Everton: Are the Toffees too bad to stay in the Premier League?
- Published
Everton have failed to direct a single shot on target in two of their last three Premier League games, something they hadn't done in any of their previous 80 games
Everton's long-time status in the top flight has acted as a brittle shield against their painful decline, their trademark protection of being "too good to go down" being tested time and again.
Yet it is a theory riddled with flaws and, after their 5-0 capitulation at Tottenham Hotspur, the more pertinent question must be: are Everton too bad to stay up?
Frank Lampard inherited a mess when he succeeded sacked Rafa Benitez and very quickly learned just how bad things are in away defeats at Newcastle United and Southampton.
This, however, was another level of incompetence, and a wake-up call for anyone still labouring under the misapprehension that Everton can escape relegation because they have always done so before.
Everton are already in the dangerous territory of hoping three teams will be worse than themselves, because if this is the standard of effort and performance they put in between now and the end of the season, their own efforts will take them down.
Crucial mistakes cost Everton - Lampard
Lampard made the point about how Everton react badly to adversity following the loss at Southampton and it looked very much like they threw the towel in again once Michael Keane turned Ryan Sessegnon's cross unerringly into his own net after 14 minutes before goalkeeper Jordan Pickford blundered to allow Son Heung-min to make it two three minutes later.
The hardy band of Everton fans might as well have started checking the train times from Euston right then because the history of this team tells them things were only going to get worse. And they did.
Harry Kane made it three before half-time, substitute Sergio Reguilon scored with his first touch seconds after half-time, finishing with such ease you wondered whether Everton were aware he had replaced Sessegnon. England's captain Kane added the fifth after 55 minutes.
This was looking very much like it was going to eclipse Everton's worst Premier League defeat, 7-0 at Arsenal in May 2005 after they had already finished fourth and qualified for the Champions League qualfiying stage, but Spurs took their foot off the accelerator and spared them further punishment.
In an abject season, this was easily Everton's worst performance, made even more ominous by the obvious lack of heart and stomach for the fight, with youngster Anthony Gordon the exception.
Everton might look at games in hand and teams below them, but two wins in their last 19 league games must act as the warning sign that they are in huge trouble. This was the performance of a team in serious danger of the drop.
Adding to Everton's worries will be that those competing with them to stay up will look at their current state and believe they can be caught - and in the case of Burnley, Watford and Brentford, beat them when they meet.
This was Everton boss Frank Lampard’s heaviest defeat as a manager in all competitions
Lampard's defence was an open door all night, not helped by a high line and the ease with which Spurs cut through a non-existent midfield.
Everton's starting back four looked like it might actually be more suited to the Championship. Seamus Coleman has been a magnificent servant but his days are numbered. Keane looks a broken defender. Mason Holgate has not developed while Jonjoe Kenny is a right-back playing at left-back.
Allan, Donny van de Beek and Abdoulaye Doucoure were over-run while Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were bystanders.
It was a horrible performance on a horrible night as all the mismanagement on and off the field at Everton over the years was exposed again.
Everton have somehow managed to spend around £500m on assembling a side much worse than any in recent memory while the constant churn of managers under owner Farhad Moshiri is coming home to roost.
Moshiri sacked Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva and Rafael Benitez while Carlo Ancelotti left of his own accord to return to Real Madrid.
It has been expensive chaos at Everton and the end result could be a return to the second tier of English football, their last relegation coming in 1951.
Everton's tally of 22 points after 25 games is their lowest at this stage of a top-flight season in the club's history. They are winless in their last 11 Premier League away games, nine losses and two draws.
They have failed to have a single shot on target in two of their last three Premier League games, something they had not done in any of their previous 80 games before this run.
There is nothing that can paint their situation in a favourable light.
Lampard can hardly be held responsible for the many failings inflicted on this proud club before his arrival but it is his job to keep Everton up and after suffering this shameful 90 minutes it is clear his task is a formidable one.
Given Everton's wretched and - this is a harsh word to use but justified - gutless performances away from Goodison Park, they will be relying very heavily on that home form and the hostile backing of fans who have shown in recent weeks the difference they can make.
Everton have key home games coming up against Wolves and Newcastle United. If their standard is as bad as this they will face the unthinkable of coming up empty-handed.
On their travels, they could have defining visits to relegation rivals Watford and Burnley because, on this evidence, it is hard to see them taking points off West Ham United, Leicester City, Liverpool and Arsenal away from home.
Lampard has been talking up his players to boost confidence but eventually they will need the hard word about the danger they are in near the bottom of the table and you suspect it arrived the moment they returned to the dressing room at Spurs.
Relegation does not respect reputation or past history. Many clubs with a rich past have discovered this painful reality, and if Everton continue in the shambolic fashion in which they subsided at Spurs they will be the latest to find out.
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