Sean Dyche was left confused by his Everton team’s ‘madness’ at the back during a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
Ruben Amorim picked up his first Premier League win in charge of the Red Devils, with a morale-boosting thrashing of the Toffees.
There were two goals each for Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee as United climb to within four points of a Champions League spot.
Everton are 15th and just two points above the relegation places, although Dyche felt this team competed pretty well for most of the first half before mistakes cost them.
He then could not believe what his players were doing as Rashford scored the third straight after the interval.
‘Real hard one to take for me as a manager today, because certainly until their first goal which comes from a soft moment…for the first 30-odd minutes I thought we were good in most ways,’ Dyche told the BBC.
‘We were solid defensively, we were trying to break the play up, which we did on several occasions.
‘The next challenge is when we get in them moments that final pass, final finish, it’s the hardest bit to change.
‘The biggest gripe of the lot from our point of view is just madness, I don’t know where they’re all going, I don’t know why they’re all running over to the ball. That one is madness. And that’s such an important goal.
‘A large part of the first half performance was very good. we didn’t capitalise on the moments, we spoke about that, we spoke about keeping it tight early in the second half, ironically. Then they score out of a nothing situation. They capitalised on our mistakes, fair play to them.’
With another blank from his players, Everton remain on just 10 goals scored this Premier League season, 13 games in.
The Toffees have not scored in any of their last four matches and Dyche says it is a problem that long predates his time at the club.
‘It’s been a worry here for four or five seasons,’ he said. ‘It’s been a big task at Everton Football Club for a number of years. We’ve been trying different ways, different options. It’s an ongoing challenge.’
Everton have a nightmare December ahead which includes clashes with Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.