Manager David Moyes admitted he would not have wanted to have been a paying customer at Turf Moor after watching his Everton side play out a 0-0 draw with struggling Burnley.
Quality chances were at a premium with Burnley failing to get any of their 16 shots on target while Everton – without the creative talents of Jack Grealish, Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – were too often disjointed in their own attacks, struggling to seriously test Martin Dubravka.
“None,” Moyes said when asked for his thoughts on the game. “I wouldn’t have wanted to come and watch that myself.”
Everton could be happier with the result given Burnley’s desperate need of points to get out of trouble, but Moyes was far from happy with his side’s performance – even accounting for the absences from his squad – with Grealish a late withdrawal through illness.
“We’re missing Iliman and we’re missing Kiernan so we know we’re losing creativity and without Jack as well it doesn’t help, so it was always going to be a bit of a challenge,” Moyes added.
“But I really hoped we’d play much better than we did. That was probably as poor as we’ve played in some games. Our football wasn’t good enough, lots of bits just wasn’t at the level I would hope it would be.
“But, look, you get a clean sheet, you take a point away. Burnley’s never been that easy to come to so we’ll go away with a point any maybe it’ll prove important later on in the season.”
Burnley had the clearer chances, although Jacob Bruun Larsen was perhaps offside when he lifted a shot over the crossbar, while Zian Flemming was then probably wrongly flagged offside when he hit a post when one-on-one with Jordan Pickford at the end.
Drawing another blank leaves Burnley with only seven home league goals all season and without a win home or away since October 26 – a run of nine games.
Even so, boss Scott Parker was happy with his side’s efforts as they picked up a second straight draw after seven consecutive defeats.
“I thought we were superb to be honest,” Parker said. “I thought we showed real endeavour, a willingness, I thought we showed quality.
“And I thought we showed a team that was trying to go for the win. It’s fine margins and you need to take your chances and that’s a frustration.
“I think the positives from where this group has been in terms of seven (defeats) and staring down breaking a record in terms of eight defeats, the last two performances for a young group we’ve shown endeavour and commitment and I’m pleased for that.”
Burnley suffered a potentially hugely damaging blow early in the second half when captain Josh Cullen went down holding his knee, immediately signalling to the bench he needed to come off.
“Obviously a player like Josh going down and instantly signalling to the bench, he doesn’t look too good,” Parker said. “We’ll get some further tests on it but at this moment he doesn’t look good.”
