Friday 11 October 2019 11:03, UK
Everton have no plans to sack manager Marco Silva at this stage but club bosses are keen to see a turnaround in fortunes quickly, Sky Sports News understands.
A run of four losses in a row has seen the Goodison Park side slip into the relegation zone after a difficult start to the Premier League season.
Everton have failed to register a point since their 3-2 win over Wolves on September 1, leading to grumbling among the club's support.
Silva was booed by a section of disgruntled travelling supporters following their 1-0 loss to Burnley last weekend but he urged fans to "keep the faith in us".
He added: "The position in the table is not our image. We had a worse period last season but we reacted strongly. We believe in ourselves and now is the moment to do the same. West Ham at home is now a must-win game."
Silva's side host the Hammers on October 19 after the international break.
But what does the future hold for Silva and Everton going forward?
Last weekend's 'perfect storm' of Everton's defeat at Burnley coupled with Newcastle's victory over Manchester United saw the Toffees drop into the bottom three and that has only served to increase the intense pressure on Silva from pundits and supporters alike.
However, whether a similar level of deep scrutiny has reached the Everton boardroom is less certain at this point and it is understood that a change in manager is not coming in the short-term.
Everton fans have not been shy in expressing their frustrations at what has been an unexpectedly poor start to the season by a Toffees side which saw a further £100m-plus investment on players in the summer.
Owner Farhad Moshiri spoke at an AGM last year where he gave his support to his manager following a similarly poor run of results, saying at the time that Silva was a manager "planning for the long term".
And, contrary to the social media rumour-mill, Silva is well liked at Finch Farm training ground.
However, the billionaire's patience will be increasingly tested having already invested many millions of pounds on players, three managers and in an ongoing ambitious stadium project.
Even though some Everton fans are already discussing who they would want to replace Silva, a minority remain positive in the hope that he can turn the situation around and it seems Moshiri is of that same mindset.
There has been no official indication either way as to how the current position the club finds itself in is being viewed by those in power at Goodison but it would be folly to believe that their current Premier League predicament is not being discussed by the hierarchy in some detail - they will be more than aware of the feeling among the club's fan base.
However realistic the likelihood of change is, there is a compelling debate as to which direction Everton, and more pertinently Moshiri, would go in should he decide to make a fourth managerial change in his short tenure.
There are a number of candidates out there.
Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez reside in the hopes of a section of supporters and while the former is likely to be setting his sights elsewhere, the latter would be a difficult choice for anyone at Everton given his strong ties to Liverpool and the lucrative contract he is currently on in China.
Former Everton player, and current Manchester City assistant boss, Mikel Arteta is a popular name among the fans, while Eddie Howe's achievements at Bournemouth will not have gone unnoticed by many owners, including Everton's. Neither of them would be likely to leave their current positions at this juncture although the Everton job would surely be attractive to both men at the right time.
Then there is former boss David Moyes.
It is fair to say the manner in which he left Everton in 2013 was viewed as less than ideal but many supporters retain an admiration for the job he did in his 11 years at the club.
If, and it is a big if at this point, Moshiri feels his current man is not the way forward, then the former Manchester United manager would offer a similar safety net that the Blues owner sought sanctuary in with the appointment of Sam Allardyce two years ago.
However, Moyes would be a much more palatable appointment than Allardyce for the fans - the former England boss never enjoyed a positive relationship with the Everton faithful in his short period at the club.
Moyes' most recent role at West Ham attracted a degree of praise after he guided what was a troubled club at the time to safety in the Premier League during a toxic period.
Many felt Everton had an identity under Moyes. A criticism which has been levelled at the current team is that an identity is something which is sorely lacking.
Perhaps even more intriguingly, there is an underlying curiosity as to how the Scot would perform with the funds as a result of Moshiri's wealth.
