It was hoped the appointment of Duncan Ferguson to Everton interim manager would have delivered a better result against Aston Villa on Saturday.
However, the 1-0 defeat to Steven Gerrard’s side only enhanced the Blues precarious position as the threat of relegation grows.
It’s now considered a necessity that the board quickly appoints a new long-term manager who can help steer the club away from the bottom three.
The Everton board has reportedly looked at the likes of Roberto Martinez, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney so far.
However, it’s the surprise name Vitor Pereira that’s now apparently the club’s frontrunner.
FOLLOW LIVE: Vitor Pereira latest as Everton new manager search continues
It’s thought Everton’s interest in the Portuguese manager is being pushed by his agent Kia Joorabchian who is a close friend of Farhad Moshiri.
Pereira himself has experience managing across a host of different countries, from Portugal, Greece, Turkey, China and Germany.
With Porto, he sealed two league titles, whilst he won the Greek title with Olympiakos and the Chinese league and Super Cup with Shanghai SIPG.
Pereira was actually thought to have turned down Everton interest back in 2019 following Marco Silva’s exit, opting to stay in China and see out a title-winning campaign with Shanghai.
Despite those successes though, there have also been notable disappointments.
He oversaw 1860 Munich’s relegation from the Bundesliga II in 2017 and has been dismissed by several other clubs, including Fenerbahce as recently as last month after just six months in role with the club trailing to league leaders Trabzonspor by 14 points.
This indifferent CV makes it tough to really analyse how good Pereira is, but at least in terms of getting a feel for his management style and philosophy, it’s better to look at his Shanghai side.
Across his final season in China, Shanghai finished second in the table, six points behind winners Shandong Taishan.
They ranked fifth in the division in terms of ball possession, and third in terms of PPDA - a metric used to analyse how aggressive a team press high up the pitch.
A high possession average and pressing aggressively are two traits you often associate with sides who like to play a dominating style.
Yet there were six sides who finished with a higher average in terms of passes attempted per minute of possession, whilst Pereira’s men also ranked top for progressive runs made.
What this indicates is that as manager, he wasn’t as obsessed with possession for the sake of it and there would be more freedom to this team’s play in parts.
In terms of how the above translated into output, his side finished as the league’s third-highest scorers. They also finished sixth in terms of the highest average number of shots attempted per 90 and second in terms of xG.
At the other end, they conceded the fewest number of goals and had the third-lowest xG-against.
All of the above paints Pereira’s men as one of the better sides in the division, and worthy of their top-two finish.
However in truth, the same doesn’t really justify the links with Everton. Shanghai Port haven't finished outside the top five since 2013, and are regulars at the top end of the table, irrespective of who is in charge.
And whilst Pereira has enjoyed some notable success closer to home, not much has come in recent times.
Tactically, Everton players may be able to adjust to his tactics which on the surface don’t seem too onerous, yet there’s a real concern based on his lack of success in recent other roles that he won’t be the right manager to guide Everton away from their troubles.
