David Moyes has issued a wake up call to his Everton players, and striker Beto in particular.
Moyes saw his Toffees fall 1-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge with a sole Nicolas Jackson goal deciding the tie.
The result means Everton have just one win in eight, and despite Moyes saving the team from a relegation battle after his mid-season appointment, he did have one aspect of the performance to be upset about.
“It’s noticeable that we can’t quite score,” he told talkSPORT. “We didn’t score last week.
“We didn’t get a goal today. Our set-pieces were atrocious today, which didn’t help us from that point of view.”
He added: “We defended them very well when we had to in the main against Chelsea. But overall, those small things, when you’ve maybe not got the same quality as the opposition become really important.”
The winning goal came from a moment of sloppy play from Everton striker Beto, who was needlessly dispossessed on the halfway line.
The visitors were comfortable in possession at the time but Enzo Fernandez quickly turned it into an attack and fed Jackson for his first goal in four-and-a-half months.
Offering some stern advice to his target man, Moyes added: “Beto should retain possession of the ball.
“We’re trying to improve things and we’re trying to play better. We’re trying to find out a lot about what the players can and can’t do.
“Beto had to retain possession and he gives it away too easily for me. And they break in and score.”
Moyes did have some positivity, though, as he preps his team for the new season in an incredible new Bramley Moore Dock stadium.
“I think the players are trying to get better, the second half showed that,” he said.
“I thought our substitutes in the main made a difference as well. We could have got something out of it.
“We’ve had a run of really difficult games and this was another one. They just found a little bit of form last week, Chelsea against Fulham.
“But I have to say that the players have done a brilliant job in the main. We weren’t good in the first half, but we got better in the second.
“We had two or three half-decent opportunities where you think we might have taken it. And maybe two months ago we were taking those chances and we were winning the games by the odd goal. At the moment, we’re not.”
The result left Everton 13th in the table, while Chelsea jumped back into fourth and improved their Champions League chances for next season.
