Marco Silva has defended his decision to start Phil Jagielka against Fulham after Everton's 2-0 loss at Craven Cottage.
The club captain kept his place in the side following a strong performance against Arsenal in the Blues' previous game, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win.
Michael Keane was ruled out of that match against the Gunners through illness, but was well enough to return to the Everton squad for the trip to west London this Saturday.
However, the in-form 25-year-old was left on the bench, and Silva later confirmed it was a tactical decision.
Lacklustre Everton deserved nothing against Fulham as Marco Silva left wondering over his side
"It was a tactical choice, it was my choice to put Jagielka on the pitch," Silva told the ECHO.
"After he played like he did last week, I kept the same lineup.
Jagielka came in for criticism from some sections of the fanbase for his performance, with Aleksandar Mitrovic causing a lot of problems for the Blues defence across the 90 minutes.
All the latest reaction to Everton's loss is right HERE
But Silva stood up for his captain, and was adamant the result was down to more than just one individual performance.
The manager added: "It's easy to look just at one player.
"If you want to say that we lost because of Jagielka, you are completely wrong. It was not.
"The team didn't perform, and if you want to look for just one player it's a big mistake.
“In general, we didn't perform the way we needed to.
“It was not a good game. From the first minute we weren't playing fast like we needed to.
“They won more second balls and they were more aggressive than us. Now it's something for us to analyse.
“The players will for sure understand and know why we didn't perform the way we want.”
