Wolves piled the pressure on Marco Silva with a 3-1 win over Everton.

Ruben Neves had put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot just seven minutes into the game after Leighton Baines had fouled Matt Doherty in the area.

The Blues managed to pull level shortly before the half-hour mark as Andre Gomes rifled home for his first goal since arriving at Goodison Park.

But the equaliser proved short-lived when Raul Jimenez restored Wolves’ lead on the stroke of half time with a free header from a Joao Moutinho free kick.

Matters worsened after the break for Silva’s side with Leander Dendoncker volleying from close-range to condemn Everton to a fourth home league loss.

Here were the key talking points from Goodison Park:

Silva finally starting to feel the heat

 

This was not what the brochure, or at least match programme, had promised.

Marco Silva’s pre-game notes pledged that Everton would be setting out their stall to show organisation, application and aggression against Wolves.

Instead, the Goodison Park faithful were treated to a display that was highly disorganised, gutless and embarrassingly short on both ideas and creativity.

If Silva thought that last week’s humiliating FA Cup exit at Millwall was a harsh environment, he was left re-evaluating that view at the full-time whistle here.

A sixth defeat in their last nine Premier League games left Everton’s beleaguered manager finally feeling the heat from the Goodison bear pit, and not before time.

Set pieces: rinse and repeat

 

Silva’s greatest undoing has been Everton’s inability to defend set pieces.

Raul Jimenez added his name to a growing list of players that have benefited from a chronic failure to even sniff out dead ball scenarios, let alone stop them.

Such has been the dereliction of duty that nearly 40 per cent of the goals conceded in all competitions have arrived from either a corner or free kick.

Nuno Espirito Santo admitted that Wolves try to ‘invest’ their time productively in refining their set-piece routines ahead of games against all manner of opponents.

Everton made the task easier than others. Same as it ever was.

Walcott’s nine lives should be up

 

Depending on your geography, a black cat is either a lucky omen or a curse.

In Theo Walcott’s case, the one which encroached on the Goodison pitch just minutes after he made way for Ademola Lookman should belong to the latter.

To describe the ex-England international’s latest display as anything other than forgettable would be polite. It has been the same story most weeks since his arrival.

Persistence is futile, especially with Lookman showing greater promise in cameos than the man who continues to block his path to a place in the starting line-up.

Felines are notorious for having nine lives, and Walcott should be on his last one.

Predicable outcome to Baines gamble

 

Logic dictated Jonjoe Kenny would assume Everton’s left-back role for this game.

He did eventually, but only after Silva’s gamble on Leighton Baines backfired.

Clearly struggling with injury, the veteran left-back’s inclusion in lieu of a suspended Lucas Digne was an accident simply waiting to happen.

Two minutes in, a clumsy foul on Matt Doherty in the penalty area gifted Wolves the early advantage. Baines’ ordeal only worsened as the first half progressed.

Only after Everton’s stand-in captain had long been exposed as its weak link, did sense prevail with Kenny sent on in a belated attempt at damage limitation.

It should never have come to that in the first place.