David Moyes blames “shabby defending” for his side’s 4-2 loss to Brentford at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The Blues began the game on a positive note with Igor Thiago clearing James Tarkowski’s header from the goal line, but it took just 11 minutes for Brentford’s number nine to lay down the marker. He finished from close range after Vitaliy Janelt capitalised on a poor pass from Tarkowski.
“I thought we started well. The first 10 minutes we started the game well and I don’t know exactly when they scored,” Moyes said after the game.
“The keeper made a couple of good saves but we gave away a terrible goal and then I think the rest of the half we were chasing it. We never really got to grips with it after that. I think we had a chance just before half-time, which we maybe could have equalised with.
“So we hadn’t played well enough, but we got in 1-0 down, which gave us an opportunity in the second half to try and come out and be better. But it was unlike us, really.
“The first goal and obviously the other goals as well were unlike us completely. So it never really gave us a chance of winning. It was just poor defensively, really.”
Nathan Collins, left unmarked during a corner-kick, headed home to double the visitors’ lead while Thiago made it 3-0 from an efficient counter shortly after the break. While there was a glimmer of hope after Beto pulled one back with a fantastic header, it was quickly dashed when Thiago completed his hattrick two minutes before the end of regulation time.
Thierno Barry scored his third goal for Everton from Jack Grealish’s cross in injury time, but it proved little more than consolation.
“We don’t concede four goals too often, and I thought we conceded them in a really, really shabby manner today,” the Everton boss added.
“If you think how well they defended in midweek [in the 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest] compared to today, it just didn’t stack up.
“But obviously, we’ve tried to win the game at home. We were a bit more open. We were trying to make things work and happen. And I thought they punished us.”