Everton will have to wait until next season for another shot at winning the FA Cup.
A miserable afternoon at the Hill Dickinson Stadium ended with Sunderland knocking the Toffees out on penalties, as David Moyes somehow failed to see his side beat Robin Roefs once from 12 yards in the shootout.
After James Garner, Thierno Barry and Beto all missed from the spot, Everton have now made a piece of unwanted history in the FA Cup and also a bit of club history.
Everton fail to score in a penalty shootout for the first time ever and join exclusive FA Cup club too
Everton have now failed to score in a penalty shootout for the first time in history.
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Not only that, but the Toffees have also made unwanted FA Cup history.
Before losing to Sunderland, only one top-flight club in the history of the FA Cup had lost a penalty shootout in the competition without scoring a single effort.
That unwanted tag was held by Blackburn, who coincidentally suffered an FA Cup defeat to Sunderland as well without netting in the shootout back in February 2003.
Now, however, Everton – who earned £26,500 from the defeat – have joined Blackburn in this highly exclusive club.
It was Opta who revealed the harrowing statistic, posting on X (previously known as Twitter): “Everton are only the second top-flight side to lose an FA Cup penalty shootout without scoring any of their penalties in that shootout, after Blackburn against Sunderland in February 2003. Tame.”
Moyes will undoubtedly be both disappointed and embarrassed, as his final chance of winning a trophy this season came to an abrupt end.
David Moyes has to sort Thierno Barry and Beto out
Everton have had poor strikers over the years – such as Salomon Rondon and Cenk Tosun – but Barry and Beto are truly giving them all a run for their money to be the worst.
Not only did the pair – who cost a combined £52.4m – fail miserably with feeble attempts from the spot, but they were also once again sloppy in possession.
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At one stage, Barry failed to even move out of the way to allow a ball down the line to run through, simply standing there and letting it go out for a throw off his stomach. In regards to Beto, the Guinea-Bissau international looked like he was struggling to actually run with no sign of an injury.
Moyes simply has to do something, as Everton are going nowhere relying on these two.
Whether that means the Glaswegian needs to ramp up their training at Finch Farm, or sign a new striker to make them fear for their place, something needs to give.
Everton are keen on Artem Dovbyk as one potential solution, the Roma No.9 who has been compared to Romelu Lukaku.
If nobody arrives to challenge Barry and Beto, Everton fans will surely start to write off the second half of the season.
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