Ronald Koeman claims Everton were unlucky in their Europa League defeat to Lyon.
Goals from Nabil Fekir and Bertrand Traore either side of an Ashley Williams header condemned the Blues to a likely end to their Group E campaign.
The hosts came within inches of taking the lead after equalising at Goodison Park as Gylfi Sigurdsson’s free kick was glanced onto the post and cleared off the line.
Instead, Lyon retook the lead as Traore tucked home the winner, leaving Koeman to rule Everton’s lack of fortune after another disappointing result.
He said: “Of course I’m disappointed, that’s normal.
“We started well and then gave away a really stupid foul. It was the right decision from the referee to give the penalty.
“You start the game and then in a short time are 1-0 down.
“The performance was under the level in the first half; there were a lot of mistakes, doubts and players without any confidence.
“The second half was much better; we fought for everything and scored a good goal.
“We had some good chance and were unlucky not to score when Sigurdsson hit the post. In life, you need luck, instead of 2-1 up were 1-2 down.
“After that, I think we made some mistakes. The way we played in the second half, playing more direct and aggressive was the way to come back.
“All the time we played short from the back to midfield we had some bad ball possession and mistakes. It was thanks to Jordan Pickford that it was only 1-2.”
The result left Everton bottom of Group E with just one point at the midway point of qualification for the Europa League’s knock-out stages.
It means they face an uphill task to make it out of the group and need maximum points from their upcoming games with Atalanta and Lyon to stay in contention.
Given their current form that is something few can see happening and Koeman concedes it will be difficult for the Goodison Park side to reach the knock-outs.
“It’s very difficult to reach the knockout stages,” he added.
“Most of the time you get your points at home and we’ve only got one from two home games.
“Nothing is impossible but to reach the next round we need at least six or seven points and to do that we need to improve our level. That’s more important.”