Confidence is rapidly waning in Ronald Koeman's Everton project after a succession of heavy defeats. The latest, a 3-0 reversal against Atalanta in Thursday's Europa League opener, showed a side not just low on confidence, but also seemingly incapable of getting out of the rut Koeman's men currently find themselves in.
There are mitigating factors aplenty, from the failure to recruit a proper replacement for Romelu Lukaku to a gruelling fixture list that has included several Europa League ties alongside three of last season's top six in the Premier League. Others will also point to this being a transitional period while new signings fully settle on Merseyside.
Yet negative results only tell part of the story. Under the Dutchman, Everton are a side without an identity- and on the whole performances have been even worse than the scorelines suggest. Goalkeepers Jordan Pickford and Maarten Stekelenburg further spared their blushes against Tottenham and Atalanta respectively.
There is, at the very least, some sort of acceptance that things need to change. Speaking immediately after Thursday's game in Italy, Koeman admitted that he needed to shoulder the blame for the hugely disappointing run: "I ask myself questions on what I was doing wrong against Tottenham, because it's not how I like to see my team.
"We can play bad football, we can miss chances, but the commitment and passion Atalanta showed was much bigger than ours.
"It's not the time to criticise players, I criticise myself because the team was not prepared tonight. The whole team of Atalanta was much better, once again that's the manager."
While refreshing to hear a manager speak so candidly about his own shortcomings, Koeman's own admission that the team was not adequately prepared for such a game should sound real alarm bells.
Atalanta captain Alejandro Gomez rifles in a screamer to double their lead over Everton 💥
Much has been made of the ex-Southampton boss' supposedly pragmatic style as a manager, however, as it stands, he appears incapable of finding a winning formula that suits his expensively assembled squad. At present, he's akin to a maths student using the same flawed formula to find the answer to an equation they keep getting wrong. Just about every way you turn, the buck stops with the manager.
A day later and the same doubts remain- both from Koeman about his own ability and supporters as to whether he can turn it around. Asked about the lack of reaction against Atalanta, the usually confident Koeman revealed he was 'worried' by what he saw on the pitch. Rightly so, given the worrying nature of his side's latest capitulation.
“I’m worried after what I saw yesterday," he said. "I wasn’t worried after Chelsea. The reaction should have started in the second half against Tottenham.
“But that and the first half against Atalanta is enough reason to be worried. We had a bad run for a time last season, and I have confidence we can get out of this run. We knew at the start of the season, with the Europa League (it would be difficult)."
The problem, as most see it, is Koeman's insistence on keeping faith with the same relatively small pool of underperforming players. Faced with a lack of width and pace in forward areas, he has attempted to shoehorn several playmakers into his side in a formation that so evidently lacks balance. After seeing an attacking midfield trident of Wayne Rooney, Davy Klaassen and Gylfi Sigurdsson fail so spectacularly at home to Tottenham, the Dutchman's solution in northern Italy was to play two of the aforementioned three in similar roles again. Against sides that dominate possession, Everton have no way of quickly transitioning other than to play the ball long up to lone strikers who seem ill-suited to the brief.
Ronald Koeman accepts the blame for Everton's defeat...
It's still early days for new signings, but there's also no semblance of a strategy for replacing Lukaku's goal threat. Merely lining up a number of supposedly productive players in a flawed system has not, nor will be, enough moving forward. As a result, Koeman's Blues haven't scored in 341 minutes of action. They've also registered just two shots on target in the last three games. Goals, at least until the January window, could well be in short supply. Another way has to be found.
Worryingly, though, for a side struggling in the final third, the defence has also been routinely exposed by both crosses and pacey attackers that look to turn them round. Unable to rely on Lukaku's potency to bail them out, Everton have sat back and looked to stifle top sides. Such an approach can work on occasion, but what happens if the opposition score early on? What comes next?
Frustration is now setting in as a number of potential solutions have either been ostracised or neglected. Enough has been said about Ross Barkley's ongoing situation, but his injury means that he was never going to be part of the solution anyway. Instead, it's the failure to integrate talented youngsters such as Ademola Lookman and Jonjoe Kenny- two Under-20 World Cup winners- that best symbolises Koeman's current myopia.
Faced with injuries to key performers Seamus Coleman and Yannick Bolasie, the stage seemed set for the young duo to stake their claim. Kenny, the club's Under-23 Player of the Season last time around, is an adventurous full-back capable of providing penetration from deep. However, despite being the nearest fit stylistically to Coleman, former Southampton squad-filler Cuco Martina has been favoured in the right-back berth. Lookman, meanwhile, has been one of the players to pay the price for Koeman's insistence on fitting both Rooney and Sigurdsson into his side. The resultant absence of width in Everton's forward play is thus not at all surprising.
Most galling of all, though, has been the veritable absence of spirit after going behind. Against each of Chelsea, Spurs and Atalanta, not only was the game over at half-time, but an expected reaction was never forthcoming. Even the very basics, such as effort and determination, seem to have gone out of the window. Talk of the Dutchman having lost the dressing room abounds- even if it is nothing other than conjecture at this moment in time.
All this means that Koeman's role is now up for discussion for the first time in his Everton career. Improvements were made last season in taking the Blues from 11th place to European qualification, yet a lack of progress will not be tolerated at boardroom level. Too much money has been spent for the same glass ceiling to be in place again.
For now, Sunday's match against Manchester United at Old Trafford appears a step too far, so focus will instead shift onto a run of four back-to-back home games in which both supporters and the club's hierarchy will expect vastly improved results. The pressure is on. What comes next could well define Koeman's Goodison tenure.
