Everton are one of just three top flight teams still to have a goalscoring substitute in the Premier League this season.
The club who once famously saw a player introduce himself in an FA Cup semi-final, then score twice, hasn't celebrated a single goal from a man introduced from the bench all season.
The other two sub-standard sides are Burnley and West Brom, teams for whom goals have been about as familiar as a night out down the pub this year.
The reasons for that lack of firepower from the bench are clear.
Everton's squad is still lacking in depth and balance.
Carlo Ancelotti only named eight of the nine permitted substitutes he is allowed against Newcastle on Saturday - and two of them were goalkeepers. It wasn't a 'statement'. He'd just run out of available options.
When Newcastle took the lead - with Andre Gomes having already replaced the anonymous Alex Iwobi - the Italian coach turned to his bench and saw three defenders, a defensive midfielder, the aforementioned goalkeepers and young Anthony Gordon staring hopefully back at him.
It was not a line up which allowed him the luxury of a creative switch.
But, frustrating though the lack of options were, it also pointed to a considered long term strategy.
Theo Walcott, Cenk Tosun and Bernard are all attacking players who could have been considered to fill that extra substitute slot and offer a degree of something different.
But Ancelotti has clearly decided none of them are good enough for the direction in which he wants to take this Everton squad.
The evidence of the last two years makes it difficult to disagree with his assessment.
Moise Kean might also have been retained to allow the option of something different from the bench - but again he is clearly benefiting more from being used as a flat track bully in the French league by Paris St Germain rather than sitting on the Everton substitutes' bench.
Hell, even the unpredictable anarchy of Oumar Niasse might have made some difference to Saturday's stodgy attacks - except last time he was introduced from a Goodison substitutes' bench was when Newcastle last visited Goodison, after 88 minutes, with Everton leading 2-0. We all know what happened next.
Niasse's eventual exit, for nothing, three-and-a-half years after he cost £13.5million was not mourned.
The money Everton lost on the Niasse deal is not a one-off. Financial Fair Play inspectors have been scrutinising every Everton move with interest after the spending Everton have undertaken in the past three years.
Which is why Everton have to move on players like Tosun, Bernard and Walcott.
It's frustrating - but an indication that this current Everton squad - over-achieving though it has on occasions this season, is still very much a work in progress.
Two of those, have now secured temporary moves away on loan with Tosun back to Besiktas and Walcott to his former hunting grounds of Southampton. Bernard's path out of Goodison however, ended up falling through.
Anthony Gordon another attacking options sometimes used by Ancelotti off the bench, also left on a loan - to Preston.
Enter Josh King.
The striker, joining on a short term deal from Bournemouth, will be expected to fix Carlo Ancelotti's biggest problem and he will be expected to do so - from the bench.
