Having got back to winning ways in our last match, Everton were looking to close out 2018 on a high but the Brighton and Hove Albion clash at the Amex Stadium was anything but enjoyable for manager Marco Silva and his side.
A second half goal from Jurgen Locadia gave the hosts the victory and all three points but with definite frustration from our own performance once again, questions will be asked but our own inability to really turn up for another match will be somewhat overshadowed by other issues on the pitch as some of our players were clearly incensed at times.
Silva, sensibly, dodged those sorts of questions in his immediate post-game interviews and neither would he reveal what he spoke to the referee about at the fulltime whistle as he spoke to the BBC cameras.
As Silva admitted himself though, the players simply have to be better than that.
“It wasn’t our best performance. Tough match – we expected that. They do well at home, they take most of their points here and we knew that. If you look through and analyse the match we had the best chances to score. In one moment one deflection gave them a chance to score. But we had the most chances to score. It is something we don’t want. We had a good run in our performance and in our results. Now we are in a different moment, we have to react. The result was not fair but that’s football. Now we have to prepare for the next game. What I spoke with the referee at the end and maybe the reason the players were angry in that moment is the referee has to control the game. It was a difficult match for both teams. It was really really difficult for the referee. We as a team have conditions to do better – I think the referee has too, but that’s football. It wasn’t a good game to see.”
🗣 | Marco admits we weren't at our best today, but feels we had enough chances to get a different result. #EFCawayday
— Everton (@Everton) December 29, 2018