Former Everton defender Alan Stubbs believes the current squad is 'worse' now than it was before Farhad Moshiri's investment.
The Blues suffered defeat in the Merseyside derby as they were beaten 2-0 by their city rivals after a goal either side of half-time from Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo.
As a result, Sean Dyche was handed his first defeat since taking charge at Goodison Park with the attention now turning to their showdown with Leeds United on Saturday. The former Blues defender insists that the 51-year-old has to strike the right balance between his side being hard to beat and winning football matches.
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"I think the confidence Everton would've got from the Arsenal game didn't spill over into this game, I think Everton from the first whistle tried to stay in the game," he said speaking to Stadium Astro after their defeat at Anfield. "I think if they would've put more pressure on the Liverpool backline, I think there might've been something in the game for them but they never ever at all threatened during the game.
"Everton started to pass the ball and have a bit more confidence when they were 2-0 down and on 70 minutes, the games gone then it was all too late. I didn't ever think from the first whistle Everton had a chance of winning the game," Stubbs added, noting how Dyche's side began to show their threat late on.
"Everton are 20th for goals scored, 19th shots on target and 18th for chances created and when you look at that stat it's quite a damning stat. When you need goals to win games then you realise that's why Everton are in the predicament they're in.
"I think he [Dominic Calvert-Lewin] would've done better than Ellis Simms - it was a tough night for Ellis Simms and I felt sorry for him because the service wasn't great. It necessarily wouldn't have been any different with Calvert-Lewin there and it all comes back to Everton's transfer window, how they never signed any attacking players, it baffles me and that's why there's been questions about the board and squad, it comes back to that.
"It's very deep-rooted, the problem that Sean Dyche has got to weigh up is how much he leans towards being hard to beat and how much he leans towards winning football, he's got to get that balance right.
"The problems are deep-rooted, it goes back to the owner who's been here for seven years and the transfers that have been brought in have been really poor. Believe it or not, we've spent over £500m and this team is worse now than it was before they spent a penny."
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