“I wouldn’t have wanted to come and watch that.”

Everton manager David Moyes did not mince his words after his side’s 0-0 draw away to Burnley, cutting a largely frustrated figure on the Turf Moor touchline and in his post-match press conference.

For a third game in a row, the Merseyside outfit had drawn a blank. The sense of missed opportunity was tangible against a willing but limited Burnley. Yet this was a game that Everton could easily have lost.

Burnley ended the stronger of the two sides. Jacob Bruun Larsen lifted a glorious chance over the bar, with substitute Zian Flemming sending an effort from a similar area against the post. While Martin Dubravka had made two smart saves to deny Beto and Thierno Barry, it was the home fans who greeted news of six additional minutes with most fervour, sensing a late opportunity.

This was a poor game between one team, in Burnley, largely devoid of Premier League quality and another, in Everton, deprived of all of their difference makers.

Things are looking particularly tight for Moyes’ side right now. The list of absentees on Saturday read like a who’s who of the squad’s leading lights. Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye are away at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), defender Jarrad Branthwaite is not yet back in full training, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall limped out of the recent Chelsea defeat with a hamstring complaint, while club captain Seamus Coleman remains on the sidelines.

Jack Grealish joined that cohort, having reported a “bit of a bug”, according to Moyes, in training.

Moyes named only eight substitutes, one short of a full complement, including two reserve goalkeepers and a pair of young defenders, in Reece Welch and Elijah Campbell, whose short- and long-term futures appear away from Everton.

Moyes’ side have shown signs of improvement this season, but this felt like a reversion to the days of the not-too-distant-past when they had little money to spend and were painfully short of quality.

In tone and atmosphere, the game was most reminiscent of the 3-2 defeat to Burnley in April 2022 when both sides were battling relegation — albeit without the sucker-punch conclusion.

David Moyes attempts to get his message to Dwight McNeil (Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

It was a reminder too that years of underinvestment in a still hollowed-out squad will take time to fix — and that some of the summer signings will need time to bed in.

“We were missing a lot of creativity,” Moyes said. “It was always going to be a challenge but that was probably as poor as we’ve played. But you get a clean sheet and take a point. Burnley has never been an easy place to come. Maybe it’ll prove important later in the season.”

Bereft of Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall and Co, Everton do not look well suited to navigating the challenges of the next couple of weeks. Winning games against any Premier League side right now will be a struggle, with goals in short supply. The individualism that has helped swing matches in their favour is, for now, unavailable.