Everton failed to find the back of the net once more when they crashed out of the FA Cup to Crystal Palace at the weekend. The Blues conceded four at the other end of the pitch, but hardly threatened Patrick Vieira's side following a promising opening 15 minutes to the game.
Richarlison started up front at Selhurst Park but has only found the back of the net once in his last 11 matches, bagging in Frank Lampard's first game in charge against Brentford. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was introduced from the bench at the weekend, but he's still in search of his first goal since the end of August, where he scored a penalty away to Brighton.
The latest edition of our Royal Blue podcast was heavily focused on a number of issues the manager is facing at Goodison Park right now, including a lack of goals at the top end of the pitch. Host Adam Jones asked Gavin Buckland if he is at all concerned about Everton's strikers, but he made clear that the form of those up front is not necessarily to blame for the Blues' blunt attack.
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Adam: " Gav, we can talk about a lack of service all we want, but it's another game without a goal scored for Everton. And to be quite honest, Richarlison never really looked like scoring, Calvert-Lewin - who came on at potentially a difficult time - didn't look like scoring either.
"How concerned are you about those two as a pair?"
Gav: " This is to do with the midfield as well isn't it? Creativity is very, very limited. The only person who looked like a threat was Demarai Gray when he came on, who had a couple of shots.
"Richarlison, you're talking about marginal gains, one of the most important things in football is to get your players to kick with both feet. That chance in the first half was just waiting to be leathered with his left foot wasn't it?
"I'm amazed in football how players in the top end of the scale can't kick, some of them have a real weakness on their weaker side. I'm not talking about Richarlison particularly, but just generally with a lot of footballers.
"He tries, but some of his bad habits have returned over the last couple of games. Going to ground too easily, appearing to have a cob on with someone and everyone.
"I think Calvert-Lewin is a finisher, he's not a creator and finisher. It has shown up some of the limitations of our forward players, but I think they could legitimately say that actually - how many assists are they going to get from Abdoulaye Doucoure, Andre Gomes and Anthony Gordon during a game?
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"Our full backs aren't exactly going to fly forward and create opportunities from out wide either, which is a bit difficult when you've got a right-footed left wing-back.
"I'm worried about up front obviously, Gray is our top Premier League scorer this season with five. You've got serious problems at this stage of the season when your leading scorer has five goals.
"Some of it is the lack of creativity though, well a lot of it is the lack of creativity behind them. Our dead ball usage is poor.
"A lot of it just everything to do with the team. Lack of a clear formation, lack of creativity. I wouldn't blame the forwards for not scoring the goals."
