Everton captain Phil Neville has urged teammates to lift their game.

"We're all a little bit disappointed with the start to the season," the Everton skipper told the Daily Post. "We could have played better and, in particular, we could have defended better.

"You looked at the squad we started the season with and you thought our strong point was in defence. It's not worked out that way.

"Our season officially starts when we go to Stoke [on Sunday] because we need to hit the ground running now. We can't play catch up.

"I'm so happy that the transfer window is closed now. We can all put to bed who we're signing, who we're not signing and we can concentrate on the task ahead.

"We've got a stronger squad now than what we had last season so there are no excuses now and no feeling sorry for ourselves. Let's cut the rubbish out and let's get back winning matches."