At sunny Goodison Park, chatter about former manager David Moyes cast a long shadow over Sean Dyche as the Everton boss came to terms with an astonishing late collapse.
Throwing away a 2-0 lead in the 87th minute to lose 3-2 had never happened in the Premier League before, and felt more devastating as it left Everton heading into the international break without a point.
Moyes, who took Everton into the top four and to the FA Cup final, is available after leaving West Ham and is based in the North West.
It only adds to the pressure on Dyche, whose reputation for building organised and disciplined teams was at odds with the chaos of the final few minutes on Saturday.
After Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin had given the home side a deserved two-goal cushion, Antoine Semenyo initiated the Bournemouth comeback before Lewis Cook and Luis Sinisterra finished the job.
Moyes, who took Everton into the top four, is available after leaving West Ham United
Stewards as well as fans grumbled about Dyche taking off exciting winger Iliman Ndiaye just before the turnaround.
Captain Seamus Coleman, who has seen pretty much everything in 15 years at the club, was ashen-faced at the end. ‘It’s a shocker,’ he said. ‘You can’t take your foot off the gas in the Premier League. The fans don’t want to hear cliches. They want a team they can be proud of. I’m sure they were for 80 minutes, but not after that.’
Dyche has credit in the bank after keeping Everton up last season despite points deductions and the club will be reluctant to make a change before prospective new owners come in. But the prospect of starting next season in their new stadium on Liverpool’s waterfront as a Championship club can’t be contemplated.
Dyche will spend the next two weeks working out how to stop a defensive rot of 10 goals conceded in three games.
‘We have to remind the players of how well we saw off games last season and all those clean sheets (13),’ he said. ‘We have certainly done it many times before.’