Back problems
What’s Everton’s strongest defence?
You’d struggle to put out a convincing argument that it was the one that took to the field here.
Gary Neville, one of the greatest right-backs of the Premier League era decided to hang up his boots on the spot after one particular chasing at West Bromwich Albion.
Blues captain Seamus Coleman isn’t close to anything as drastic as that yet but the club’s failure to sign a long-term successor for him is catching up with them.
They finally found a candidate for that role in the January transfer window but Nathan Patterson still has only 45 minutes of action – at home to non-league opponents – so far.
You wonder if the young Scot might see his game time increasing now though after what was a tough night for the captain, and indeed the whole backline.
Jordan Pickford will surely have been disappointed with the way he allowed Heung-Min Son’s shot to squirm under his body for Tottenham’s second goal but as the hosts continued to attack at will and pull the visitors apart, at least he redeemed himself somewhat with a string of saves.
PLAYER RATINGS: Mason Holgate and nine others abysmal in Tottenham Hotspur thrashing
ADAM JONES VERDICT: Everton face the unthinkable as disgraceful defeat proves major Frank Lampard concern right
Those in front of him continued to flounder though.
England captain Harry Kane didn’t even have to touch the ball for Tottenham’s opener as his mere presence seemed to enable Michael Keane to channel his dead-eyed finishing in the area – and emphatically beat his own keeper.
It was even more damning that throughout a wretched first half together, the closest either of Everton’s centre-backs got to taking someone out was when Keane fell to the deck after being struck in the face from close range by an attempted clearance from Mason Holgate.
But along with teenager Jarrad Branthwaite – who saw his side concede less than a minute after coming on – they’re the only central defensive options Frank Lampard has got.
The returns to fitness (and maintaining of fitness) of Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey can’t come soon enough to bolster the Blues’ survival hopes.
Toothless up front
A defence in disarray combined with an attack with no bite is an alarming combination for Everton right now.
In the build-up to this game, Richarlison told us all that he’d informed new manager Lampard that centre-forward is his preferred position but four goals in the Premier League suggest otherwise.
Part of his reckoning is that he plays that position for his national team and any player who leads the line for Brazil is clearly by default supremely gifted but such talent needs to start manifesting itself into tangible results for Everton.
It was hoped that Richarlison’s spectacular bicycle kick goal at Norwich City might at least have provided one shaft of light from an otherwise miserable day and spark a new purple patch of scoring for the player, but there’s been nothing since from him in the competition.
He hardly had a sniff here – either cutting in from the left – or in the central role he occupied later on when the game had long gone.
As one of the biggest stars and personalities in this squad, Lampard needs Richarlison to start delivering quickly.
SNAP ANALYSIS: Frank Lampard left with no hiding place as his Everton reality clear
JAMIE CARRAGHER: Slams Everton's 'Championship' defence and pinpoints Frank Lampard's 'big problem'
The same goes for the man who did spearhead the attack here, Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Last season, the Blues number 9’s match-winner in this corresponding fixture on the opening day would spark a 21-goal campaign for him.
How his team have missed that potency this term.
Things started well enough with three goals in three games before the end of August but then a quadriceps injury for a player who in the past had been so durable, left him on the sidelines for the next four months.
It’s been stop-start for the Sheffield-born player since then and he’s still yet to find the net since his return.
Perhaps, like Richarlison, he just needs one, but right now he’s not even getting close.
True, both have been starved of service, but the truly great strikers like Harry Kane here, are able to fashion their own chances.
Going down fighting?
It was perhaps typical of Everton that the only time they showed any fight in this fixture was after the half-time whistle had already sounded.
Trailing 3-0 and trudging off the field in a game that was already lost, tempers flared and several members of both sides had to be kept apart.
If only the Blues displayed such battling qualities when the ball was in play.
Back in 2018, when Tottenham were still temporary residents at Wembley while work on the magnificent arena in which they now reside was still continuing, Sam Allardyce’s Everton side were beaten 4-0.
Now, over four years on, despite supposed big improvements in terms of personnel, they suffered an even heavier loss and have gone backwards with the millions spent on recruitment seemingly squandered.
Add your own Everton player ratings here
By the end of that season, Farhad Moshiri was able to find himself in the relative comfort of being able to sack a manager who’d finished eighth because his style of play was not easy enough on the eye.
In truth, ‘Fireman Sam’ didn’t have many actual flames to put out given that he finished his first week in charge in the top half of the table.
In contrast, there is now a raging inferno engulfing the club in terms of their form.
As much as Lampard offers the promise of hope, he desperately needs to halt the slide of a team with just one win from their last 10 Premier League fixtures.
There’s no point in raising your game to be unlucky losers against Manchester City if you’re going to capitulate in such spectacular fashion like this in your next game in the competition.
Fallen Idol
Everton’s highly-structured deal for Dele Alli may yet prove to be an inspired piece of business but if they are to get him playing his best football again, it looks like it could be a slow burner.
Some national media outlets like to spin certain narratives when it comes to various clubs and, while certain deals are quoted with their base fee, Dele’s transfer deadline day move to Goodison Park was erroneously claimed to be worth £40million.
You seldom get something for nothing from that famed tough negotiator Daniel Levy, but if the Blues do end up paying top dollar for the former Tottenham man then it will be because he has returned to those fabled levels that ensured the prestigious CIES Football Observatory in Switzerland once considered him to be the highest-value midfielder in the global game.
For now, such aspirations appear a long way off though as the 25-year-old continues to shake off the rust.
The fact that he cannot yet command a regular starting spot in an Everton side struggling as badly as they are, tells us much of what we need to know.
Back in 2018/19, Tottenham, under Mauricio Pochettino, were at their potent best and Blues fans won’t need reminding that they came within 90 minutes of Champions League success.
That season they triumphed 6-2 at Goodison and while Kane and Son, who both bagged braces that day, continue to torment Everton, Dele, another of their scorers from the fixture, has endured a spectacular fall from grace.
There is certainly no ill-will from his former fans though who greeted his entrance with a warm reception and, while many had already left the stadium before the full-time whistle given the one-sided nature of the game (we can’t say ‘contest’), he was also given an emotional round of applause afterwards.
To be fair to Spurs supporters, they’d have probably been generous to their ex-star regardless of the scoreline but the fact their team were 5-0 up and cruising certainly made it a lot easier for them.
While Dele, returning for the first time since he left, seemed understandably choked by their gesture, hopefully it will increase his determination to get back to the heights he once scaled.
Here he or his team-mates posed no threat to Tottenham and save from a telescopic leg that found Kane in a challenge, there was nothing to upset them.
