Silva frustrated by wasteful Everton

Marco Silva bemoaned Everton’s profligacy after West Ham United beat the Blues 3-1 at Goodison Park on Sunday.

The Hammers, who had lost all four previous league games this season, inflicted a first competitive defeat on new boss Silva, who admitted Everton made too many expensive mistakes.

The Toffees began brightly but found themselves two down within 31 minutes after a brace from Andriy Yarmolenko, and Marko Arnautovic restored the visitors’ two-goal lead on the hour mark after Gylfi Sigurdsson halved the deficit just before the break.

Strikers Cenk Tosun and Oumar Niasse both missed key chances for Everton in what was ultimately a extremely frustrating day for Silva. Speaking to BBC Sport, he said:

“We didn’t play with enough quality to win the match. We made some mistakes [which] in this level we cannot, that’s clear.

“We started the game well with good pace, good intensity, good combinations as well and our first mistake, they score.

“We expected that because it is something they do often; at that moment we didn’t react well when we lost that ball and they score.

“At the end of the day we didn’t perform well but they had three or four chances, they score three goals. We had four or five chances and scored just one. In the end that made the difference.”

Eyebrows were raised when Morgan Schneiderlin was substituted before the interval, at which time Everton found themselves 2-0 down.

It had emerged before kick-off that the Frenchman’s father had sadly passed away, and some were surprised to even see him involved, partnering fellow defensive midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye.

But Silva insisted his decision to hook Schneiderlin particularly early was irrespective of the player’s frame of mind:

“[Schneiderlin’s substitution] was a tactical change, nothing more. In that moment I had to change something in our squad. I had that in my mind. In that moment, Morgan or [Idrissa] Gana, I had to take one decision but it was just a tactical change.”

Despite a chastening afternoon at Goodison, Silva is determined to rectify the errors which cost Everton dearly, and believes the numerous young players in today’s side, such as Mason Holgate and Jonjoe Kenny, will benefit from his coaching.

“It’s a tough result for us. To lose 3-1 at home is always really hard and I already told our players that as well. We have to react; there’s nothing more to it. We have to react to the mistakes we made.

“This afternoon, a lot of young players [played] as well and they have to understand that playing in this club, the pressure is behind us as well, and I’m here to help them as well.”

Silva will be hoping for a reaction from the Blues when they travel to North London to face Arsenal next Sunday, September 23 (kick-off 4pm GMT/12pm EST).