Everton don't have much time to salvage the summer

That's how long it's been since Everton beat Newcastle to secure fifth place. A fifth place which, given the fortress the top four have erected in front of the rest of the Premier League, signified a club at the peak of its powers.

Which wasn't necessarily a good thing if you bought into the theory that Moyes couldn't realistically take this club any further in terms of league position.

What you won't have guessed, however, is the ease with which those inside Goodison Park seem to have accepted it as well.

How else can you explain a manager talking about a missed opportunity to build on last season the day BEFORE a ball has even been kicked in the next one?

An air of resignation barely helped by the reality of Saturday's situation, when the lack of resources on offer to Moyes had devastating consequences.

An apprehensive starting 11 knowing that no outfield first-team experience was backing them up from the bench. One of the players on it, James Wallace, doesn't even have his name on the squad list on the back of the programme.

Dwelling on the reasons for the lack of activity and trying to apportion blame won't alter the fact that Moyes is right - it's too late.
It's too late to gradually bed in new players and get them used to new surroundings - fatal for Moyes, traditionally such a strong advocate of landing targets as early as possible.

It's too late to excite fans with anticipation of what new players will bring. Any signings will have no time to sit in empty stands and pose with scarves before declaring that they have supported Everton ever since they were a little kid - honest.

Those players will be under immediate pressure to make a difference straight away and hit the ground running. In terms of impact, Moyes needs to sign six Yakubus.

And it's too late to put a positive spin on anything that has happened - or not happened - behind the scenes at Goodison this summer.

The resignation of chief executive Keith Wyness is a good example.

The loss of the man himself is not generally considered a big deal (although nice to know he was held in such high regard when he was there). It's more of what his departure represents - disharmony.

It flies in the face of the quiet effectiveness Everton like to portray. The 'we just get on with things behind the scenes with no great fanfare' image that chairman Bill Kenwright prides himself on. The only place where he doesn't like to make a song and dance.

But a chief executive suddenly walking out hints at ructions, which will only have been intensified by the Kirkby delay and this transfer window hibernation - and the fact that Everton are still well and truly oversleeping.

When it transfers into results is when supporters finally get the chance to event their frustrations and they didn't hold back at the weekend. Moyes claimed he was too far down the tunnel to hear them but he can use his imagination.

He suggests that factors beyond his control have restricted him this summer yet he expresses regret he is letting his players down by not lightening their workload.

Which is surely a symptom of him refusing to change his stance from three months ago, insisting that only a certain quality of player is worthy of him taking the cheque book out.

Given that most Evertonians would now settle simply for a boost in numbers, Moyes is putting himself under enormous pressure by refusing to lower his standards in what would be an understandable bout of late August panic-buying.
Any other manager and you'd perhaps doubt his ability to pull off the deals and change things round.

But he needs to quickly because this side is already looking nothing like the Everton of the past two years.

For a start, only the top four won at Goodison last year. The unease and lack of confidence that was in evidence on Saturday, particularly in the back four - the one area that wasn't that depleted - just didn't exist throughout the previous campaign which is why all their other challengers left with no more than a measly point.

And yes, Everton were ultimately beaten by a goal that should have been ruled out for offside but they should also have been beaten by half-time such was the way Rovers dominated.

However, with 37 games left to go you have to look at the positives too.

When Everton brilliantly went 2-1 ahead the old signs were there. Powers of recovery, resilience, pulling together, as well as the superb football produced by Mikel Arteta.

His resurgence was the biggest plus-point, along with Yakubu getting off the mark, Leon Osman, Jack Rodwell's gradual improvement on his full debut and, of course, Jose Baxter's rousing late cameo.

Meanwhile, the list of absentees can surely only shorten. And you don't need to be Carol Vorderman to calculate that the he list of new signings can only lengthen.

Then things might just start getting back to normal but it needs to happen quickly.

Because although they have no new players in the ranks, Everton is an unrecognisable club at the moment.