Everton suffered a heavy defeat to Sunderland in their final home match of the Premier League season.
David Moyes’ side were beaten convincingly at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in the end, with the visitors netting three second-half goals to win 3-1.
Everton’s European hopes were already fading heading into the game, and now they are over before the last game of the campaign.
How do you even sum that up? 😡
Everton end their home campaign on a whimper 😫
It’s been a really disappointing end to a much-improved season, and naturally, that’s brought some criticism on Moyes.
The Scotsman has done a solid job overall, but there are some growing concerns about one aspect of his management that Regis Le Bris totally exposed on Sunday afternoon.
- READ MORE: Angus Kinnear’s comments about Thierno Barry are baffling and Everton fans won’t fall for it
Regis Le Bris changed the game with subs whilst David Moyes waited
Everton started brightly and went 1-0 up through Merlin Rohl just before half-time.
The Toffees could’ve gone into the break with a bigger advantage and I’m sure Moyes will point to that in his post-match press conference.
But that wasn’t where the game was won and lost. Quite simply, Le Bris exposed the Scotsman’s stubbornness.
Which Everton player should not be started next week against Spurs? 😬
The Sunderland boss made four second-half substitutions, with three of those made in one window during the 77th minute.
Four minutes later, Enzo Le Fee scored the second to put the visitors in front, meanwhile, Moyes had only made two up to that point.
The 63-year-old was reactive rather than proactive, as Tyrique George and Thierno Barry were only brought on after Everton had already been pegged back level.
That’s been a common theme all season, with Moyes clearly very trusting of the old guard and far too cautious about sending on some of the newer recruits or young players.
Yet again, it was another game where the £40m summer signing Tyler Dibling didn’t even get a single minute.
Carlos Alcaraz was also an unused substitute and Adam Aznou, who looked bright off the wing against Sunderland in the FA Cup game earlier this year, wasn’t even in the matchday squad.
Moyes must start to move this squad forward and integrate the newer faces, otherwise, the Friedkin Group will surely think twice about giving him another £100m to spend this summer transfer window.
Receive a digest of our best Everton content each week direct to your mailbox
