Everton fell to Manchester United 1-0 at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday night, adding to the Toffees woeful recent performances at their new ground.
The United goal came via Benjamin Sesko, a super-sub who has now scored six goals in eight matches since the start of 2026. While it was a bit of brilliant play from the Red Devils, from the outlet by Matheus Cunha to the pass by Bryan Mbeumo, it was well worked by a United side that wasn't particularly good on the day.
Frankly, Everton were in trouble from the moment the lineups dropped.
Despite having nearly a full squad, save for Jack Grealish and, as it came out later, Charly Alcaraz, David Moyes decided to start Jarrad Branthwaite and James Garner as his fullbacks, with the pairing of James Tarkowski and Michael Keane at center back, not exactly a fleet of foot duo.
Add to this the use of Iliman Ndiaye on the right, where he is less effective, and Harrison Armstrong as a left winger, where he is completely out of position, while using Tim Iroegbunam in central midfield next to Idrissa Gana Gueye.
That last part is no great sin, and really, outside of the Armstrong positioning, there's some case to be made for lining up more defensively against a potent United attacking unit.
But Vitalii Mykolenko is literally a defense-first fullback (some would argue a defense-only fullback), and pushing your best defender in Branthwaite out of position to accomodate Keane is change for change's sake.
It's particuarly egregious because Moyes' hasn't changed the general tactics of the side even as he continues to shuffle the lineup.
With Grealish, the plan was clearly to play through the Manchester City loanee, not a completely unreasonable thing to do. But since the winger has gone down for the season, Moyes hasn't reworked his tactical ideas.
On Monday, Everton continued to force the ball to the left as if Grealish was there, except Harrison Armstrong was there with Jarrad Branthwaite behind him. The England international center back is very good on the ball, but he isn't a bomb-forward fullback, and, as has been noted, Armstrong is not a winger.
If the plan is to persist, swapping Ndiaye to the left would at least allow things to proceed closer to how they did with Grealish, as there is overlap in the skillsets of the Senegal international and Grealish.
But ultimatley, two things need to happen.
First, with a mostly healthy side, Moyes can longer put square pegs into round holes. He has two options at left back in Mykolenko and Adam Aznou, a right back in Nathan Patterson, and two wingers in Tyler Dibling and Tyrique George who should not be riding the bench in favor of Armstrong, at least not on the wings.
Secondly, the Everton manager must come up with new ways to attack opposing sides. His two best attacking players, Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, must absolutely be featured, but it's very clear to the opposing teams where the ball is going most of the time.
Everton are in a safe position even after the loss, and are likely to finish midtable, plenty safe from relegation but not really in the running for Europe.
At this point in the rebuild of the club under its new owners, that's all reasonable. But David Moyes has to show himself capable of reworking the tactics and leaning into his personnel better as the season goes on.