As a sign of how much Everton have underachieved this season, John Giles believes that on paper they started the season with a better caliber of player - at least in reputation terms - than champions Leicester.

The Toffees sacked manager Roberto Martinez after almost three years in charge as they languish mid-table and John feels that the buck eventually does fall on the boss.

"If you look at them man for man through the Everton team, you'd have to say that on paper they actually had more ability I think in many ways than Leicester. So there would have to be something drastically wrong for them not to perform better than they did and that usually goes back to the manager," he told Off The Ball.

He was also mystified as to why Everton rarely practiced set-pieces.

"There's one thing for sure in the game. There are going to be throw-ins, there's going to be corner kicks, there's going to be free-kicks. You know that before you start. No team goes through a match without throw-ins against them and they're things that you know about," he said, highlighting how last night's goals for Sunderland against Everton are rooted in that issue.

"Last night, the players were jumping up, jumping out of the way, two got out of the way. The ball goes in, gets a deflection and it's in the back of the net. I mean, that's disgraceful from a professional setup because that's something you can practice every day of the week."