One step forward and, yet, two steps back.
Although given the sheer calamitous nature of the goals Everton conceded today, you could say it was three giant leaps in the wrong direction.
That the anger of many in the away end boiled over again, with the manager the focus of their ire, only added to the grim mood around this result and performance.
Crystal Palace will not score three easier goals all season. Gift-wrapped in time for Christmas by the Blues.
Generous aren't they? But that's a theme that we'll revisit. Everton seem to like giving the opposition a head start for some reason.
An uplifting victory against Arsenal would only really mean something, signalling something more than a one-off, if Rafa Benitez's side took something from this trip to Selhurst Park.
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Before Palace were handed their third goal, in time added on when Seamus Coleman and Andre Gomes combined to present Conor Gallagher with a free shot at goal, the Blues were still in with a shout of grabbing a draw.
But the third killed that idea stone dead.
One win in 10 now. A victory would've taken Everton ninth, instead they end the weekend in 14th. The relief from the pain only lasted a few days.
And the Blues will stay there, or worse, if they don't give themselves a chance. They are making life incredibly hard for themselves. If this run hadn't been arduous enough, they react to a win by falling into the habits that have stalked them all season: conceding first.
Look, we rightly praised the show of character that turned the games against Southampton, Burnley and Arsenal around, as the spirit which earned a well-deserved point at Old Trafford. Ten points from losing positions is a league high. But high in the league, the Blues are not.
They have now conceded the opening goal 11 times in the league this term and the law of averages say you'll lose more than you win.
What Everton managed to do last season, and what had Carlo Ancelotti's side on the fringes of Europe before deciding they'd lost their passports and didn't fancy the travel, was getting in front.
Fifty three of Everton's 59 points came from games where they got their noses in front.
So far, Benitez's side have managed that four times in the league. The outcome? Two wins, a draw and a defeat that should never have happened, against Watford.
The outcome, as we mentioned, from conceding first is 10 points from 11 matches. There was a sniff of it being 11 points but Anthony Gordon's late surge and shot was denied by Vicente Guaita.
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Ancelotti's Everton still had all of the same flaws as Benitez's Blues, especially when it came to keeping hold of the ball and breaking teams down, but they started games, more often than not, in a manner that gave them a fighting chance at least, last term.
The return of Dominic Calvert-Lewin can't come soon enough in that regard (and several others for that matter). Last season he scored the first goal five times in the league and Everton won all five.
But this issue goes beyond Calvert-Lewin, who is finding that the expectation of his shoulders is being piled on week by week. Especially so after results like this.
There is no excuse for the players in his absence not being able to get a foothold in a game and handing themselves a platform.
Abdoulaye Doucoure is susceptible to making slow starts but when he begins to motor, so do Everton. But it can't just be on him or Calvert-Lewin.
Because even if the ball is coming back too often and the ball isn't sticking at the top end of the pitch, then be hard to beat until the tide turns.
This season's Everton and last season's Everton both couldn't keep hold of the ball to save themselves. Last season, the team finished with possession stats in the mid-40s. This season it's lower still. It's no surprise, so why do they start so sluggishly? Why did too many act like this was a 5:30pm kick-off?
It's fair to say that the tactics, especially in the first-half, may have confused many Evertonians. Or at least the execution of them.
Was the plan to sit back, contain Palace and hit them on the break? Or was it to press the hosts? The Blues players looked caught between two stools and were too easy to play against.
And then conceding the first goal, in such a ham-fisted way, just compounded a deeply uninspiring first half. The second goal was, only marginally, less soft. Only just, mind.
The changes - the deeply unpopular changes - made just before the hour mark, would help improve the Blues slightly. Richarlison wasn't happy, Benitez didn't look happy with his reaction, and the supporters certainly weren't happy.
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Salomon Rondon nicked his first goal for the club while the pace of Gordon troubled Palace, and he came agonisingly close to scoring an equaliser.
Whether it would have been deserved or not, what it would not have done is take away one of the many issues which run deep with this team: conceding first.
And ultimately, Everton were hurrying and rushed when they conceded the third in time added on. Coleman had actually handled Wilfried Zaha pretty well throughout the game but was, in differing ways, culpable for all three goals.
The captain's body language said it all when he walked off the pitch and down the tunnel.
Coleman knows all three goals shipped today were fully avoidable. Everton are inviting pressure and encouraging problems. More problems. Problems they don't need. Problems they really could do without.
