What now are Blues' realistic goals after season has stalled?

DEFEAT on Saturday was a reality check for Everton.

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After a traumatic start to the new year, a campaign full of potential has hit the buffers.This has still been a good season and could yet hold more fun and promise, at least once David Moyes gets some of the many missing players back to availability.

But after the FA Cup exit to Sunderland, and the manner of it, which followed a chaotic 1-1 draw with Premier League basement boys Wolves and a dispiriting 4-2 loss to Brentford, all at Hill Dickinson Stadium, this feels a good time for reflection.

What can Everton achieve over the rest of this season and what should they be striving for?

They are questions our Blues reporters attempt to address here.

What should the priority be?

For me, this is a time to step back, take a deep breath and have some perspective.

Everton have come a long way in the past 12 months. Wanting more is perfectly reasonable but there has to be a need for pragmatism, too.

I think Everton have a really talented, young core that can be the bedrock of a side that makes a sustained assault on the European places over the coming years.

Jake O'Brien, Jarrad Branthwaite, James Garner and Iliman Ndiaye is an impressive starting point.

Put in the slightly older Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and throw in Jordan Pickford who, is still a good age for a goalkeeper, and the crux of a very good team is in situ.

The question for me is the players around them. Thierno Barry, Tyler Dibling, Merlin Rohl, Adam Aznou, Tim Iroegbunam, Carlos Alcaraz and Harrison Armstrong - they all have real potential and most have shown glimpses they can be influential in Premier League games.

The question is how good are they and how good can they become with Everton?