Everton were beaten 5-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Everton’s embarrassing defeat at the hands of Chelsea on Saturday was the clearest indication yet that manager Ronald Koeman has a big job on his hands on Merseyside.
The Blues headed into the game having started well under their new boss, boasting one of the best defensive records in the league.
That came apart at Stamford Bridge as the likes of Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Pedro showed the gulf in class between the two teams.
Everton, missing the likes of Idrissa Gueye and Leighton Baines, looked criminally short of quality.
Bryan Oviedo is not an adequate replacement for Baines, as shown by him being hauled off inside the first half, while Tom Cleverley was anonymous up against N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic.
The fact Koeman was forced to play Yannick Bolasie as a striker alongside Romelu Lukaku further exemplified the lack of options he has available to him.
Without the tireless running of Gueye beside him, Gareth Barry showed his age, while Phil Jagielka looked far past his best in the centre of defence. As Paul Scholes put it on BT Sport, Everton looked old.
Even worse, while Chelsea could bring the likes of Michy Batshuayi and Oscar off the bench, Everton had to rely on youngster Tom Davies and Aaron Lennon.
That was another clear indicator of the distance between these two teams at this moment in time. It was a void that showed to devastating effect on the pitch.
This current Everton side needs a drastic overhaul, with a number of players not up to the level the Blues are aspiring to reach.
It is going to take some time, perhaps as many as three transfer windows, to fix and if Koeman was not aware of it before, he will be now.
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