The way that Saturday's 2-2 draw to Ipswich Town ended, there wasn't much for Everton fans to get excited about, although early goals from Beto and Dwight McNeil looked to have the Toffees flying toward another famous Goodison Park victory.
In the end, Everton did what they often do in recent years: failed to finish the job, although such concessions have seemed to have been fewer and more far between of late.
It was a match defined by dueling worldies from McNeil and Ipswich's Julio Enciso, and, in the end, by Everton not doing enough to see through all three points despite overachieving on their xG for the match or holding a lion's share of the possession.
Ultimately, the points don't matter, with Everton safe for next season and Ipswich already heading back to the Championship, although Everton's goal should be to climb as high up the table as they can from here on out.
But the main takeaway from these matches should be about which out-of-contract players the Toffees should offer new deals and what role players like Beto, McNeil, and even someone like Nathan Patterson will have on the squad for next season.
So it was good to see McNeil in a bit of a return to form performance on Saturday and that David Moyes showed he was trying to figure out where the England international fits in his setup, since McNeil has only recently returned from a longterm injury.
One element of that was setting up McNeil on the right-hand side of the midfield, allowing him to cut inside and use his wand of a left foot to put the ball into the box or take shots like the one he scored on against Ipswich.
Sure, it still makes his movement a bit predictable, but this is true on the left as well, so ensuring that his stronger side is turned toward the goal rather, as it is when he cuts to the center of the pitch, away from the target makes a lot of sense.
The tactic meant the same for Charly Alcaraz, so it will be interesting to see if Moyes continues to favor this setup, which also allows Iliman Ndiaye to operate in the center of the park as a no.10 or second striker.
There are still questions about this, to be sure, especially around whether Alcaraz will even be part of this squad next season, but fans should be encouraged by McNeil's performance, even if the team capitulated in the end.