Carlo Ancelotti has vowed to work on Everton's leaky defence when the players return after the international break.
The Blues lost 3-1 at home to Manchester United today to fall to a third successive league defeat.
Everton have conceded seven goals in that run, scoring only twice.
Bernard gave the Blues a 19th minute lead at Goodison but Bruno Fernandes scored twice in seven first-half minutes to give the visitors the lead.
Ancelotti said his side allowed United to take the lead too “easily” and bemoaned the “collective” mistakes in the build-up to both goals.
Edinson Cavani sealed the win for Ole Gunnar Solksjaer's side in time added on as Everton pushed for an equaliser.
Ancelotti described Everton's run of form as “really, really bad” and has promised that defensive drills will be on the agenda for when the squad reconvene after the international break and begin preparations for the trip to Fulham.
“I consider this period really, really bad,” Ancelotti said.
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“An unfortunate period. We had injured players and suspended players and I hope after the international break all the players will be back. We are going to work on the defensive aspect. I hope to see my team play like they did at the start of the season.”
“We were not compact,” the Everton boss reflected.
“We gave them the opportunity to play between our lines. We were not so focused in the box and we didn't mark the box. They were collective mistakes. This is the clear problem and we have to solve this.
“We prepared the game and focused on the defensive aspect. We have to work more on this aspect because the last few games, in the last period, we have conceded too many goals. This cannot happen. If we want to win games then we have to keep clean sheets because it is not always possible to score three or four goals every game.”
Ancelotti felt Everton's second-half performance, in which they had large spells of possession but failed to test David de Gea was “good” but says the damage was already done.
“It was not a good performance,” he said.
“The key point point above all was after we scored our goal we were not able to defend properly. We were not so compact. We gave them the opportunity to score two goals easily. That is the reason for the defeat. We could defend better above all else after we scored our goal. At 1-0 up, and with the team more compact, we could keep the first-half 1-0 up and then we could manage the second-half.
“The second-half performance was good, we showed a lot of spirit and some quality but not enough. The wrong aspect was in the second period of the first-half.”
