There is no doubt Everton need to strengthen during this transfer window but it is easy to forget the 'new signings' they already possess.
Nathan Patterson, Vitalii Mykolenko and Dele Alli are experiencing their first pre-season with the Blues having arrived on Merseyside in January. Mykolenko impressed toward the end of the last campaign but injury ruined Patterson's first months at Goodison Park. Dele's involvement gradually increased before his substitution proved a turning point in the survival-clinching win against Crystal Palace.
All three played crucial roles on the seaside on Sunday afternoon as Everton scored their first goals - and picked up their first win - of the summer. And, with actual new signing James Tarkowski alongside them, they offered a glimpse of what Frank Lampard's men might be capable of.
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Lampard has not been shy in expressing his desire to have a squad with the flexibility to play four at the back. The Blues' heavy midweek defeat to Minnesota United, which ended the club's US tour, exposed his side's vulnerabilities when doing that, however, with the Loons repeatedly causing problems from out wide. Against Blackpool Lampard reverted to a back five and was rewarded with promising performances from the two men crucial to making that formation work - Patterson and Mykolenko.
It was Mykolenko who provided Everton's initial threat, the Ukraine international shooting straight at Daniel Grimshaw with the game's first real chance. Minutes later he was back in the Seasiders' box to volley home an inch-perfect Patterson cross. The move had started with Tarkowski, playing on the left side of a centre back partnership with Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey, spraying a ball across the pitch toward Anthony Gordon, who let it run to the overlapping Patterson. In a similar position against Arsenal in Baltimore, the Scotland defender had rushed a low cross that was easily cleared. After six minutes at Bloomfield Road he produced a stunning back-post ball straight into the path of Mykolenko, who scored for the first time since his memorable strike at Leicester City in May.
By the 11th minute it was 2-0, Tom Davies heading in from close range after good work by Salomon Rondon, who was starting in the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin who, like Demarai Gray, was left out of the squad as a "precaution".
For the next 35 minutes Everton, in contrast to their two displays in the US, looked stronger, fitter and quicker than their opponents. Key to that was the role of Patterson, whose lung-busting runs continued to cause trouble. He won a corner when refusing to give up on a loose ball and then won another when another sumptuous cross almost picked out Dele.
Blackpool were handed a lifeline on half-time when Gary Madine headed in from point-blank range after Jordan Pickford saved, but was unable to push clear, a long-range effort. Pickford, again named captain, may think he could have done better.
Everton started the second half brightly and their third came from a Mykolenko assist. Substitute Mason Holgate had found Rondon, whose effort was brilliantly tipped wide by Grimshaw only for Mykolenko to recover the loose ball and pick out Dele. Everton's fourth also came from the impressive Dele, who deftly flicked in another clever Patterson cross.
There was a reminder of the Blues' fragility before the fourth goal - Callum Connolly heading in Blackpool's second from a corner. Across a nervy few minutes, former Blue Connolly scored from a corner, another flashed across the box while a third could only be cleared into the path of Josh Bowler, another ex-Everton player facing his old club. Bowler's curling effort was brilliantly saved by Pickford. But the message was clear - as highlighted in the US, work remains to be done at corners.
After a pre-season tour in which the positives achieved off the pitch were undermined by the performances on it, Lampard will take a lot of hope from a win in front of a sold-out travelling crowd that at one point burst into a chorus of, 'we're going to win the league'.
Chief among them will be the displays of Mykolenko and Patterson, who could have had more than the three assists they combined for, and once again the dominating presence of Tarkowski who, when given space to do so, split Blackpool's defence with a number of dangerous passes. He too could have clinched an assist after he set Rondon free, only for the striker's shot to be blocked by a recovering defender. Dele's brace was also welcome - particularly after his glaring miss in Minnesota. The delight of his team-mates was clear when he scored his first with every outfield player making the effort to congratulate him.
No-one at Everton will believe this day at the seaside shows further improvements are not necessary ahead of the start of the club's Premier League season on August 6. But as supporters look to the transfer window for activity, this match offered the suggestion that some familiar faces may be capable of providing new hope.
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