Silva says Everton have to be more effective

Nothing is quite working out for Everton manager Marco Silva right about now. The Blues slumped to their fifth defeat in their last six games, thanks to a limp effort away at Watford FC yesterday that saw them lose 1-0 to Silva’s former employers.

The Portuguese manager was harangued by the home players and supporters leading up to the match, and the vitriol continued throughout the fixture, peaking after the Andre Gray goal gave the Hornets all three points.

Silva’s misery continued after the final whistle with Kurt Zouma sent off by referee Lee Probert for protesting the award of the corner that led to the winning goal. And indeed the manager’s day ended even worse with tabloids filled with gossip that Everton are now looking to replace Silva with Championship leaders Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa the frontrunner for his position.

In his post-match press conference, Silva wanted answers from Probert -

“I will try and speak with the referee now, if he stays here, because I spoke with Kurt at the end of the match.

”He told me he received a yellow card and then the referee gave the second yellow card to him.

”It is the moment for our players to be calm but sometimes that is not easy and the referee has to understand because many, many mistakes are coming against our team.

”It is not easy sometimes to understand everything and they cannot understand the referee and his assistant.

”It is not a case for Kurt to do something at the end of the match because the game is finished.

”At the award of the corner, all of our players go to speak with the referee, and after the goal they go to speak with the referee because it wasn’t a corner.”

Silva expressed his frustration at the result too, and noted that the Blues were losing their way in the second half as Watford came out the more determined side from the break.

“When you do not achieve the result and do not score goals with the chances we created, it is a big frustration for us.

“The first-half was balanced, they created one good chance and we had a very good chance with Cenk Tosun.

“Second half was the same again. They started to create more problems with their long balls. I felt Andre Gomes and Gana were getting tired after we played on Wednesday night. Watford had one week to prepare for the game.

“I changed Andre and was preparing to put on Bernard when they scored.”

The manager went on to admit that his side were not as effective as would be required. The Blues now go on a 17-day hiatus with no participation in the FA Cup.

“We reacted [to going behind]. We had two balls off the bar and one clear chance for Dominic. We created enough chances to score but were not effective [with our finishing]. Sometimes in these moments, something can happen – but it is only us who can work more to change things.

“When you play away and create the chances we did – and clear chances in some moments – we have to be more effective. In one moment they will start to go in and we’ll start to win matches.

“But there is just one way: work more, become more confident and look forward and try to change things.

“It is a good moment to rest the players, then bring them back to prepare for the next match against Cardiff and the derby against Liverpool.”

Honestly after what Everton have put us through over the last few weeks, two weeks of not having to watch them feels like a Valentine’s Day present come early to Blues all over.