WHEN a side is so soundly, so roundly, beaten, there are always going to be mitigating circumstances.

More often than not they are fanciful excuses born of sheer desperation but it is inevitable they will be proffered if only because a knee jerk sport demands knee jerk responses.

The truth is, Southampton did not boast a full complement of players at Goodison Park until 11 minutes into the second half when Gordon Watson moved from substitutes' bench to pitch as a replacement for Matt Le Tissier.

Le Tissier had been an absolute disgrace, strolling nonchalantly - almost callously - amid the wreckage of his team with all the urgency of one who has smugly come to accept that the bottom line in life is a monthly pay cheque.

Immobile and ungainly, Le Tissier resembled someone bound to an invisible companion in a village green three legged race.

He led by example only when heading for the dressing room, the rich applause of an unnecessarily sympathetic audience no doubt serving to reinflate English football's most fragile ego.

It would have been interesting, to hear Graeme Souness's observations of his captain's abject display but the man who loathes defeat with an almost unique passion could barely find the words to describe his disappointment.

"Do I need to say anything at all?" inquired Souness. "In the end we were just happy to get away with losing by only six goals."

Before the painful subject of Le Tissier could be raised he was up, out of his seat and away, waving diplomatically as he shouted over his shoulder: "I just want to go, home."

Southampton had arrived on Merseyside jealously clutching an eight game unbeaten sequence but Everton felled their lofty ambition with a performance of spirit, enterprise and maturity which hints at a bright future.

Manager Joe Royle has been in place for exactly two years and while he concedes expectation has often outstripped actual performance, his side does now hold players - perhaps as many as five - of enviable quality.

Southampton were obliterated; over run to such an extent that many of those bedecked in blue favours actually appeared embarrassed for them. It could have been worse for once a side has subconsciously acknowledged it is beaten - a collective decision Southampton reached midway through the first half - anything at all is possible.

As Souness said in his brief but damning postscript, Everton looked like scoring every time they moved forwards.

Five times the hapless Chris Woods was beaten in the opening half as Everton submerged Southampton as waves do to badly built sand castles. There simply was no respite.

Graham Stuart, from close range, and Andrei Kanchelskis with a precise left foot finish, set the tone before the rot really set in.

Two from Gary Speed and a second for Kanchelskis reduced Southampton to rubble inside 35 minutes.

The second half was an irrelevance but there was still time for Nick Barmby to log his first goal since his arrival from Middlesbrough and for Speed to complete the first senior hat trick of his career.

Egil Ostenstad's goal for Southampton represented consolation in its hollowest form.

"We were brilliant. Even our severest critics would have to admit we were irresistible," said Royle, for once preaching to the converted.