's in the form of Tyrique George or Tyler Dibling, although the Chelsea loanee does appear to have a leg up for whatever reason.
But continuing to run poor Harrison Armstrong out on the wing is a dereliction of duty at this point. It isn't helping the team and it isn't making good on Armstrong's talents as a player.
Without Jack Grealish, Ndiaye is isolated on the wing, forcing him to create for himself, which he does with aplomb, but also backing himself into a corner with no outlets.
Adding either George or Dibling on the opposite wing would free up Ndiaye to actually make a difference in the match.
No.2: Diversify the attack
The first will help lead to the latter in this case.
With Grealish, the plan was clear: use the Manchester City loanee as the focal point, channeling the bulk of the attack to the left because of that. Not a terrible plan, especially with Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall available centrally and on the right to help.
Since Grealish went down, however, the plan hasn't changed. Even with Armstrong playing there against United, Moyes didn't alter the tactic at all.
This cannot be the case. Moving Ndiaye left will help with this a little bit, but moving Armstrong off the wing, as mentioned above, must be done in tandem or the attack will remain stagnant.
No.3: No more out-of-position fullbacks
Whether Moyes prefers his options or not, he has four fullbacks on his roster, two on each side.
Vitalii Mykolenko is a solid, defense-first left back, and Adam Aznou is more attack-minded behind him. Nathan Patterson is closer to Aznou on the right, and Seamus Coleman can be called upon in a pitch.
And while Jarrad Branthwaite and James Garner did solid work deputizing out of position on Monday, they're both top options elsewhere. Continuing this line of thinking of square pegs into round holes must stop.
This is especially true because bringing Aznou in and not finding a viable right back option is the bed Moyes helped make. Now he has to lie in it as is.
No.4: Branthwaite and O'Brien in central defense
The issues with United's goal on Monday came down to Moyes' insistence on playing a high line with two center backs who lack pace.
So when Matheus Cunha hit a perfect ball over the top to Bryan Mbeumo, while Michael Keane did catch him, it was only a temporary fix, as James Tarkowski couldn't keep up with Benjamin Sesko, who dashed past the center back to score the match's lone goal.
Jake O'Brien was suspended, so there wasn't nothing Moyes could do there. But starting Branthwaite at left back when Mykolenko was healthy was an error, not to mention how dangerous it was to have all three available center backs on the pitch at once.
Branthwaite is in the conversation to be Everton's best outfield player. Using him out of position, even if he's capable, is a poor tactic.