Marco Silva admits performances haven't been good enough if Everton want to challenge top six

The Portuguese’s warning came in the wake of a humiliating 6-2 defeat at home by Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham, a result that leaves the Toffees sat in 11th on 24 points

Marco Silva has admitted that Everton’s performances haven’t been good enough if the side wants to challenge for the top six.

The Portuguese’s warning came in the wake of a humiliating 6-2 defeat at home by Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham, a result that leaves the Toffees sat in 11th on 24 points.

Under Silva there was hope that Everton would embark upon a new chapter, but after their third defeat in five games the side looks shorn of confidence and form, having also drawn with Watford and Newcastle in recent weeks.

“Of course it’s not what we want,” Silva said on Sunday. “It’s a bad run. In the meantime when we had the good run before, in seven games we just lost to Man United and achieved very good points, now it’s a bad run.

“It’s clear for me. We have to face with work with quality with character, with personality. We have to change results. It will be a tough match the next really tough match. It’s always tough to play there against Burnley and we have to be strong as a team, work together to achieve a good result.”

Silva added that Everton need to raise their game against all sides in the league if they’re to stand any chance of challenging for the top six spots.

“We have to be strong against all. I don’t like to talk when we play against this type of team if you want to achieve something as a club. And it is our project as well, to compete at a high level, to compete against, in your words, the top six, we have to compete at high level against all.

“Because our bad run wasn’t just against the top six. We had some games when we had the chance to get more points. Each game will be tough and we have to be strong to achieve enough points to achieve our goals.”