It has now been more than three weeks since Everton sacked Ronald Koeman following a poor start to the season, yet they appear to be no closer to appointing the Dutchman’s long-term successor.

The 54-year-old was relieved of his duties after the 5-2 home defeat by Arsenal last month, with David Unsworth placed in temporary charge to presumably give the Toffees hierarchy more time to make the right decision on should be the new manager.

While Unsworth will have seen it as his opportunity to stake his claim for the job, three successive defeats against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, Leicester City in the Premier League and Lyon in the Europa League – which led to the club’s early exit from the competition – look to have ended the chances of that happening.

While the incredible turnaround that saw Everton come from 2-0 down to beat Watford 3-2 at Goodison Park before the international break could prove to be a turning point, they shouldn’t really have found themselves in the original position anyway.

It seems unlikely that Unsworth will be handed the job on a full-time basis – although he could be in charge for the visit to bottom-of-the-table Crystal Palace this weekend considering the lack of progress made.

Sky Sports reported on Tuesday that Sam Allardyce was out of the running after the Merseyside outfit refused to give him a deal beyond the end of the season, while they also haven’t had any talks with Burnley’s Sean Dyche despite the fact that he has been one of the bookmakers’ favourites from the start.

Everton suffered their latest setback on Monday when The Independent revealed that an approach for Watford’s Marco Silva had been rejected, and the Hornets expect the matter to now be closed considering the 40-year-old reportedly doesn’t have a release clause in the contract he signed when he was appointed in the summer.

That will certainly be a huge blow for the Toffees but it does seem to highlight the lack of organisation and forward planning from the majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright.

Surely the duo should have had a good idea of who might be available and whether potential candidates like Silva had a release clause before they wielded the axe on Koeman?

It appears not though, and the longer the uncertainty continues the more it could affect performances on the pitch, and they certainly don’t need that in what is a huge game against Roy Hodgson’s side on Saturday.

It seems to be more and more likely that Everton will either pay through the roof for Silva, or they will be forced to give the job until Unsworth until May.

To be honest it all stinks of bad planning and it goes back to their transfer dealings during the summer, when they failed to bring in a Romelu Lukaku replacement – which was absolutely crucial considering the number of goals he scored last season – as well as adding some much-needed pace or significantly boosting an ageing defence.

They also brought in three players – Gylfi Sigurdsson, Davy Klaassen and Wayne Rooney – that all want to play in the same No 10 role and were often shoehorned into wide positons – while other additions like Cuco Martina and Sandro Ramirez have failed to make the grade.

Considering the money they spent, it has not proven to be a good investment when you look at the Premier League table.

The lack of preparation and poor decision-making on recruitment of players and a new manager certainly suggest that Everton are a long way away from competing with the top six clubs in the Premier League on a regular basis – which is ultimately Moshiri’s aim.

While you would expect them to make mistakes on their way to that point, it has certainly not been a good start and their squad as it stands would be lucky to finish in the top-half, let alone the top six.

With a poor defence, no cohesion up top, some poor summer additions and no manager, Everton have a lot of improvements to make over the next couple of seasons if they want to make an impact at the right end of the Premier League table, and the planning from the very top must improve significantly if they are to achieve that goal.