Frank Lampard has admitted that his side hugely lacked in confidence as they were comfortably beaten 4-0 by Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts progressed to the semi final of the FA Cup at Selhurst Park with ease thanks to strikes from Marc Guehi, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Wilfried Zaha and Will Hughes. Everton has initially started the match well, but quickly fell apart after Patrick Vieira's side bagged their first goal.
And the Blues boss later admitted that a lack of confidence was one of the clear issues that was affecting his team. The manager also highlighted crucial errors at both ends of the pitch which led to his side's loss.
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He said: "It's done damage that we won't go to Wembley, our fans won't got to Wembley and we won't have the opportunity to go to a final. But after the break it's up to us.
"There's a balance of confidence stroke playing at the cut-throat end of football. This is a quarter final today to get to Wembley, and if you haven't got the confidence to play, then you can quickly flip to say have you got the b******s to play? Excuse me, but that's the football reality.
"If you fall somewhere in the middle then don't worry about it. We didn't play that badly today and Palace didn't play that well today, and we lost 4-0. Because of a lack of confidence, and a lack of what I just said.
"If you can't be clinical in front of goal, you can't score goals. If you allow people to stroll into your box to finish with ease, they'll finish with ease. It was real basics."
Andros Townsend started the game on Sunday afternoon, but was withdrawn early in the first half after going down unchallenged near the corner flag.
The winger was replaced by Demarai Gray and carried off the pitch, with Lampard revealed that he will be assessed by the club over the coming days. However, the initial signs don't look good.
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"It looks bad, we think it's a knee injury. He got his studs stuck in the grass," the manager added.
"Well scan him over the next day or two, but the early signs are that it will be a bad knee injury."
Townsend was playing an important role in Everton starting the match well and Lampard believes his substitution did stunt his side's momentum. However, he also highlighted two more key points which held the Blues back on Sunday.
He remarked: "We were playing well, we started well, Andros was contributing. We stopped the game, the change of personnel - even after that I thought we remained in relative control until the goal goes in obviously.
"It (the injury) was a blow in those terms, yeah. Two things hindered us, one was the scheduling - which is difficult to rely on when you've just lost 4-0. But we could have played at 3pm or 6pm, but the broadcasters want to show other teams.
"And then Allan's suspension not being turned over, because it was a wrong decision and it was easier to save face and leave him with a three-game suspension. We missed a big player today and we will now for two league games."
