IT’S not often we find ourselves nodding in agreement with comments by Rafael Benitez, but the Liverpool manager has been talking mostly sense this week.

Okay, not the bit about struggling with injuries and having to play youngsters – compare 20-year-old Jay Spearing with some of the teenagers who have been thrown into the Everton team in the last few years – but the Spaniard has been fairly magnanimous over the whole beachball affair and refused to pillory referee Mick Jones for not knowing the proper ruling.

Benitez also noted that having plenty of games in a short space of time represents an opportunity for a team to work on its failings and weaknesses. Obviously he was talking about his own side, but he could have just as easily been referring to Everton.

Two points from home games against Stoke and Wolves is a poor return, especially as there was little encouragement to take from either performance.

Two remarkably unremarkable teams came to Goodison, took the lead and went away feeling that they spurned the chance to rack up a rare away victory.

Clearly the biggest concern is that if these types of teams can make us look bad in front of our fans, what’s going to happen when we face in-form Aston Villa or travel to Old Trafford in a couple of weeks?

The fact of the matter is that the Toffees have only looked faintly convincing in a couple of games this season, and apart from the good win against Blackburn, those performances came against absolutely dreadful teams like AEK Athens and Hull’s reserves.

David Moyes’s men have found comfort in Europe so far this season, but they face their toughest test yet in the Stadium of Light tomorrow.

In terms of qualifying for the next stage of the Europa League we could probably afford to have one eye on Sunday’s trip to Bolton, lose in Portugal and not really suffer too much. However, Everton’s performance in front of the thousands of travelling supporters will be pivotal in shaping the confidence of the side and the whole atmosphere surrounding the club.

A no-show will just increase concerns about where the season is heading, but win, or at least play well against a proper European name, and the disappointments of the last fortnight or so will be all but forgotten.

As our old pal Rafa says: these are facts.