Everton's board back Ronald Koeman but there are holes in the manager's plans and his team... so can he ride out crisis despite £130m spending spree?

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In northern Italy on Monday the board of AC Milan met to discuss the future of coach Vincenzo Montella. In Bavaria, Bayern Munich have already sacked Carlo Ancelotti. Patience is no longer considered a virtue across European football — and not just in England.

So there's no comfort for Ronald Koeman in any of that. Some want the Everton manager gone already, but it is only a matter of weeks since the Dutchman was given more than £130million to spend by the club he joined at the start of last season.

The least Koeman should expect is the time to see if he has spent that money wisely. Seven Premier League games are certainly not enough to judge a team, and the words of Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri seemed to indicate on Monday that Koeman will still be in charge for the trip to Brighton that follows the international break.

Ronald Koeman made bold pre-season statements about Everton challenging for the top four 

'These are early days and Koeman has my total support,' said Moshiri. 'We have great fans and they deserve better. We are in a bad moment but we have played the four title contenders, three away. Sunday was the only unexpected loss. There is mental and physical fatigue and seven injuries.'

Moshiri is in danger of sounding like a football club owner who actually understands the game. But as Koeman looks to move on from a dismal couple of weeks, he will know improvement must come soon.

Certainly there are holes in his plans and there are now holes in this team — the one left by Romelu Lukaku being the most obvious. Selling a 25-goal-a-season No 9 and not replacing him was a mistake so serious as to appear negligent.

Moreover, Koeman's bold pre-season statements — both in public and in private — are also in danger of coming back to bite him. The 54-year-old told the Everton board that the purchase of Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea would be the one to push Everton to the edge of the Champions League battle. To the media, meanwhile, he was also confident.

Gylfi Sigurdsson has failed to live up to his £45m transfer fee since joining from Swansea

Koeman dropped Wayne Rooney for the Burnley match for the first time since his return

This is very much Koeman's style and always has been. In the corridors and offices of Goodison Park, staff talk about the manager's authoritarian style. There is a softer side to the former Barcelona and Ajax star but he is primarily cut from the same cloth as other uber-confident Dutch coaches such as Louis van Gaal and Dick Advocaat.

Van Gaal showed himself to be incredibly inflexible during his dreary two years at Manchester United and that is something Koeman must avoid now. From that point of view, the signs are decent at the moment. 

Recently, for example, he spoke with a few senior players to talk through issues regarding style of play. One of the players in attendance was of the view that his manager was at least listening.

On Sunday for the game at home to Burnley, Koeman acted decisively by dropping Wayne Rooney and moving Sigurdsson to the No 10 position in which one would imagine he was bought to play.

The Iceland international didn't reward his manager's faith on that occasion and the defeat will send Everton to Brighton in 12 days with a whiff of crisis about them.

Koeman's Everton have been here before, though, and come through. Last season they began the Premier League season like a train, winning four of their first five games, only to then win just one of the next 11 in all competitions.

There were groans from the Gwladys Street then, too, only for Everton to emerge for the better and finish the season with most Evertonians certain they finally had the right manager to take them where they wanted to be.

With young players like Tom Davies and Dominic Calvert-Lewin blooded on his watch, you would think Koeman had credit in the bank. Both contributed last season and both remain involved.

But last season's finish set the bar relatively high for Koeman and it is this, and his one big error in the summer transfer market, that would appear to threaten him now. It would be stupid to sack a talented, bright coach but then, in football, people do stupid things.

Koeman must only hope his owner understands the ebb and flow of the modern game as much as he says he does.

Everton's majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri said Koeman retains his 'total support'

Blooding youngsters like Tom Davies should leave Koeman with some credit in the bank