WELL then, it’s probably fair to say that wasn’t quite what we all had in mind for the season’s curtain raiser.

And while Ewood Park is renowned for being one of the Premier League’s fortresses – we won’t be the only decent side to get turned over there this season – it was the nature of the performance more than the result that left the travelling Evertonians feeling as if their summer parade had been well and truly rained on.

Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn have a reputation for feisty physicality but in truth we couldn’t even point the finger at that as the reason for the poor showing by Everton.

Resplendent – if that’s really the right word – in their new, bright pink shirts, the Toffees simply never did any of the things that they are good at; the things that supposedly make them better than teams like Blackburn and dark horses for Champions League qualification.

For all the talk before the season about David Moyes having his strongest squad ever, he still sent out a team on the opening day containing a patently unprepared Marouane Fellaini in central midfield and with Leon Osman deployed out wide where he very rarely excels.

Tim Howard’s inexplicable blunder was obviously the key moment in the match, but still, his teammates had over 75 minutes to save his blushes and proceeded to waste all of them until Phil Jagielka finally forced a save out of Paul Robinson in injury time.

The manager already has some key decisions to make before Saturday then, when we face an awkward Wolves side that caused all sorts of problems at Goodison last season.