Atalanta 3 Everton 0

It just gets worse.

After the usual pre-game talk of pressing as a unit and finding a response to a dreadful run of form, Ronald Trump was again made to look like a blustering idiot by his players, as Everton began their first Europa League campaign since 2014/15 with a 3-0 hammering away at Italian minnows Atalanta.

I was lucky enough to miss the opening 10 minutes, but if the subsequent 70 were anything to go by it was yet another case of a scoreline that was as flattering as it was comprehensive. Koeman stuck with the same 4-2-3-1 formation that yielded nothing at home to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, with Mason Holgate and Phil Jagielka replacing Cuco Martina and Ashley Williams in defence, and Muhamed Besic, Nikola Vlasic and Dominic Calvert-Lewin coming in for Idrissa Gana Gueye, Davy Klaassen and Sandro Ramirez respectively. Maarten Stekelenburg starting ahead of Jordan Pickford was perhaps the most eyebrow-raising change, but to be fair to the oft-maligned Dutchman, he was one of the better performers on the night.

The hosts took the lead around the midway point of the first half, when one of those weird set piece defending routines that seem to backfire on a number of teams every week only went and backfired. Jagielka had no time to react when an in-swinging corner struck his hip and deflected towards the undefended back post, where Andrea Masiello was being played onside thanks to the decision to have Leighton Baines marking the front. It was poor organisation by any standard, but what made it particularly disconcerting was the fact that, much like the Dele Alli chance that preceded Spurs’ third goal on Saturday, Everton had just moments earlier been given a reprieve when Stekelenburg saved well from the same player. As President George W. Bush so eloquently put it, ‘fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… you can’t fool me twice!’

In keeping with the failure to answer the manager’s repeated calls for a meaningful response following dire showings at Stamford Bridge and again in the aforementioned Spurs game, the goal did nothing to illicit any sort of reaction from the players, who seem to have been constantly under the cosh since Kyle Walker’s sending off in the draw with Manchester City. The home side, playing their first European fixture in 26 years, had the look of a team that smelled blood, as they continued to bite into challenges and move the ball with conviction; and so it came as no surprise when Argentinian playmaker Alejandro Gomez doubled the advantage with a superbly curled strike on 41 minutes. It was quite funny when, in his post-match interview, Koeman mentioned showing his players eight (!) clips of the Atalanta captain cutting inside onto his right foot, as if to say that Farhad Moshiri is lucky not to be expecting an overtime sheet and an expenses invoice on Monday morning.

‘But OK, that’s data roaming charges.’

They say it’s the hope that kills you, so I suppose we should be grateful to Atalanta for sparing us 15 minutes in the half-time hospice by euthanising the game on the cusp of the break. Andrea Petagna, who was an absolute handful up front, reminded the travelling support of what a striker looks like when he collected the ball in Everton’s half, held it up for a few seconds and then centred for the onrushing Bryan Cristante to take ball in his stride and finish from close range. The second half followed much the same pattern, with Petagna hitting the bar after smart work from former Middlesbrough midfielder Marten de Roon, along with a number of missed half-chances that the Italians were never in danger of regretting. The three changes made between the 66th and 76th minutes were barely more than token gestures to the fans that made the journey, with Etrit Berisha’s goal never coming under serious threat until Everton managed to force a couple of corners in the dying moments.

After seeing his defence dominated by Alvaro Morata, Harry Kane and now Petagna, Koeman’s failure to land a centre-forward in the summer has become the pundits’ talking point of choice; so with that in mind, Old Fat Head must be dreading the inevitable headlines when he renews acquaintances with Romelu Lukaku at the weekend. The Belgian has made a flying start at Old Trafford, and such is his proclivity for padding his record against the dregs of the league, you wouldn’t bet against him adding a few to his tally when this struggling Everton side rocks up on Sunday. Still, the sale of Lukaku remains something of a cheap excuse, as while he was undoubtedly the team’s primary source of goals, he contributed very little off the ball, and tended to go missing for long periods of games against the better sides. If it were a case of Everton playing well without finding the net, then yes, it would be fair to point to his departure as being chiefly responsible. However, with nine competitive matches played, the issues appear to go much deeper than a simple lack of a goalscorer.

You would think that, given time, Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Klaassen will find a way to complement one another; but even that won’t be enough to compensate for shortage of pace across the board - one that arguably represents an unassailable obstacle in today’s Premier League. On paper the squad looks adequate, but in reality its depth comes from names who the manager has little to no interest in utilising - Lennon, McCarthy, Mirallas, Lookman, Robles, Niasse - which leaves him attempting to select a balanced team from clutches of players that generally occupy the same space on the pitch. A recruitment drive doesn’t need to cost £150m as long as it makes sense, which is why there’s no reason to have multiple central playmakers but no out-and-out striker beyond Calvert-Lewin, who is 20.

It’s far too early to be talking about a manager under pressure, but at the same time, I’m sure the board are relieved to have bucked the trend of rewarding a promising first season with a lucrative new contract last summer.