Atalanta 3 Everton 0: Sluggish Toffees blown away in Europa League by spirited Serie A side

The royal blue tide of optimism around Everton, after that £130m spend, didn’t last long.

This was a night as grey as Everton’s dreadful kit as Ronald Koeman’s expensively assembled squad were embarrassed by a team making their first foray into Europe for 26 years.

Everton were completely blown away and a third successive defeat will only increase the scrutiny on Koeman after a summer recruitment drive which had promised so much.

All those fears over Everton’s lack of pace appear well founded on this evidence and here in northern Italy they had the cutting edge of a plastic spatula, unable to respond after a three-goal blast in a nightmarish first-half.

The only miniscule crumb of comfort for Koeman is that Manchester United, last season’s Europa League winners, also lost their first group game but this was a reality check equal to a thunderbolt between the eyes for the Dutchman.

Many Everton supporters had streamed out of the stadium by half-time and those that remained jeered the players who applauded them at the final whistle. Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford, and a reunion with Romelu Lukaku, now looks an even more daunting prospect.

Koeman said: “I share the fans’ anger and it’s a big lesson today. This was a wake-up call, if not the problem is much bigger.

“I don’t like finding excuses but the team is far away from what we need to show and of course you can find excuses about young players, but most of the players are not at the level we expect.

“What I saw on the pitch was a big difference between Atalanta and Everton in belief confidence, aggression and passion.

“So that’s a question to myself, what I did wrong. It’s easier to criticise the players, the team, and individual mistakes but the team was not prepared well for what it saw in the first half. It was a shame, I’m really sorry for the fans. It's a difficult moment."

It could have been even worse for Everton and the sad truth is that Atalanta had the cigars out after half-time, the game won after a thoroughly one-sided opening 45 minutes.

Fourth in Serie A last season, Atalanta were outstanding while their own fans will have savoured the two-hour drive back to Bergamo after such a memorable night.

With their own stadium under renovation, Atalanta will play all their European games 120 miles away in Reggio Emilia but this felt like a home tie, played in a crackling atmosphere.

Everton were under pressure from the start, with goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg over-worked in a rare appearance, tipping over a header from Phil Jagielka which was threatening to arc into the defender’s own net after just 100 seconds.

With six changes made to the team humbled by Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, Everton were disjointed and unable to find any rhythm, eventually falling behind in the 27^th minute.

Stekelenburg had saved brilliantly from close-range to deny Andrea Masiello yet from the resulting corner, the Atalanta left-back could not miss from barely a yard out after the ball took a deflection off Jagielka. 

Atalanta, playing with width and endeavour, increased their lead four minutes before half-time after a stunning strike from their talisman. Alejandro Gomez, known as Papu, was given far too much space to curl the ball into the far corner from 25 yards.

The third goal came just before the break, sparking a mass exodus of Everton fans, as Bryan Cristante exploited defensive hesitancy to advance into the area and direct the ball to the right of Stekelenburg.

Atalanta could have added more goals early in the second half, with Gomez shooting wildly over the bar before Remo Freuler struck the upright, but did not have to move out of second gear.

Wayne Rooney was replaced midway through the half after a desperately poor evening, with Everton only managing one shot on target all night.

This was as bad as anything served up during those final months under Roberto Martinez and Koeman has some serious work to do. He must have wished the kick-off time here had been delayed by an hour, too.