Former defender Alan Stubbs is unsure where Everton should turn to for their next manager but has demanded that the players take a "huge amount of responsibility".
Only a superior goal-difference spares them being on the foot of the Premier League table with Southampton currently occupying 20th.
A 2-0 defeat to West Ham was the final match of Frank Lampard's tenure at Goodison Park as he was sacked on Monday evening. The dismissal comes after a run of one win in their last 14 games and a second defeat in as many games against a relegation rival.
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Seven days earlier James Ward-Prowse's brace downed the Blues at Goodison Park and at the same time the following week, Jarrod Bowen netted twice to ease the Hammers home.
Marcelo Bielsa and Sean Dyche are two of the names mooted in the aftermath of Lampard's exit with the former Leeds boss among the leading contenders.
However, Stubbs - who made 192 appearances for the Blues - says it's difficult to choose a manager to steer Everton out of the mire for a second time in as many seasons.
"Right now it's very difficult. In terms of the people who have been linked with the job, I know Duncan [Ferguson] has been linked with it but they overlooked Duncan quite a few months ago for whatever reason, the owner or Bill Kenwright will have to answer to that," he told Sky Sports. "Wayne [Rooney] has obviously been linked but in terms of experience coming into a job as big as this - would he want it?
"I've got to be honest I don't think this would faze Wayne, he's always taken big decisions in his life so this wouldn't faze him. I've got to be really honest, I don't really know where Everton turn to. I really don't.
"Right now as we speak, what we're seeing on the pitch, we are staring relegation in the face. It kills me, absolutely kills me sitting here saying that live on TV - it really does," Stubbs painfully admitted after being asked if the Blues would have the best stadium in the Championship next season.
"Everton should not be anywhere near where they are right now. Right now, we're going down and the players have got to take a huge amount of responsibility, do whatever they need to do, to drag this club off the floor because that's where we are now."
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