Marco Silva has revealed an honest assessment on how Everton have struggled with some brands of football played against them this season.
The Blues have had an inconsistent campaign in general, hitting some patches of very good form while also going long stretches with few points being picked up.
At the minute Everton are in a better run of form, despite what was a disappointing 2-0 defeat to already-relegated Fulham on Saturday.
But Silva thinks he has now pinpointed where his side are struggling in certain matches at least.
The manager told the ECHO: "Of course during the season we had some problems, I can tell you, with the type of football some teams play against us.
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"It's something you are aware of, and it's something I want to improve as a manager.
"When teams play more closed against us, with more defensive organisation [the problems occurred]. I'm aware of the situation and it's up to me to find the right ways of achieving that."
Defeat to Fulham last week was no doubt a disappointing performance, but the manager knows he learns a lot from his side in those matches.
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"I think it's a good learning experience," Silva added.
"All the moments we've had in the season are good moments to learn. The good wins, the bad results and the not good enough performances like the last one.
"It was a disappointing result and it showed us how things are in the Premier League.
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"We expected a tough match, but we didn't perform in the way we wanted. But it's a good way for us to learn and prepare in a different way in the future.
"The Premier League is like that. You play one game against Arsenal, Tottenham, Man United, City or whatever and it's completely different to when you play Burnley or Fulham.
"It's up to us to prepare our squad deeply to be ready for all these games.
"If you look through all the Premier League you see maybe Man City and Liverpool with a fantastic run, every single week it's easy to find inconsistencies.
"This is something that happens often in the Premier League, barring maybe two or three clubs. It's always really tough because you never expect one easy game."
The Blues are set to face another tough opponent this weekend when Manchester United make the visit to Goodison Park.
And Silva believes there is one area in particular that Ole Gunner Solskjaer's side thrives - and it's up to Everton to stop them.
The manager remarked: "We'll have a different game. We know Manchester United are really, really comfortable in the counter-attack, if opponents make a mistake they are really strong in that moment.
"It's a big part of the goals they have scored until now. Even if they have quality in their positional attack also, but they have really high quality in these moments.
"It will be a different game than the last one, for sure. It's up to us to reach our good level again."
