Bewildered Black Cats boss David Moyes cut a disconsolate figure as he prepared to vent his anger at his players, especially the defence, for failing to follow his pre-match instructions.
After Romelu Lukaku had hammered Sunderland into submission with a well taken hat-trick which included two unmarked headers, Moyes roared: "I can't wait to get into them and ask them why they didn't do their jobs properly."
For Lukaku's two headed goals there wasn't a single home player within challenging distance - and that was Moyes' biggest bone of contention.
The former Everton boss grumbled: "We knew that Lukaku would be a big threat and that we talked about making sure he was picked up at all times. So what do we do? Nothing."
Whilst opposite number Ronald Koeman was celebrating the return to goalscoring form of his star striker after a 13-match drought, sullen Scot Moyes was bemoaning his defence's inability to carry out the basics.
Sunderland share bottom spot with Stoke having picked up just one point from their opening four games; not the start Moyes wanted. To make matters worse, Everton fans who used to idolise him were chanting 'you're getting sacked in the morning'.
A bit premature, perhaps, but a sobering evening for Moyes as he saw Sunderland extend their run without a league victory in August or September to 23 games dating back to 2012.
Moyes said: "If there are things that we have done, it is we have worked on defending crosses and being in the right positions, but we certainly didn't show it tonight.
"We didn't stop the crosses, didn't defend the crosses, didn't get in the right positions when they did come in.
"If you give Everton a bit of credit, they boys picked the crosses out well, one to the by-line and another one, but for us, we never stopped them and more importantly for me, we weren't in the middle of the goal to stop Lukaku heading them in and that was the disappointing part for me."
Moyes has no doubt about Lukaku's quality, but admitted his players had made it easy for him. He said: "I have got to say he is a top striker, but I thought we made it quite easy for him, I don't think we made him have to work too hard to score his goals tonight. But they have got a very good centre forward in Lukaku."
Everton boss Koeman agrees and is hoping Lukaku has played himself back into top form after a sluggish start to the season. Two goals for Belgium last week and 'a lot of hard work to improve his fitness and sharpness', have certainly helped his confidence.
The Belgium international scored all his side's goals inside 11 second-half minutes as the Toffees ran riot at the Stadium of Light following a frustrating opening 45 minutes to claim a 3-0 victory.
His manager said: "He's a fantastic striker and of course sometimes it's difficult. When you are a long time not scoring for your club, everybody is talking about that. You need to support the player, the players needs to be comfortable and confident in himself, and he showed tonight again that he is one of the best strikers you can have.
"I am pleased with the hat-trick because that gives the player, but also the rest of the team, a really big boost for this Saturday. I wasn't a striker, so I don't know that feeling if you don't score for a long time, but it's important because strikers are looking to score goals and if they don't score, the team can be winning, but they are more satisfied if they win and score a goal."
Looking at the bigger picture after picking up ten points from 12, the Dutchman added: "The target for this season is European football - that, in my opinion, is realistic. It's also part of our ambition, where we'd like to be and what we'd like to fight for.
"The start in the Premier League is good - 10 points from four games - but we need to continue and we need to prepare for the next game on Saturday against Middlesbrough because maybe that will be more tough and more difficult than it was in the second half tonight."
Source: PA
