Indeed, our efforts in this year's transfer window were typified by one of the matchday stewards, who quipped "I'm surprised I'm being paid to be honest".
Our efforts on the field also proved to be inadequate, as an excellent Guiseppe Rossi strike secured a friendly win for Villarreal. A nasty injury to Seamus Coleman did nothing to lift the spirits of the frustrated Evertonians.
Tim Howard was re-instated in goal behind a back four of Baines, Distin, Jagielka and Neville. A youthful midfield consisted of Fellaini, Barkley, Rodwell, Coleman and Anichebe, with Louis Saha heading the attack.
Back-up 'keeper Jan Mucha was joined on the bench by Hibbert, Heitinga, Cahill, Yakubu, Vellios, Bilyaletdinov, Baxter and Beckford.
The one major positive this Summer is the emergence of 17-year-old Ross Barkley, who, even at such a tender age, has looked the real deal in Everton's friendlies thus far. That trend certainly continued last night.
In the early stages Barkley showed a few great touches in midfield. He was a the centre of a move that ended with him striking a ferocious volley well over the bar. Minutes later he collected the ball on the edge of the area, feigned to shoot and played an exquisite chipped through ball into the path of Leighton Baines.
Baines was offside and contrived to miss anyway, but it was a moment of genuine quality from Barkley. The youngster didn't stop there - and in the following interchanges he played through Seamus Coleman, only for the Irishman to also be ruled offside.
Barkley also went close himself as he met Baines' cross well, although his half-
volleyed effort went just wide. At the other end, ex-Manchester United man Guiseppe Rossi went close with a free-kick after Fellaini had clipped the ankles of Cani on the edge of the area.
Indeed, Rossi (Guiseppe, not Barkley) was a livewire all evening - a less chubby version of Carlos Tevez. He had a couple of decent snapshots before the half was out, but nothing that Tim Howard wasn't equal to.
Louis Saha saw his effort fly wide via the fingertips of the Villarreal 'keeper, before the half ended on a very sour note. Carlos Marchena slid in needlessly on Seamus Coleman and you could tell straightaway it was a bad 'un.
Coleman went down with his hands on his face and was replaced immediately by Tim Cahill. A later scan thankfully revealed that there had been no fracture to the ankle, although the suspected ligament damage is still likely to keep him out of action for a significant period of time.
That was the last action of the first half but Everton created their best opportunity of the match straight after the interval. Leighton Baines beat the whole right side of Villarreal's defence, played a one-two with Louis Saha and was was one-on-one with the keeper, 10 yards out. His shot was straight at the goalkeeper though and the scores remained level.
Villarreal scored what proved to be the winner on 64 minutes - a superb effort from Guiseppe Rossi. A free-kick on the edge of the area was rolled into his path and Rossi slammed a thunderbolt right into the top left hand corner. Tim Howard had absolutely no chance with the powerful shot, which drew applause from both sets of supporters.
Villarreal took control of the game from that point onwards. They were far superior in possession and didn't let us have much of a kick, with substitute Oriol seeing a good effort saved by Howard. The situation was not helped when our most creative player, Ross Barkley, was taken off. It was another impressive performance from the lad and he was given rapturous applause as he departed.
I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that i hope to see a lot, lot more of him this season.
The remainder of the match turned into a bit of a snoozefest to be honest. Jermaine Beckford gave Carlos Marchena a taste of his own medicine with a two-footed tackle of his own, whilst Tony Hibbert was told to "SHOOOOTTT" from inside his own half.
It ended 1-0, a result that was just about deserved for the Spanish side. The injury to Coleman added further doom to an already depressing evening. Still, at least the Premier League is back next week.
I'll be at Spurs on August 13th fully expecting to be well beaten. Expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed. As an Evertonian, that's becoming more and more a quote to live by.
StickyToffee Player Ratings; Howard 7, Baines 7, Distin 7, Jagielka 6, Neville 6, Coleman 6, Rodwell 5, BARKLEY 8, Fellaini 6, Anichebe 5, Saha 5.
Subs: Cahill 5, Heitinga 5, Hibbert 5, Yakubu 4, Beckford 5.
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