Everton could not find a way to overcome Crystal Palace in a close encounter at Goodison Park.
An expertly-taken set piece from Romelu Lukaku towards the end of the first half cleared the Eagles’ wall and nestled in Steve Mandanda’s net.
But former Liverpool striker Christian Benteke returned to haunt the home crowd just three minutes after the interval by scoring with a looping header.
Damien Delaney thought he had gifted the visitors the lead, only to see his goal chalked off due to James Tomkins straying into an offside position.
Here were the main talking points from Friday night football at Goodison…
Martinez continues to haunt Goodison
Ronald Koeman perhaps articulated it best this week when he admitted that some of his players had ‘a big problem because they don’t know what to do’.
The problems which have befallen Everton already this season were, the Dutchman insisted, attributable to psychological issues rather than physical.
After clinging on against Crystal Palace, there can be no other logical conclusion than the hallmarks of Roberto Martinez’s reign continuing to linger.
When the shackles are off, the Blues have been a team very much fashioned in Koeman’s image; dilligent, hard-working and, above all, in control.
As pressure mounts, however, they revert to the panic-stricken tactics which proved to be the undoing of his predecessor’s three-year tenure.
It was no different against the Eagles, with every ball into Maarten Stekelenburg’s penalty area greeted with a rushed and long clearance.
Koeman set a time frame of two years before Everton would finally be a side which truly resembling of his footballing ethos.
That deadline appears in danger of a much-needed extension on the back of this latest showing as Goodison Park remains in the grip of Martinez’s ghost.
Benteke inevitability ignored once more
With five goals in his previous six appearances against Everton, Christian Benteke remains the scourge of Goodison in claret and blue colours.
Such inevitability should have provided the hosts with enough to guard against the former Liverpool flop on his Merseyside return. Except it wasn’t.
Three minutes after the half-time interval, Benteke was back on the score sheet with a bullet header after towering over marker Seamus Coleman.
Of his 54 Premier League goals, the Belgium international has used his head for 19 of them – equating to 35 per cent of his goal tally.
It may not be the most earth-shattering statistic but it is one which showed that Everton should have been more than prepared – for both him and Palace.
Lukaku adds a new string to his bow
Although he denies it, Koeman’s presence at Everton has clearly had an influence on Romelu Lukaku’s set piece abilities.
The Barcelona icon certainly knew how to strike a dead ball in his playing days and will have been delighted that his first-choice striker has followed suit.
Lukaku’s instinctive response after rippling the Palace net with a dipping effort in the 35th minute was to bound towards Koeman before leaping on him.
That it was the 23-year-old’s first goal from a direct free kick was as surprising as the that it was also Everton’s first set piece goal since the 2014/15 season.
Already recording his fifth goal of the season – a 65th in the Premier League overall – Lukaku illustrated that there is more to him than the penalty area.
Still no breakthrough for Barkley
Another night, another game of Ross Barkley going through the motions.
Interim England manager Gareth Southgate is unlikely to have left the Goodison believing that the midfielder is deserving of a place in his upcoming squad.
But it has been the story of Barkley’s season so far; for every outstanding performance, there has been several underwhelming ones to offset it.
This was his third in a row, following the disappointing showings against Bournemouth and Norwich City before the visit of Alan Pardew’s side.
An upcoming international break will serve as a potential window of opportunity as much as reminder of where the 22-year-old’s stock currently lies.