Rafael Benitez’s time as Everton manger is under heavy scrutiny after their 1-0 loss to newly promoted Brentford.

December’s Merseyside derby is just days away.

And it looks like the curtain could be called sooner rather than later for the Spaniard.

Everton have just one win in their last seven games.

That came over two months ago at home to Norwich, a side who had still failed to win a Premier league game at the time.

To make matters worse, Alex Iwobi picked up the November goal of the month award for the club – by scoring the only goal of the month.

So where has it gone wrong for the Blues?

Injuries haven’t helped.

Benitez has been unable to pick key players like Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison, Yerry Mina and Abdoulaye Doucouré for large chunks of the season.

However, this doesn’t excuse losses to Brentford, Watford and Aston Villa.

There is clearly a huge lack of confidence in the Everton camp.

It seems no player is ready to get a grip of a game and take it by the scruff of the neck.

Talented players like Iwobi go missing far too often.

Promising stars such as Anthony Gordon are going to struggle making in any impact when trying to supply Salomón Rondón.

The good form of summer signings Demarai Gray and Andros Townsend quickly fizzled out as they molded into their team’s lacklustre performances.

The blame lies with the players.

It is their lack of effort and spineless performances that have led to boos from the fans.

Those boos have been at full-time of almost every game for over a month now.

Is Rafa doing that bad of a job?

Many fans were not happy with his appointment at the start of the season.

Now the majority are calling for his head before the expected embarrassment of Wednesday’s derby.

Reliance on players like Rondón and Iwobi has caused fans to lose patience.

Especially when youth talents Elis Simms and Lewis Dobbin are seemingly ignored by the top brass.

The Everton faithful have made claims for years now that the rot runs to the top of club.

Bill Kenwright has had many positives in his time as Chairman, but it seems his time has run out at the club.

He should be looking to leave sooner rather than later if he loves it as much as he claims.

There are no quick fixes to this side that has been on a downward spiral dating back to Roberto Martinez’s departure from the club in 2016.

A complete squad overhaul should be a priority.

There is plenty of dead-wood in the team that needs dealing with.

Stronger depth also needs to come in to give Everton some hope when the spine of their team all suffer injuries.

The Toffees should look to build around key players like Jordan Pickford, Allan, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin.

And give more minutes to youth players coming through David Unsowrth’s talented U23 side.

For the remainder of this season, it seems all the Everton faithful can do is hope points are picked up from somewhere.

They’ll also need to show some faith that a platform will be built for the future.

(Rafael Benitez Everton manager – pic by Doha Stadium Plus Qatar)

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