What Everton fans did way before final whistle at Villa Park spoke volumes about shambolic performance

The empty seats in the sold out away end offered the most resounding, and damning, judgement on a shambolic Everton display.

The one constant through years of trouble on the road has been the unwavering support of the travelling fans. From dismal defeats in which their side could not muster a shot on target in consecutive games at Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, to that horror show on the south coast at Bournemouth in November - the away ends have sold out and the support has been vociferous, powerful, and sometimes the difference.

Everton supporters are used to seeing games change against them as managers with stronger opposition squads alter matches from the bench on the hour mark. But those fans are normally there to at least experience the dread of the inevitable late surge against their team. At Aston Villa they were not.

Around 3,000 supporters put aside a cost of living crisis and two years of disaster away from Goodison Park to travel to Birmingham in the hope of a new season starting in improved fashion. It did not. Perhaps half were gone by the time Jhon Duran slotted in Villa’s fourth. Just hundreds were left by the final whistle.

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This was a chaotic, punishing defeat for an Everton team that needs to get better quickly. There was bad luck. Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s desperately-needed return was ended after just 36 minutes as he stepped down the tunnel with a visible facial wound after a collision with opposition goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. However the damage, by then, was already done.

Few teams in the Premier League will be as reliant on one player this season as