Football is a results business. It is nothing more than that. You can have all of the passion on the pitch, all of the graft and all of the flair, but if you’re losing games, you’re failing.
Everton, maestros of failure in their own right, have begun to fail at the one thing they had going for them for a long time. They could grind out draws and wins when playing poorly, they could claw themselves back into games when they had to. Ronald Koeman, and before him Roberto Martine,z have destroyed any grit and determination that the team once had.
The fans turned up, somewhat, and as they all expected, they saw Everton roll over for Lyon for 85 minutes.
We’re witnessing some of the worst Everton players, certainly of my lifetime. Throw your Mike Walkers and Walter Smiths at me, but this is abhorrent. When those two names even enter the conversation, it’s time to act.
Here are my Everton player ratings:
Jordan Pickford - 9
Heroic in the face of a seeming never-ending wave of Lyon attacks.
Providing Pickford doesn’t move on soon, he’s going to be something special.
Cuco Martina - 1
I feel tremendously sorry for Martina. He’s incredibly out of his depth at Everton.
However, he seems intent on dragging the rest of the team to the bottom of the ocean with him, as he makes mistake after mistake.
Michael Keane - 1
As Martina, so Keane.
Keane made innumerable mistakes and failed to even look at the Lyon attack before they had flown past him.
There’s a player in there somewhere, he just needs a manager to summon him.
Ashley Williams - 9
It’s weird giving a defender that score when the team loses, but this was one of the best performances of the season from any player.
Look, I couldn’t really care less what he does when the ball isn’t in play or when he’s off the pitch. If a criminal decides to play for Everton and bang in some goals then he can play every game for all I care, I’m not going to Goodison to be an adjudicator.
Williams put in some absolutely brilliant tackles and was the master in the air. He was a constant threat to the opposition in their box – interpret that one how you will – and was leading by example (Again, while the ball was in play).
Mason Holgate - 3
A stupid tackle early on set the tone for Holgate’s night and it didn’t improve much.
His usual defensive tenacity wasn’t there, and his pace was lacking.
He was constantly caught out by Lyon’s tricky wingers and failed to keep up with the speed of play for the most part.
Morgan Schneiderlin - 4
It’s not that Schneiderlin was exceptionally bad, it’s just that he hasn’t done a thing all season. He’s completely docile.
He put in some good tackles, yes, but that isn’t enough to use one midfield spot on.
Tom Davies - 4
Davies saw a lot of the ball but was less than impactful with it. He struggled to bring his usual game to the table, that being direct, quick play and instead was another outlet to play it backwards to.
The system, which puts a chokehold on creativity, is indeed suffocating Davies.
Davy Klaassen - 3
Like Martina, Klaassen appears to be out of depth, unfortunately.
He is too weak, too slow, too scared and too rash to be able to make it.
Maybe David Unsworth can get the best out of him (Yes, clutching straws and all that) but we are yet to see a semblance of ability.
Nikola Vlasic - 6
Not Vlasic’s most impactful night but showed again what a proper winger can do. Picked up the ball in dangerous positions and tried to create.
Kevin Mirallas - 6
A recall for Mirallas and he looked sharp at times. He still falls into his habits of being extremely predictable but there was certainly more there tonight than we have seen in recent months.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 5
Like Mirallas, DCL struggled to get involved for large periods of the game and found himself dropping too deep at times.
He still hasn’t got the goalscoring touch that is needed to succeed, and that has to come quickly.
January is fast approaching.
Subs
Ademola Lookman – 8
Lookman is a level above anything Everton have at the moment. He showed that with incredibly awareness of everything that was going on around him. He was sharp, knew exactly what he wanted to do, but it was just a shame that he didn’t have the teammates to do it.
Dropped on Sunday, probably.
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 3
Decent free-kicks.
Sandro Ramirez – 0
At fault for the loss, Sandro Ramirez is the incarnation of your punishment for saying Romelu Lukaku didn’t work hard enough.