Everton at Dynamo Kiev: Four Thoughts

That defence

Seriously, what sort of a performance was that?!???! Now Tim Howard has been in the firing line in this column before but not today. The main culprit was Antolin Alcaraz who had one of the worst centre back performances in Everton history. Does the name Per Koldrup ring any bells? Well it was that bad. A complete lack of ability to head the ball, a complete lack of awareness of any opposition players right in front of him, and awareness of teammates positions. And where the hell is Sylvain Distin? Apart from the Paraguayan Seamus Coleman was poor, showing a lack of willingness to take responsibility on a couple of the goals. Gareth Barry? There nominally to defend but woeful on the opening goal. The list could go on.

Roberto Martinez

Once again his decisions affected the outcomes. No John Stones? Why show loyalty to Alcaraz when there was none shown to Garbutt or Robles? No Leon Osman or Darron Gibson, two players who may not be fully fit but could have held the team apart and helped frustrate Dynamo Kiev in the first half before making way for fresh legs after an hour. A change of formation, dumping the successful set-up of the Newcastle game for the old favourite that didn't work. At all. The Spaniard is showing totally the opposite of last season's demonstration of the art of changing the game. The gaffer should be clinging to his job by his fingertips, many better managers have lost their jobs for performing better with worse teams. That's a bad thing.

Brittle confidence

All Evertonians will be praying that one ridiculous performance in Europe doesn't shred the tiny ounce of confidence that two very good performances have put together. The real danger is that the players struggle to shake the memory of that off and spiral towards relegation. Dangerous times for Everton and Roberto Martinez.

Romelu Lukaku

A little ray of light in the darkest Blue winter for years has been the response of Lukaku to fans dissatisfaction and a poor run of form. He may have battered most of his goals against a welcoming Young Boys side but his consistent scoring form, including the confident belter last night, and improved general play bodes well for his future and that of the club. Imagine how many goals he would score in a top ten team. Though the toal is swelled massively by those Europa League goals the Belgian is well on his way to breaking the twenty goal barrier. More in the league though please Romelu.