Everton already faces impending death as a ship without a rudder.
The horrifically depressing match on Sunday against Arsenal served as a stark reminder of the gravity of the situation at Everton this year.
There is nothing new about this because it is a recurring topic. However, there are alarming indications that, if it’s even conceivable, things are growing worse.
Everton was completely overpowered by an Arsenal team that wasn’t playing at its peak because they lacked determination, focus, energy, and attacking skill.
Again, we have witnessed poor performances by Blues teams season after season. But it seems to me that this team and its players no longer live up to even the most fundamental standards.
The one thing that Toffees fans used to typically expect was a genuine desire to battle and compete at home even if they lacked the skill to match the rival, if nothing else.
However, even that was absent on Sunday, as Everton immediately gave their opponents all of the impetus.
The squad had to resort to having Jordan Pickford throw long balls forward from the goalmouth because the midfield was annoyingly lacking in bite and press to try to win the ball high up.
The fact that the home team only managed to win one corner the entire game highlights the complete lack of attacking threat.
The recent spate of Blues goals, including the decisive one against Arsenal in February, had all come from set-pieces, so the absence of chances was particularly worrisome to observe.
Even when they were awarded a corner, all it was was a ball pushed aimlessly into the area, making the Arsenal goalkeeper and defenders easy pickings.
This is again another illustration of how the team seems to be regressing constantly under a manager who was supposed to be an authority on set-pieces.
Then, with the score still nil-nil and the points still up for grabs, Dyche made the decision to remove Beto.
Why did he keep using a formation that did not work and severely isolated his starting striker? Why not combine them up front and observe what transpires while there is still a match to be won?
Instead, Everton fell behind after only three minutes, and the game was gone.
I have previously stated numerous times that Dyche needs to immediately switch things up or he and the club will just run out of time.
He needs to take more risks and reconsider his methods, giving us all the impression that there is a plan to win some football games rather than just avoid defeat all the time.
That might mean switching to a 4-4-2 formation with Beto and Calvert-Lewin linked up front to complement each other, and shifting James Garner into central midfield to give much-needed forward passing skills.
Alternatively, try a 4-3-3 formation with Dwight McNeil and Arnaut Danjuma or Jack Harrison on either side of the center-forward.
If the manager does not do something to change this suffocating sense of lethargy and almost absolute lack of ambition, the pressure for a new coach will mount once more.
I’m sure there was once a film in which a group of people came across a floating luxury liner with no one on board, essentially a ghost ship drifting along with no apparent direction towards eventual death.
Everton is the ship’s football equivalent. A club with all the external trappings of its former brilliance, but now merely a pale shell of that former self as it appears to be heading for relegation.
