Everton have been knocked out of the Europa League after going down 3-0 to Ligue 1 giants Olympique Lyonnais on Thursday evening.
After two seasons out of the European game, Everton’s foray into continental competition is over after just four games.
The Toffees are bottom of their Europa League group after successive defeats to Ligue 1 giants Lyon mean they have picked up just a point from a possible 12 so far. And it rather sums up Everton’s season so far that they more than held their own against the French side at the Parc OL – only to collapse in the final 20 minutes.
Everton were arguably on top by the time Bertrand Traore opened the scoring against the run of play midway through the second half. By full time, Houssem Aouar and Memphis Depay had added further goals in between Morgan Schneiderlin’s sending off for two bookable offences.
And French paper L’Equipe (3rd November, page 6) did not hold back in their post-match assessment of David Unsworth’s crisis-ridden side. The fact that Jordan Pickford was the only Everton player given a match rating of more than five says much.
L’Equipe even went as far as to describe young full-back Jonjoe Kenny as the ‘Flop of the Match’ – his rating of 3/10 the lowest on the pitch on Thursday night.
It’s fair to say academy graduate Kenny has had a week to forget, that humbling at Lyon coming just five days after his sliced clearance gifted Leicester City their second goal in a 2-0 defeat at the King Power Stadium on Sunday.
Though it seems a little harsh to single Kenny out for criticism. The youngster, who moved to left back after Cuco Martina was stretched out in the first half, dealt well with Depay whenever he popped up on the right and also produced an excellent defensive header to stop Nabil Fekir giving Lyon the lead.
Match ratings are debateable but what cannot be argued with is that Everton need to turn things around and fast.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
