Wayne Rooney’s late penalty ended up bailing out Everton against Brighton.

Another stodgy performance from the Blues threatened to see them suffer back-to-back defeats when Anthony Knockaert opened the scoring after clever work by Bruno.

But Rooney stepped up from 12 yards after a foul on Dominic Calvert-Lewin to spare Ronald Koeman’s blushes against the Premier League newcomers.

Here were the key talking points from the Amex Stadium:

Is it the end of the road for Koeman?

 

The pressure was already on Koeman before the international break.

Two weeks later, the clock is ticking after a performance that was lethargic, disjointed and riddled with errors.

Despite being saved by a late Rooney penalty, things do not look like improving under the beleaguered Dutchman any time soon.

There are now serious question marks over Koeman’s future as Everton look incapable of keeping a clean sheet and blunt up front.

Substituting Kevin Mirallas for Leighton Baines smacked of desperation from a manager who knows he is running out of time at Goodison Park.

The only burning issue for the Everton hierarchy now is, who can replace Koeman that would represent a genuine upgrade?

Blues’ travel nightmares continue

 

When will Everton win away from home again?

This represented their best chance of the season but they still failed to take it, producing a performance that lacked both pace and coherence in equal measure.

Were it not for some very timely blocks from Michael Keane, the game at the Amex would have resulted in something other than a fortuitous draw.

With important trips to Chelsea, Leicester and Lyon on the horizon, Everton need to start learning how to win away from home again in the Premier League.

It has now been nine months since Seamus Coleman struck late to give Ronald Koeman’s side victory in a scrappy encounter with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

If they want to get themselves out of this funk then they need to figure things out quickly.

Coleman can’t return soon enough

 

On the subject of Coleman, Koeman will be counting down the days until the full-back returns to Everton action in the wake of Mason Holgate’s horror show.

Too many times, the defender found himself beaten by Solly March who whilst being a perfectly capable winger, should not have threatened as much as he did.

Fortunately for Holgate, March is not yet at the stage of his career where he was able to properly punish such lacklustre defending.

Additionally, Holgate’s crossing leaves a lot to be desired and it only amplified just how much Everton are missing Coleman.

It is inevitable that the Republic of Ireland captain will assume his rightful role when he regains full fitness and it already cannot come quickly enough.

Fine line between patient and ponderous

 

At times in the first half, Everton were able to pick off Brighton attacks with ease.

However they were then showing no signs of urgency to send the ball up the pitch which meant that Rooney dropped deeper and deeper to retrieve.

Possession football is one thing but Koeman’s players traversed a fine line between patient build up play and looking downright ponderous.

The inclusion of Nikola Vlasic gave hope that they may be able to stretch play and inject more pace into the game but it still produced the same, dire results.