Everton fell to Bournemouth 3-0 on Saturday at MetLife Stadium, as both sides began the Premier League Summer Series heading in different directions.
The Toffees played a strong first half, creating a few chances through Iliman Ndiaye, Charly Alcaraz, and Beto, with Tim Iroegbunam and Idrissa Gana Gueye working to boss the midfield for an Everton side that looked as good as it has all preseason so far.
And then the second half was a different story, as Bournemouth scored three times inside of 15 minutes to create a chasm between them and the Toffees. The Cherries got a 55th-minute rocket from Philip Billing, who subbed on at halftime, a 59th-minute goal from Dango Ouattara, and finished the scoring in the 69th minute with a strike from Daniel Adu-Adjei.
The first two goals were arguably avoidable, although Billing's strike was an excellent one, but probably a shot he never should have been allowed to take. Nathan Patterson allowed the Denmark international to stride into the center with the ball and Jake O'Brien never stepped up into his path once Billing got by Patterson, allowing the Bournemouth player a free hit.
The Ouattara goal was earned on a nice run into the box, but Patterson flubbed the defending, clearing it right back into the Burkina Faso international's path. And while it was another excellent strike, it never should have happened.
The less said about the Adu-Adjei goal the better, but Jake O'Brien simply has to be better.
To be fair, some of this comes down to injuries at centerback forcing David Moyes to play a back three involving Patterson, O'Brien, and Vitalii Mykolenko, but Patterson's shortcomings were already quite clear coming into this summer. Everton have been looking for a long term option at right back for years now, and the Scotland international is not it.
And so Patterson's inadequacies, along with the inability to create along the right side at all, paint a picture of a club that has plenty of work to do to ready this team for the upcoming Premier League season.
The whole right side needs upgrading, something we've known since the window opened, but the loss to Bournemouth makes that abundantly clear.
Everton cannot afford to get this window wrong, and so the pressure mounts on the transfer committee to find players, work out the deals, and convince them to join.