Five years ago, Everton produced one of their outstanding away performances of the Premier League era as Roberto Martinez's rampant side tore apart Newcastle United 3-0 at St James' Park.
Watching back through the footage, Blues fans could be forgiven for being somewhat wistful.
Home-grown hero Ross Barkley dances through the Magpies defence with a majestic 70-yard run before despatching an emphatic finish into the roof of the net at the Gallowgate End with what was one of the all-time great individual goals by any Everton player.
Throughout the move, prolific striker Romelu Lukaku can be seen screaming for the ball but he is all-smiles having been privileged enough to witness the magical moment first hand.
The Belgian need have no concerns though as he is next up on the score sheet, sliding in with an instinctive toe-poke from Gerard Deulofeu's inviting pass showing how the 'Rom and Geri Show' was in full swing at the time.
The Spanish winger's twinkling toes are also evident in the third goal as he picks out Lukaku again only for the striker to unselfishly lay the ball into the path of captain Leon Osman who plants a perfectly-struck drive into the net from the edge of the area to complete the rout.
En route to a club record Premier League points tally of 72, it was a night in which everything clicked for the Blues.
The dovetailing of the defensive stability carried over from David Moyes' long tenure with the extra attacking flair brought by his successor Martinez; the Catalan's bright young things such as Barkley, Deulofeu, Lukaku and a brave John Stones who heroically played on with his head bandaged after having a gash above his left eye stitched up, blending effectively with experienced campaigners such as Gareth Barry, Sylvain Distin and Osman.
Fast forward to the same date in 2019 and you could hardly say that Everton are better off, despite an eye-watering £400million being spent on squad recruitment since (in the interests of fairness the club have also recouped around £200million on player sales but totals are often difficult to accumulate given a number of undisclosed fees).
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Either way, given the way that Farhad Moshiri has generously dug deep into his own personal fortune since in the quest to try and challenge the English game's elite, the club's majority shareholder might well be within his rights to have expected a bit more bang for his buck.
The Blues went into the current international break on the back of what could prove to be a landmark result – the 2-0 victory over Chelsea was their first over one of the Premier League's 'big six' since the 4-0 thrashing of Manchester City back in January 2017 – but it came a weekend after another trip to St James' Park had seen Everton lead 2-0 against Newcastle United over an hour into the contest but still conspire to lose 3-2.
There remains plenty of work to do for current manager Marco Silva as – after Martinez, Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce were all dismissed under Mr Moshiri – he attempts to revive the Blues fortunes and lift the spirits of long-suffering Evertonians.
The club will now go into a 25th year without a major trophy for the first time in their history next season and before the current campaign is out they are fighting to avoid their lowest Premier League finish for 15 years.
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Such glimpses like this into the not-too-distant past can prove a double-edged sword.
On the one hand they show how good Everton can be but on the other they point to what can now be viewed as wasted opportunities for a talented and exciting group of players.
