Everton cannot ignore brutal truth as uncomfortable feeling builds

This was the week that Everton struck a new partnership with Ukrainian vodka brand Nemiroff but rather than toasting this result, loyal but long-suffering Goodison Park patrons might find themselves tempted to reach for a bottle of some 40% proof to try and warm their cockles ahead of what threatens to be another long, hard winter before they bid farewell to the Grand Old Lady next spring.

The big question right now is whether you’re a glass half full or half empty person, and given the continued travails that beleaguered Blues have had to put up with both on and off the pitch with their club in recent years, it’s understandable that so many of them right now are feeling more pessimistic than optimistic.

On the one hand, after a startling start to the season, in which they lost their first four matches, including back-to-back 3-2 defeats in which 2-0 leads were surrendered, Everton have now only been beaten once in their most-recent eight matches – to give Southampton their only victory to date – but on the flip side of that, the Blues, who finished last season with five consecutive victories and clean sheets at Goodison Park, have only one home win to date.

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While everyone who aspires to ‘Nil Satis Nisi Optimum’, the idea of merely surviving in Goodison’s historic final season, brings a great feeling of discomfort, but 11 points from 12 games is likely to be enough over the course of a campaign to keep heads above water when it comes to a relegation fight.

However, it’s the nagging doubts from a start deemed to be favourable in terms of the opposition faced, now followed by a series of heavyweights over the busy festive period that leave significant sections of the fanbase concerned whether Everton have harvested enough points from their early exchanges to keep themselves comfortable for the turn of the year.