It was a desperately sad send-off but, in many ways, the most Everton of farewells. Seamus Coleman made the pitch for what will likely be his final appearance at the end of a 17-year career with the Blues, committed an uncharacteristic error of judgement that led to a goal, and then trudged around a mostly empty Hill Dickinson Stadium with his family afterwards, the vast majority of supporters having left in disgust before full-time.
As this match against Sunderland approached the mark, the afternoon was on course to be a wholly different affair. Despite having put in a desperately poor first-half performance, Everton were ahead through Merlin Röhl’s deflected strike and, with results going their way elsewhere, very much in the mix for European qualification heading into the final day next weekend.
Then, in a manner so in keeping with their form at Bramley-Moore Dock this season and their recent porousness at the back, they imploded. Jake O’Brien gifted the Black Cats possession with an awful lay-off and Brian Brobbey equalised; Morgan Le Fée later turned the contest on its head and Wilson Isidor rubbed salt into open wounds in stoppage time.
This was the culmination of five weeks of blown chances, mental fragility and physical fatigue since that stirring win over Chelsea that has seen Everton go from Champions League outsiders to depressing mid-table mediocrity.
Chief Executive, Angus Kinnear, spoke in his programme notes of being “happily dissatisfied” with the progress made this season under David Moyes but, with the campaign fizzling out in infuriating fashion, it looks more like consolidation than any tangible steps forward under the veteran manager who spoke of his “disappointment” at the result afterwards but who has overseen a worrying collapse in his side’s form.
With his team having shipped 11 goals in their last five matches, the opportunity was there for Moyes to try something different at the back but, true to his nature, he stuck with the same back four, while also retaining Röhl wide on the right and leaving Tyrique George on the bench.
Röhl repaid his faith with the opening goal while George would show what he might have brought to the day with a terrific cross late on but, on the whole, the the Toffees looked jaded and devoid of any tempo and intensity.
Indeed, after Beto’s poor control from Röhl’s inviting cross had seen an early chance get away from him, it was the visitors who dominated the ball for much of the first period.
Lutsharel Geertruida half-volleyed over in the 20th minute and Nordi Mukiele also cleared Jordan Pickford’s crossbar from distance before James Garner tested Robin Roefs with a drive of his own and Beto glanced a header disappointingly wide from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s cross.
Then, as half-time approached, Everton made a much-needed if somewhat fortuitous breakthrough. Röhl collected the ball outside the Sunderland box, teased his marker to make space for a shot and then fired a left-footer that took a heavy deflection off Granit Xhaka’s boot and flew in.
It should have been the platform from which Moyes’s men went on to solidify their position in the second period against a team that started their first season back in the top flight in explosive fashion but who had in bottom-four form since Christmas.
But Everton continued to be ponderous and largely insipid. Pickford had to block Mukiele’s centre from the byline at his near post and then race back to his line to bat Trai Hume’s wayward cross over his bar.
Then, as has so often been the case lately, came a pivotal moment on the counter-attack in the 57th minute. Dewsbury-Hall sent Ndiaye away with Beto sprinting ahead of him but the Senegalese wasted the chance with an awful delivery that was easily mopped up by the Black Cats’ defence.
Two minutes later, it was 1-1. For reasons best known to O’Brien, the Irishman tried a risky lay-off of a routine high ball to James Tarkowski but gave it straight to Le Fée who played Brobbey in with a quick pass. The Dutch striker bounced Tarkowski onto his backside with strength on the ball before smashing a shot inside Pickford’s near post..
That goal briefly sparked Everton into life and Ndiaye found himself bearing down on goal again at the end of another break but once more he lacked conviction, firing harmlessly into the leg of the nearest defender while O’Brien failed to make immediate amends with a mis-timed header that bounced wide of the target.
If there was hope that Moyes’s 72nd-minute substitutions might propel the Blues to victory, defensive weakness proved to be the Blues’ undoing at the other end.
Sunderland won the ball in the centre circle and worked it down their right through Hulme. He found Habib Diarra who crossed low into the box where Hulme had continued his run to square it to Le Fée and though Pickford should have dealt with it, the midfielder’s shot squirmed inside the far post to make it 2-1 to the visitors.
O’Brien will wonder how he didn’t level matters just four minutes later when he met George’s excellent delivery from the left with a thumping header but Roefs positioned himself well and diverted the ball over with his shoulder.
A desperation move by Moyes to throw Coleman and McNeil on rather than Charly Alcaraz for Röhl and O’Brien made no impact other than for Coleman to opt not to sweep away a carbon-copy cross from Diarra and Isidor gratefully accepted the chance to place it beyond Pickford and kill the game.
There should be no sugar-coating the assessment of this performance. Moyes’s men were unforgivably poor on a day that promised so much and which could have ended with Everton in a prime spot to make Europe.
Instead, Evertonians will reflect despondently on a massive opportunity missed while doubts grow over the club’s trajectory under a manager who put his faith in — and likely overused — a core group of players who ultimately failed to grasp what has been in front of them ever since they destroyed Chelsea here in March.
Rather than eyeing seventh, Everton go into the final day in real danger of falling as low as 14th with just one more point than they managed last term. Kinnear can dress that up as progress if he likes but it won’t wash with many who will feel hugely let down if that’s the way 2025/26 ends.
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