As I watched Everton’s steady decline on Saturday, one thought immediately sprang to mind: This was no start to last season at Goodison.

Boos were heard when Mason Holgate replaced Jack Harrison with Everton 2-0 down, and again at the final whistle of the 3-0 defeat to Brighton. Before the end, much of the stadium was empty.

It will be a long, emotional farewell to Everton’s home ground for the past 132 years, and it deserves better. Much better.

One game into the new season and it already felt like “Groundhog Day”. Instead of enjoying every moment, the fans were forced to leave the stadium early. That is of course sad.

Everton have been in this situation before, but this was even worse. They began last season with disappointing home defeats to Fulham and Wolves, missing chances in both games only to be slapped in the face at the other end.

Saturday’s loss had some of the hallmarks of those performances – all the initial bluster and the chronic lack of end product – but it had more downsides.

Brighton’s superior quality was clear to see. They were ruthless when chances arose, taking advantage of any slip-up or moment of hesitation. Everton, on the other hand, looked leggy and ponderous, too reliant on the direct early ball. When they broke through, the end result was lacking, with Dwight McNeil hitting the post with the goal wide open.

The stands at Goodison Park empty on Saturday (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Manager Sean Dyche called it “puzzling”. “You go home feeling exhausted and disappointed, even though you say at half-time, ‘That’s what I wanted to see,'” he said.

“We are certainly not rich and it is very difficult to develop that clinical advantage. We have to work on it constantly to become more effective. The hardest thing to achieve in football is scoring goals. Everyone knows that, that’s why goalscorers are so expensive.”

None of this should really come as a huge surprise, though. Brighton have invested heavily this summer, with spending set to rise to around £140 million ($181.2 million) should Georginio Rutter arrive from Leeds United as expected, and have assembled an impressive attacking arsenal.

Everton, on the other hand, have endured another summer of stinginess. They could only cast envious glances at Joao Pedro, a former target, and Yankuba Minteh, who moved to Goodison from Newcastle this summer but whose deal fell through because Dominic Calvert-Lewin didn’t go the other way, showed their quality. Particularly annoying was when Minteh out-jumped Vitalii Mykolenko to set up Kaoru Mitoma for Brighton’s first goal. It was the kind of dynamic forward play that Everton had long lacked and the reason the Gambian was so high on their list.

Instead, Dyche relied on the same attack that faltered last season; an attack that scored the second fewest goals in the league and achieved expected goals by more than any other team. He regularly asked his players to play the early cross pass to Harrison, who had success against Brighton’s left-back Jack Hinshelwood, but Everton’s play became tired and predictable as the game went on.

There were calls from the stands for new signings Iliman Ndiaye and Jesper Lindström, but by the time the former was substituted the game was practically over. Lindström, on the other hand, never played.

Dyche insisted it was too early to put the pair in the race from the start.

“We have brought in some players who we believe can be more effective,” he said. “At the moment I think there is still some work to be done to help them understand the Premier League.”

Dyche shows his frustration (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Other familiar problems have emerged. The squad is still stretched thin, and Dyche admitted in the week that “three or four” injuries have overwhelmed the group. That is no longer the case at right-back, where Ashley Young struggled against Mitoma. The 39-year-old turned a hesitant touch into a hasty tackle that brought the Japanese player down. That is hardly the kind of decision-making you would expect from a player of his experience.

The problems were exacerbated by the high pressure, which forced Brighton to make mistakes but also gave the visitors space to counterattack. Too often, Mitoma and Minteh had free rein to attack Everton’s full-backs.

Young’s suspension means Dyche is likely to be without his three experienced right-backs for next weekend’s game at Tottenham. With finances tight, finding new full-backs will be difficult, but fears are growing.

“We’ve had a bit of a mixed pre-season, a few guys have been injured and missed a few games here and there, so the squad is slowly coming together,” said captain James Tarkowski. “Ideally, every player would be fit for the whole pre-season. I missed a few weeks myself and there’s still a bit of time for other guys who aren’t back yet.”

“I just told them there: ‘Don’t get too discouraged.’ If you add a few more people, it’s a strong team again.”

Tarkowski complained about cheap ball losses before Brighton’s second and third goals. But there was also hesitation in defence, which allowed the visitors to march forward unhindered. Michael Keane, who was only fourth choice at times last season, was preferred to new signing Jake O’Brien from the start, and the defence was plagued by indecision.

“Keano started because he had a very strong pre-season,” Dyche said. “He’s a very experienced Premier League player. Jake doesn’t have that experience but we think he’s a very good player who will learn quickly. He’s very open-minded about the fundamentals, how fast the game is, which he’s found in some of his (pre-season) performances.”

So the development will have to wait for now. But that was a rude awakening. Despite all the positive mood before the new season, Dyche’s team already seems overwhelmed and has problems.

If these problems are not resolved quickly, the Premier League will continue to be a merciless arena.

(Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)