Everton ended their unbeaten run in the Premier League yesterday when they faced Manchester United at Old Trafford and manager Sean Dyche will be frustrated with the way his team performed from the opening minutes.
The Toffees are teetering on the edge of the relegation zone – matching Nottingham Forest on 27 points – and are only outside the bottom three on goal difference following their defeat to Erik ten Hag's side on Saturday afternoon.
Everton failed to dominate in any area of the pitch with just 36% possession of the ball, far fewer shots on target (1 vs 11), fewer big chances created (1 vs 7) and less than half accurate passes completed compared to their opponents (236 vs 535), via Sofascore.
It was a miracle in itself that the Merseysiders managed to hold off Man United's attacking threat over the first half an hour, with Jordan Pickford putting on an incredible goal-keeping display to deny the home side multiple times before Scott McTominay finally converted one of their 21 shots on goal in the 36th minute to take the lead at half-time.
Dyche sought out solutions to avoid another 45 minutes of being smothered by Man United's pressing machine that was dominating the left side throughout the first half – bringing on Vitaliy Mykolenko for Ben Godfrey.
However, it was the right side that found themselves punished when Seamus Coleman switched off to allow Anthony Martial to easily tuck away the final blow in the 71st minute, making the scoreline 2-0 at the final whistle.
How did Ben Godfrey get on vs Manchester United?
The centre-back has suffered injury issues this season but has always been an attractive prospect to his managers at Goodison Park, with Dyche the latest manager to find ways to fit him into the team.
Godfrey has been playing in the left-back position since returning to action under the Everton boss and more recently, has been preferred in the position over his Ukrainian teammate, however, he had an absolute disaster against Man Utd.
Over his 45-minute performance, the £75k-per-week dud was completely outrun by Antony and struggled to make his presence known with just six accurate passes completed, misplaced 100% of his long balls, had one error led to a shot and had fewer touches of the ball than Pickford.
Dyche quickly put Everton supporters out of their misery by hooking Godfrey at half-time, but not before England legend Stuart Pearce offered a scathing assessment of the player's display on talkSPORT's commentary of the game:
"It’s awful defending. If I was Dyche I would take Godfrey off the pitch. I think he’s having a disaster.
"Even at this stage of the game I’d get him off the pitch, because he’s going to cost you a goal.
"He just wasn’t at the races for whatever reason, Ben Godfrey.
"I like him, a very genuine player, but too many straightforward balls dissected him."
With that being said, there is no doubt that Godfrey's struggles against the Red Devils will give Dyche plenty to think about ahead of the Toffees' next game against Fulham.
And it will be interesting to see whether he keeps the faith in the player or opts for Mykolenko instead.