‘HORRIBLE’ AND ‘EMBARRASSING’ FOR TOFFEES

EVERTON’S descent into footballing hell on Monday night at Stamford Bridge prompted three things in the wake of Chelsea’s six-goal romp.

Travelling fans looking on in disbelief.

A stark realisation that relegation is genuinely staring them in the face.

And a feeling of humiliation, confirmed by James Tarkowski.

Manager Sean Dyche called it “horrible” but Tarkowski (left) went much further in his assessment of a battering that left the Toffees two points above the relegation zone with six games to play.

“It will be a long debrief, that,” Tarkowski said. “Underperformed, the most embarrassed I have felt as an individual.

“It shows where we are today. We can only apologise to the fans who supported us. It is on the players, it is not on the manager and the staff. No excuses on our behalf, we need to brush ourselves down as we have a big few weeks coming up.

“We conceded six goals and you should feel embarrassed. Nothing to do with technical aspects – people getting beat and run off, and it is hard to summarise it.

“I have had dark times here but the fans stick by us in the next game, so hopefully they’ll be there for us again.”

For Dyche, the prospect of battling for survival is in sharp focus, as evidenced by the team’s

Premier League run-in which sees them take on title contenders in Liverpool and Arsenal, plus four teams down at the bottom end with them in Brentford, Luton, Sheffield United, and, first up this weekend, Nottingham Forest.

“It was a horrible defeat,” said Dyche. “Arguably the worst of my career. I am 500 games in, 300 odd in the Premier League as a manager and that’s just an awful night. For our fans as well, we came with high expectations and started the game really well – exactly how we wanted to. We made them uncomfortable, had a chance in the first minute or so – but you can’t defend like that.

“There’s no fight in the defending, no detail, no hard yards or tackling. It was bizarre, like shadow football for their goals. It was miles off the mark.

“The last time we were miles off was Villa away (4-0 defeat). The good thing was that gave us a stark reminder. We need to use this as a stark reminder.”