Taking to the skies in protest has quickly become one of football’s more tiresome stunts and this one, it is safe to say, was ill-timed.
"Kenwright & co – time to go," read a banner, trailed by a plane over Southampton's St Mary's stadium on Saturday – the message aimed at Everton chairman Bill Kenwright, who has come under fire amid the gloom at Goodison Park this summer.
The board are accused of lacking ambition, unlike the team.
Everton are the Premier League's lowest spenders in this transfer window, which is the headline statistic for Kenwright's critics.
The reality is that others have financed their spending by selling. Southampton, for example, have paid out £22.7 million (Dh130.4m), a figure that dwarfs Roberto Martinez’s £5.3m outlay, but brought in £37.5m.
Everton may face a fight to keep John Stones out of Chelsea's clutches, but they have retained their prized assets and two of them, Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley, powered them to a 3-0 victory at St Mary's.
Southampton could not resist offers for key players and look weakened defensively, allowing a ruthless Lukaku to profit.
The negative slant on his 2014/15 season has tended to prevail. Lukaku’s tally of 20 goals last season sounds impressive but the problem for Evertonians was that only 10 came in the Premier League – deemed a meagre return for a major buy.
A towering header, a steered shot and a handful of barnstorming runs were reminders why Everton made him the £28m man. On such days his finishing skills and physical attributes make him appear to be unplayable.
If Lukaku has been maligned, Barkley definitely ranked as one of last year’s underachievers.
On Saturday, he fashioned the striker’s second goal with a driving run and scored the third.
Like the Belgian, the Englishman has begun the new campaign in auspicious fashion. Like him, he already has two goals, both taken with such aplomb as to invite questions why he only scored twice last season.
Lukaku’s first supplier has only struck twice in his Everton career but these have been a restorative eight days for Arouna Kone; a belated first Goodison Park goal against Watford, two injury-hit years after his arrival, was followed by the whipped cross that Lukaku converted.
The Ivorian striker was a makeshift winger but, with one centre, he did a fine impression of a specialist.
That opener came a mere 46 seconds after a vital save from Tim Howard, yet another who endured decidedly mixed fortunes last season.
Everton’s defence was too porous then, Southampton’s second only to Chelsea. Yet five of seven pillars are now absent.
They sold defensive midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin and right-back Nathaniel Clyne, centre-back Toby Alderweireld was only on loan and opted to join Tottenham Hotspur on a permanent deal, and left-back Ryan Bertrand and goalkeeper Fraser Forster are sidelined, the latter for much of the season.
A new-look rearguard has been breached five times in two games. Southampton’s squad contains seven signings, but have lacked the solidity of their predecessors.
Everton require another centre-back, along with a striker, but as cover. There is enviable talent within their ranks but there was long before this transfer window opened.
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