Lacklustre Blues fall to late winner as Burnley complete their smash and grab.
Everton remained on top of the game from the first minute to the last, but it was a Maarten Stekelenburg howler and a late goal from Scott Arfield that sunk the blues as their torrid run continues.
The Toffees had the majority of the ball but it was in the final third that they were unable to capitalise on the pressure, the front three of Mirallas, Lukaku and Bolasie all being frustrated by a stubborn Burnley defence.
Bolasie gave the traveling support hope as he blasted a low shot into the far corner in the second-half, with the Blues piling on the pressure after that. With Everton having set their sights firmly on all three points, Burnley looked to counter-attack and did so effectively in the 90th minute when a shot came back off the bar, Arfield providing the finish to sink the Toffees.
Ronald Koeman must now lift the team ahead of a difficult game against West Ham at Goodison after the Hammers scored a late goal to down Sunderland this afternoon.
Old habits die hard
We always know it’s coming, and it always does.
There is something about late winners/equalisers against the Blues after dominating the game, it’s almost as if it’s written in the stars.
After such a resilience against Manchester City last weekend, Koeman needs to iron out these lapses in concentration as soon as possible.
Tale of two keepers
While Stekelenburg was the villain at one end, Tom Heaton was the hero at the other.
A string of fabulous saves kept Everton from finding a way back in the game, and time and time again was equal to the Blues attacking threat.
On the other hand, it is a day to forget for Maarten after his heroics against Manchester City. It certainly made for unpleasant viewing.
We're not quite there up front
Yes, Bolasie got a goal, but did he have a good performance? Certainly not.
He was dire for the entire game prior to his strike, with Kevin Mirallas showing decent sparks early on but fading for the other 80 minutes.
Romelu Lukaku is a world class striker, but we can’t rely on him to create and score chances for himself. Those around him, Gerard Deulofeu, Bolasie, Kev and even Aaron Lennon need to ensure they provide the Belgian with enough ammunition.
Unfortunately, for the past few weeks, they just haven’t done that.
Don’t be surprised to see two of the four leave in January.
Where do we go from here?
It was all happy days early on in the season, but the past month has really brought us back down to earth.
So the question now is, what are we targeting for the season and what is actually realistic?
At this point, top six looks extremely far away and maybe another season of mid-table mediocrity is upon us should Koeman turn us around.
All we know is, we need to make it to January and really access what we can achieve.
Hopefully, a few fresh faces can really turn us on the straight and narrow.
Commence operation deadwood removal
It will be hard to take, but if we have ambitions of truly moving forward it’s time to say goodbye to some of our favourite faces.
Gerard Deulofeu / Kevin Mirallas – We love them, and they can produce magic, but do they really do it often enough? Be honest.
Tom Cleverley – Slick on the ball, but what else does he really offer?
Muhamed Besic / Darron Gibson – Spend more time on the operating table than on the pitch. No matter how good they can be, that’s not good enough for us.
Arouna Kone / Enner Valencia – Not good enough, next.
Joel Robles – Stekelenburg is good, but let’s be honest we need someone who is really going to push him for that starting role, and that player isn’t Joel.
Replace these with motivated, forward thinking, top level players and we can finally start to look forward. As long as we continue to carry players through their careers, hoping they are going to come good, we are not going to move forward.