National media give brutal verdict on 'Everton flops' after defeat at Crystal Palace

If the FA Cup was supposed to afford Everton a momentary welcome break from their Premier League struggles then Crystal Palace were not the opponent to provide it.

The Blues' hopes of making it through the semi-finals were emphatically taken away by the clinical Eagles, who inflicted a sorry 4-0 defeat on Frank Lampard's side at Selhurst Park.

There will be no date at Wembley for Everton, who must now turn their attentions back to ensuring their survival in the top flight once matches restart after the international break.

We've taken a look at what the national media have been saying about the Blues after their cup exit and what our own Everton writers made of it...

of the wrote: "On a lovely, soft, spring-like south London afternoon Crystal Palace produced a performance of thrust and refined attacking interplay to surge into an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, and set up an intriguingly upbeat denouement to their season. It helped that Palace were pitched against an Everton team that seemed to have no clear idea how they wanted to play, and none of the rage and resilience required to respond once they fell behind. Palace scored twice in each half. By the end the 4-0 defeat looked a little generous.

"With 17 minutes gone Townsend left the field with what Lampard confirmed later looked like a serious knee injury. At which point, the game turned completely. Everton looked baffled, frozen, bemused by the apparently unforeseen possibility of going a goal behind, of finding opponents with ideas and energy of their own."

of the wrote: "Frank Lampard accused his Everton flops of lacking cojones after their FA Cup rout at the hands of Crystal Palace. Just 72 hours after the fillip of a dramatic win against Newcastle in their