Burnley exerted every ounce of effort in their clash against Everton, but despite their determination, Everton’s defense remained resolute. The specter of relegation grows ever more ominous for Burnley.

Scott Parker, the Burnley manager, might feel a sense of relief at securing a draw, but there’s a lingering frustration over missed opportunities. Players like Armando Broja, Jacob Bruun Larsen, Bashir Humphreys, and Zian Flemming left supporters exasperated with their inability to convert chances into goals.

Burnley had gathered 10 points from their first nine matches; however, they have since managed only two points in the subsequent nine games. It raises the question: are they transforming into a Wolves-like entity, only adorned in claret? Nonetheless, there were flashes of tactical brilliance and creativity on the field, offering a glimmer of hope. Parker’s strategies could potentially close the six-point gap to Nottingham Forest.

Burnley were much better against Everton but again were consigned to a ninth winless game

Dibling’s show of promise

On the other side, Everton’s standout performer was Dibling, who lived up to his £42 million price tag since his summer arrival. His limited appearances thus far have been perplexing, but with Iliman Ndiaye away at the Africa Cup of Nations, the 19-year-old seized his chance to impress.

Dibling was unfortunate not to put Everton ahead with two promising attempts in the first half. His dynamic play was a constant threat to Burnley, leading to Lucas Pires struggling to contain him and requiring additional support to curb his skillful maneuvers.

He was unlucky not to give Everton the lead with two chances in the first half and had Lucas Pires on toast so much that, at times, Burnley doubled up on him to try and stop his chicanery.

His second half was more muted and only punctuated by a yellow card for a shameless, cynical pull on Jaidon Anthony to stop a burgeoning attack. 

Tyler Dibling was Everton’s most exciting player on his second league start of the season

Everton must invest

The Toffees initially looked lost without the attacking threat of Jack Grealish (virus), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (thigh injury), and Ndiaye (at AFCON). Indeed, they finished the first half with an xG of 0.13 – good enough for a goal every four games. 

Charly Alcaraz really took ownership of the number 10 role, launching counter-attacks and arriving late in the box to test Martin Dubravka. On the left, Dwight McNeil performed credibly. 

But for the third game in a row they finished goalless and if Everton want to push for European football, they should invest in their squad depth in January. 

David Moyes refused to expand much on Grealish’s absence. The England international reportedly enjoyed a lavish night out in London a few days before Christmas and missed this game due to a virus. 

‘He was sick. Trained with us on Tuesday and just didn’t feel quite so good,’ Moyes said. ‘I’m hoping he will be back this week [at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday].

‘It was always going to be a bit of a challenge [with players missing]. I really hoped we’d play much better. The level wasn’t what I hoped it would be.’

Everton missed their first string of attacking options but Charly Alcaraz was encouraging

Burnley’s new formation

Scott Parker may have stumbled upon the formation that gives Burnley a shot of survival.

He has rammed his Clarets into all sorts of systems throughout their winless run but this iteration, a 3-4-3 applied with fluidity and aggression and dashes of one-touch football, often left Everton bamboozled and raised appreciative roars from the stands.

Armando Broja had plenty of service from two wingers and a duo of wing-backs, while even the centre-halves were overlapping at times to give Burnley untold levels of width. 

A liquid backline – switching between two or three men in possession and four or five on the defence – gave the hosts a shape to suit any occasion.

They’ve had the least possession in the league but here they dominated the ball. 

The main thing that will blight them are their mistakes. Inexplicable errors saw them punished against Bournemouth, Fulham, Newcastle, and Brentford, and they were lucky Everton didn’t do more damage here after a spate of pedestrian passes. 

Parker said: ‘I thought we were superb today. We showed endeavour, willingness, quality, a team that was going for the win. You need to take your chances and that was a frustration. But for large parts I thought the team were very good today.

‘We went about the game really well in terms of our structure. The players that were key today were Edwards and Jacob in terms of creating spaces and being foreceful on the sides. 

Burnley’s new system produced fruit but they made silly errors and lacked cutting edge

Marcus Edwards’s pantomime performance 

Marcus Edwards – once tipped for an England call-up by Ruben Amorim at Sporting Lisbon – was part-hero, part-villain on his first league start of the season.

Every time he got on the ball, you knew something was going to happen. But even he didn’t have the foggiest idea what.

He was the sparkplug for a lot of attacks but often ran into a cul-de-sac, misplaced an ambitious pass, or dithered too long and lost it, inciting a melee of expletives and flying arms from the home faithful.

But Parker should stick with him because, at his best, he’s their most talented star. Nobody got fans on their feet more. One dinked pass to set up Bruun Larsen left the stadium breathless. He reminded you of Adel Taarabt at QPR.