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What exactly is the *real* Everton right now?
So many would lead you to believe that it's what happened on last Monday against Arsenal. Battling back in adversity, feeding off the will of their crowd.
It was almost akin to a kind of 'Dogs of War' mentality, something that Evertonians can certainly identify with even while striving to be something more than that in general.
But, is that actually what this squad of players are all about?
This was the conundrum that was facing them heading into this game against Crystal Palace. It's always tougher away from home to feed off the crowd, of course, but everyone was talking about momentum and confidence before this trip to London.
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Surely the Blues wouldn't let that performance go to waste. Surely they wouldn't settle back into their old ways from before Monday night.
They did.
Everton's propensity for forgetting everything that they had done so well just a few days previous knows no bounds.
All of the energy, desire and will to succeed that they showed in the second half of Monday's rousing win evaporated after almost 10 minutes on Sunday afternoon.
Yet again Rafa Benitez's side fell back into the same old routine, allowing their opponents to dominate possession and build up a head of steam, before going one step further and gifting them the lead as well.
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Playing on the counter-attack and trying to be solid and compact is all well and good, in fact Everton did use that to good effect earlier in the campaign.
But, to make that successful, you need to be able to counter-attack. You need to actually be solid and compact.
The visitors were none of those things. They showed Palace far too much respect on their own turf and it was only a matter of time before they took advantage.
From that point on, there was little hope for the Blues getting back into the match.
For much of the game it was as if Everton's players were being controlled by an idle video game AI, just wandering around the pitch with little aim or energy.
The second half did improve slightly, but it still wasn't good enough.
Add in the constant individual errors that are plaguing this side at the minute and you create a truly disastrous situation all over the pitch.
The Blues are not creative enough at the top end and they're not solid enough at the back. Key injuries will still be an excuse in some capacity but for many that wore thin a long, long time ago.
How often have Evertonians looked at their side this season and wondered what their plan actually is?
Whether that's managerial failings, the players not utilising the tactics properly, or a horrendous combination of both - those travelling fans deserve a lot better.
What's the real Everton? Well, going by the last few months, that's a question those of a Blue persuasion might not want to know the full answer to.
Midfield again
Another analysis, another conversation to be had about Everton's midfield.
When the team sheet was released it seemed as if the wishes of Blues fans had been answered, and that Benitez might just have opted for a 4-3-3 shape.
Andre Gomes and Fabian Delph had both come into the starting line-up, with Allan dropping out of the side thanks to an injury.
Anthony Gordon's absence from the beginning of the game also seemed to suggest that there was a change in shape, but that didn't prove to be the case at all.
Delph was essentially a like-for-like replacement for Allan, sitting next to Abdoulaye Doucoure at the base of the midfield and just in front of the back four.
That left Gomes playing further forward, almost as a No.10 for the majority of the first half at the very least.
From the opening minutes of the game, however, you could see the problems that was going to create for the rest of proceedings at Selhurst Park.
Doucoure playing further back in the midfield was something of a waste of the talents that had made him such an important player at the beginning of the term.
The Frenchman didn't seem to have a free role to get forward and press as highly up the pitch as usual, as such he was proving ineffective in the final third.
That thankfully improved in the second period, and it was his deflected shot that eventually led to Everton's goal, but it was too little at that point.
Delph couldn't get to grips with the match as he had done against Wolves and Spurs just a few weeks ago.
On those occasions, he was at the base of a 4-3-3 and looked to be much more comfortable. In a slightly different setup, the same couldn't be said.
Gomes, meanwhile, actually did look bright in the opening stages of the match - and even had Everton's best effort on goal of the first half with a volley which forced Vicente Guaita into an important save.
But this was his first Premier League start of the campaign, having spent much of the last few months on the sidelines with injury.
It was somewhat unfair and unrealistic to expect him to be pressing from the front for the entire 90 minutes of this match, especially with the kind of intensity the visitors needed.
In all, this is a problem that's continuing to be a real thorn in the side of Benitez's tactics in recent weeks.
However he tries to get around this issue of shape in the middle of the pitch, it's doesn't seem to be working. Apart from, of course, in the closing stages against Arsenal.
Maybe that should really be a base to work from in the future.
No injury excuse
Everton's line-up did show that they are missing key players through injury.
That's a fact. There's no getting around it. But, it doesn't mean that absences can continue to be used as an excuse.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, for example, was out of the side once again for this match. But did Everton really create a chance that the striker would have buried if he was included?
Yerry Mina was absent from the defence after picking up a calf issue against Arsenal. But what could he have done to stop silly individual errors in other areas of the pitch that led directly to goals?
Allan, on this occasion, was missing from the midfield, too. But his form has been suffering over the course of recent weeks, and he's certainly not playing to the standard he was at the beginning of the term.
Those injuries might add up to be more than the sum of their parts, but on an individual basis it's hard to really keep making this case anymore.
Everton have been without two of those players for most of the last few months, but haven't been able to come up with a consistent or coherent system in their absence.
Of course, the squad needs quality additions in coming transfer windows, but realistically fans can still expect a lot more from everyone that's been playing these matches.
Tactically, there hasn't been a plan without these players. Individually, those who have stepped into the side haven't been good enough to fill their team-mates' shoes.
And it's left Everton in a truly precarious position at this stage of the campaign.
One win in the last 10 matches is abysmal form. Looking ahead to the next two games, you can't really see how things are instantly going to get much better.
You can't keep blaming that on injuries. You can't solely rely on a January transfer window to fix the issue either.
There's inherent problems that are running through the side right now and the same mistakes are frustratingly costing them in almost every game.
Whatever way you slice it, that's not good enough from everybody involved.
