As Everton play Manchester City in a Capital One Cup semi-final, the Toffees are underachieving massively in the Premier League despite playing aesthetically pleasing football at times.
But Ex-Everton goalkeeping great Neville Southall still believes the team isn't far off where they need to be.
Speaking to Off The Ball tonight, he feels individual errors from players at key moments have been making manager Roberto Martinez's life difficult as Everton fall short of expectations, languishing in 12th.
"I don't think we're far off. I think we are really, really close from being an outstanding side," he told Joe Molloy.
John Stones (right) and Ross Barkley Picture by: Martin Rickett / EMPICS Sport
"I still think we need an inspirational captain and a little bit of pace up front and we probably need a little bit of steel. You could say it's a run of bad luck but we keep on doing it so it can't be a run of bad luck, just individual people making mistakes all the time."
He also added that fans are "getting fed up" of hearing that the club are playing well when the end result is either a draw or defeat.
Southall also pointed towards a degree of disorganisation defensively when the ball is lost and also feels injuries had an effect.
With US investors believed to be on the verge of taking over from long-time chairman Bill Kenwright, who traditionally gives his managers moral backing, Southall believes any newcomers must not act rashly when it comes to Martinez's future.
"For me, it makes sense just to go 'hang on a minute, let's look at it again in the summer'. Roberto's philosophy is attacking football. Everybody wants that without a shadow of a doubt," he said.
"Now, at the end of the season and it's still the same and we're up and down, what do we need to change? We've got the way going forward fantastically well [but] what can we do to change the things at the back? We've got three England internationals in the back-four and an Irish international and an American international in goal. We've got international players at the back. It just has been one of those seasons where they've been injured or making mistakes."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
