Tangible hope to draw from a very unfortunate home defeat

Anticlimax.

Same old...

Call last Sunday's performance what you like. There would be something to disappoint everyone about what did and didn't happen against a team who hadn't won at Goodison since the days of Bobby Moore. But what I hope you do want to know is where the silver lining to this cloud of considerable doubt is evident.

A combination of a congested, duration-shortened fixture list, the lack of pre-season rest and preparation in reconditioning for superior expectations and all with a squad laced with all-too-many one-trick-ponies whom offer much, yet can be planned for combat against by scouts and coaches alike. All the above have made the rotation of players a very inconvenient necessity, taking away much of the scope for player chemistry on the pitch, meaning results like last night's an all-too-common possibility.

That, of course, does not offer many of those players any excuses for not trying their best for every second they are/were on the pitch.

This said, the 'silver lining'?
Carlo Ancelotti has had to use substitutions to help spread the performance workload throughout the team and squad.

To do this, he has had to find combinations of starting XI teams that can function together well enough to generate the results other clubs take for granted. Quite clearly, it didn't work against Fulham - and many of us didn't see the funny side of the decision to take off (arguably) our two best performers in Tom Davies and Seamus Coleman. Davies' passing has become simplified, meaning his decisions and accuracy have improved.

Coleman's high energy impact performance was not matched by many of his team-mates, something clearly irritating him before and after his substitution. It was a calculated gamble to do this, and the fact that it failed highlights two key players absent from our available-players; one who will never tolerate the opposition being in possession of the football and another who... hopefully believes the same - and will be available for selection on a reliable basis!?!

Whilst ANY football fan is entitled to expect the team he/she pays to watch to try their very best every game they play, it wasn't just the lack of urgency or focus in playing at their best, what was also very disturbing was that despite this lack of urgency, the expectation that our players could still force a goal at any moment was strangely absent from reality. 

By forcing the issue, I refer back to goals Tim Cahill made his trademark: when only one striker was in the penalty area, the absolute requirement of midfielders to run at their fastest,
to make the task of opposing defenders' to blank out that striker a lot harder - like the Newcastle defeat - just didn't happen. 

How many times did Andre Gomes find Lucas Digne in space on our left flank, but with only Richarlison to pick out?

Ideally, the man to supply that second crossing option would be Abdoulaye Doucoure, as he was bought to provide the box-to-box energy in our midfield performance. Unfortunately, neither he, nor Andre Gomes is a natural out-of-possession guard of defensive lines, meaning neither were inclined to enter the opposing danger area on a sufficient basis.

It's not that difficult, as Doucoure's done this himself at Craven Cottage AND Old Trafford. Sigurdsson too on a Sunday home 1-4 defeat vs West Ham, around the beginning of one of two golden starts to an opening five Premier League season fixture list we've wasted in recent times. Indeed, Ross Barkley scored a 2-2 headed-equaliser at Vicarage Road in this mode. I wonder...

So without trying to pin blame on any one person, be it manager, players, or anyone: the sooner Allan can return, the better. The sooner Gbamin can reveal on the pitch whether Ancelotti has cover for Allan, or if the Juventus midfielder Rabiot (or someone similar) has to be reconsidered in the Summer, the better for all of us too. I haven't looked at how Napoli are doing in Serie A - other than that they beat Fiorentina 6-0 earlier this season, but it wouldn't surprise me if we're not the only club who's discovering how crucial a player he is.

What is for certain; our manager must coach the approach of players' runs into the penalty area, poaching goals when our forward(s) are being held in check - with a huge degree of tough love.

An appetite of goals is now in DCL's game. It needs to be shared - and hungered for.