Matters came to a head at training earlier in the week during a derby post-mortem in which questions were asked over the manager’s reluctance to sign a new deal.

The players have a point. With many of the first-team squad having bought into Moyes’s Goodison vision by agreeing to long-term contracts, why on earth has the Scot himself not yet followed suit?

The time has come for someone at the club to settle this contract confusion once and for all. The fans who spent their hard-earned to travel to Liege last night deserve better.

Whether those Evertonians will be clamouring for Moyes to put pen to paper this morning is open to debate.

Having enjoyed near unanimous backing from supporters throughout, this result could ultimately prove a pivotal moment of his Goodison reign.

Certainly, Moyes has struggled to master the two-legged tie during his time at Everton. The 2-2 draw in the home leg against Standard meant that, with victory imperative, Louis Saha joined Yakubu up front in a 4-4-2 formation.

But Everton’s lack of options in midfield resulted in Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill operating in roles that hampered their effectiveness.

None of this should be a surprise. The squad has been wafer-thin for some time, forcing Moyes to throw Cahill, Tony Hibbert, Louis Saha and Steven Pienaar into the fray without so much as a reserve run-out after injury.

And some of the players were clearly running on empty in Belgium last night.

Everton might argue, with some justification, that Steven Defour shouldn’t have even been on the pitch to strike the shot that ultimately led to Axel Witsel’s opening goal.

And there will no doubt be anger at the decision of referee Peter Sippel to award the match-winning penalty when Leighton Baines tangled with goalscorer Milan Jovanovic.

Yet Everton didn’t do enough over the two games to go through, too many players unable to reach their best level.

Recent history suggests Everton should be worried in the wake of last night’s defeat.

It took months for Moyes’s side to recover from their double European elimination in 2005, while the fall-out from the agonising exit against Fiorentina last season saw them drop away alarmingly in the race for fourth.

Indeed, in 18 games played since that heroic failure in March, the only teams Everton have beaten are Derby County, West Brom, Stoke City and Newcastle United.

The Magpies, a club in genuine crisis, visit Goodison Park on Sunday. After the past eight days, anything but a home victory is simply unthinkable.