Sam Allardyce bemoaned Everton’s lack of goal-scoring options after their defeat to Bournemouth.
Allardyce suffered the first reversal of his Goodison Park reign as the Cherries created more chances and took their chances in a 2-1 win.
Ryan Fraser struck both of his side’s goals at the Vitality Stadium to end Everton’s unbeaten Premier League run that stretched back to late November.
And Allardyce was quick to identify the Blues’ attacking options as a key factor in their muted end to the calendar year.
He said: “Overall our goal scoring abilities are limited – you don’t have to be a manager to look at this squad and see that.
“We’ve got players that can create but not ones that can score.
“That’s why I work so hard on the defensive side because we’re not going to be free scoring.”
“We’ve got Gylfi (Sigurdsson), we’ve got Wayne (Rooney), (Oumar) Niasse has scored a few, (Dominic) Calvert-Lewin is learning his trade,” added Allardyce.
“When you look at it like that, we have to be good defensively. We’re going to try and improve that in the window.”
Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun is expected to seal a £25 million move to Goodison when the January transfer window opens on Monday.
But Allardyce was unable to provide any update on the potential move.
When asked about Tosun, he said: “There’s no update at the moment.
“I’m aware there are negotiations [and] I’ll probably find out more tomorrow.”