Brighton & Hove Albion v Everton: Marco Silva calls on Everton to be more consistent in 2019

After thumping strugglers Burnley 5-1 away from home on Boxing Day after two consecutive defeat, the Toffees lost to the Seagulls for the first time in 36 years thanks to a second half Jurgen Locadia goal.

Everton now sit tenth in the Premier League with 27 points from 20 games and the Toffees' Portuguese manager has called on his side to be more consistent as they enter 2019.

He said: "It's something that you need to look at. It's not just our performances but our results. It is a challenge because we had a very good run before the game against Liverpool and then we went on a bad run.

"We had a fantastic reaction in the last game but we do need to stop being so up-and-down with performances and results.

"That is our aim in the second half of the season going into the New Year."

Everton had spells throughout the game where they had a stranglehold on the game but just couldn't hit the back of the net. In the first half, the Toffees had three attempts in as many minutes but still couldn't find a way past David Button and the Brighton defence.

Silva felt his team created more chances than the Seagulls but was of the opinion that their slow start to the match proved to be their downfall.

The Everton boss continued: "It was a frustrating afternoon for us. If you want to talk about chances, I think we created more of them. If you look we had great chances from set-pieces and even though it wasn't our best performance we created enough chances to get the result.

"Straight after their goal we had a chance from Richarlison which came off the post and then late on we had a chance that came off the bar. If you have five, six chances you have to achieve the result.

"In the first 20 minutes we played too slow with the ball. We had the conditions to do better and we were too slow in our build up. We did it completely differently in the last part of the first half and we controlled the match."

The Brighton goal just before the hour came about in what some may view as controversial circumstances. A corner from Pascal Gross hit Andre Gomes and the rebound fell to Locadia to who tucked home.

The assistant referee initially raised his flag for offside but after consulting referee Andrew Madley, the goal was eventually given despite furious Everton protestations. After the game Toffees defender Lucas Digne and Silva both confronted Madley, but the Blues boss said that their conversation had nothing to do with Locadia's goal.

He added: "What I told him is to stay between me and him. What I can say is that it was nothing about the goal.

"We have conditions to do better and so does the referee as well . It was a tough match for us and Brighton, and a tough match for the referee as well.

"He (Digne) was upset. It's not just him. I was upset with the referee in some moments in the match but it's part of the game. The next match is the most important thing now."