With the international break now over, attention is swiftly turning back to the Premier League as we enter the final two months of the campaign. It's going to be a crucial period in the history of Everton football club with relegation still a lingering and real possibility.
As things stand, the Toffees sit only one place and three points above the relegation zone, albeit with games in hand on almost all of their nearby rivals. Yet even so, there's little faith in this Everton side turning those games into valuable points.
Frank Lampard's men did of course secure a crucial three points just before the international break, beating Newcastle 1-0 at Goodison Park, despite going down to ten men. The shine was taken off of that result though three days later when the Toffees were well beaten 4-0 away at Crystal Palace in the FA Cup quarter-final.
READ MORE: Lucas Digne comments offer Frank Lampard blunt reminder of new Everton issue
READ MORE: Stark truth on how important Yerry Mina is to Everton's defence
Everton actually started that game brightly, just as they did two weeks earlier away to Tottenham, yet both games ended in heavy losses. An inability to turn good pressure into goalscoring opportunities combined with a fragile defence inevitability proved to be their downfall.
Although Everton weren't able to capitalise on their bright starts in either of those fixtures, there were at least signs that Lampard's men were aiming to start games quicker and on the front foot - something missing for all too much of the campaign so far.
This point is highlighted by Everton's woeful scoring record in the first half so far this season. At present, no Premier League side has scored fewer goals before half-time than Everton's total of eight. Furthermore, their share of their goals scored in this period (28 per cent - 8/29) also happens to be the lowest in the division.
This is a problem that started under Rafael Benitez. It was no secret that the Spanish coach prioritised defence over attack, especially in the early stages of matches. Too often, his game plan seemed to be to keep a game tight early on, before then trying to nick goals in the latter stages.
His record highlights though that it rarely proved a successful tactic. But this shouldn't come as a surprise given that multiple studies have determined in the Premier League, the team who scores first tends to win the match 7/10 times.
Although there has been signs that Lampard is trying to rectify this issue, the harsh reality is that so far, he's been unable to do so - Everton have scored in the opening 45 minutes in just two of their last 13 Premier League games.
Given the direct correlation between scoring first, and winning football matches, it's pivotal that Lampard finds a way to start making Everton stronger early in their fixtures.
