Everton kicked off the preseason with a bang, beating Scottish Premiership side Dundee at Dens Park to the tune of 4-0.
The starting lineup for the Toffees was a fairly strong one, although there were key players like Jordan Pickford, who is still away with England at the World Cup, Iliman Ndiaye, on his break after World Cup duty with Senegal, and Jarrad Branthwaite, still recovering from his late-season injury.
Also missing was new signing Hayden Hackney, who Everton are still "integrat[ing] into squad training" since his arrival just a few weeks ago. James Garner missed out due to a groin injury, and Vitalii Mykolenko was away for the birth of his new child.
This allowed young players like Adam Aznou, Tyler Dibling, and Tyrique George to play a key role in the match today. It also saw Merlin Rohl begin the game at right back, a solution that fans will hope is not a fallback plan for David Moyes' side as the summer transfer window remains open.
After a sluggish start to the affair, Everton striker Beto found the back of the net in the 37th minute. It took a deflection off a Dundee player, but Kieran O'Hara looked well beaten either way. That 1-0 lead would hold for the remainder of the half.
Charly Alcaraz, Dwight McNeil, James Tarkowski, and Tom King came on for Beto, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jake O'Brien, and Mark Travers at the halftime interval, with Thierno Barry and a quintet of youngsters joining in the 62nd minute, including Braiden Graham, who impressed last season with the U21 side.
The floodgates opened from there as O'Hara produced howler after howler for the hosts.
Six minutes after coming on, Barry pressured the Dundee goalkeeper and knocked his attempted clearance into the back of the Dundee net to push Everton's lead to 2-0. Later in the half, O'Hara roamed too far away from his net and errant clearances allowed Harvey Foster and McNeil to score into open nets to push the final tally for Everton to 4 on the day.
In the end, the goal was to get minutes for key players heading into the season, and Moyes will continue to ask more as they get closer to the season opener at Hill Dickinson on August 22 against Crystal Palace.
Everton's preseason continues away to Bolton next Saturday, followed by a trip to Stoke that following Tuesday, before heading off to Germany to face Hamburger SV and VfB Stuttgart in successive weekends.
The final two preseason matches, both at home, will come against Newcastle and French side Lille, both in the week leading up to the Premier League opener.
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