Jamie Carragher says Donny van de Beek 's lack of athleticism and physicality is indicative of a "frightening" problem at Everton.
The Toffees were hammered 5-0 by Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night and Manchester United loanee Van de Beek was hauled off by manager Frank Lampard before the hour mark.
The wretched performance led Carragher to point out one of Everton's mounting issues as they sit just one point above the relegation zone, claiming they are "weak" and "soft" amid their fight to stay in the Premier League.
"Whenever you see teams who are worst in the league away from home, the first thing that comes to mind is they're weak, they're soft. That can never be Everton, it can't," Carragher, who grew up a Toffees fan, affirmed on Sky Sports.
"If Everton are not going to be good enough, it can be quality, and they're not, they're miles away, as I said that back four is Championship level but for Everton not to be physical, aggressive, making it tough.
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"That's just what Everton have always been, even when they've not been at the best. Fundamentally this group of players at this club is so weak now. The lack of athleticism in that Everton team is frightening.
"When you look at midfield, Allan can't run, Donny van de Beek's come in, he can't run. None of the back four can run.
"Harry Kane was running past Michael Keane for one of the goals. Harry Kane is not sprint champion. We've seen Seamus Coleman two or three times, I feel for him right now, but people are just running off him.
"They're weak physically and that's a massive problem going forward for them."
While Van de Beek - on loan until the end of the season - has impressed in patches since his January deadline-day transfer, Everton have won just one league game and lost the other four since.
And pressure on Lampard increased tenfold after the humiliating loss at Tottenham, having been 2-0 down after just 17 minutes, with the Toffees boss ruing his side's individual errors.
"The main issues were mistakes and bad defending for the goals. It wasn't just the defensive situations – at the top end of the pitch we didn't show enough," Lampard lamented.
"Even when we were in relative control we didn't threaten their backline. There's a clear discrepancy in home and away form, issues that were there before me and don’t take care of themselves overnight.
"But rather than being about home and away, if you make those mistakes you're going to struggle. It's important to remain positive but we can't shy away from the mistakes we made tonight."
