Roberto Martinez has refused to pile all the blame on his defence for Thursday night's heavy defeat at Dynamo Kiev which signalled the end of Everton's Europa League campaign.
The Toffees looked good value to progress into the final eight of the competition when Romelu Lukaku's goal on the half-hour mark put them in the driving seat, but four goals in the space of 35 minutes saw the Ukrainian outfit turn the tie on its head.
However, despite conceding five goals on the night, Martinez was quick to stand by his defensive players following the 5-2 rout.
"The back five have been very strong in the last two games - the same back five only conceded one goal in the last two games from a corner in the first leg against Dynamo - and kept a clean sheet against Newcastle," he is quoted as saying by FourFourTwo.
"I felt the communication experience between them would be important today. Both teams used the pitch in a good manner but the whole team didn't defend well enough.
"The second goal started from an attacking corner and sometimes those situations you can't completely control in the game. It wasn't a case of the personnel, I felt Dynamo built momentum with the home crowd and capitalised on that."
Everton's defeat ensures that there will be no English representative in the quarter-finals of either the Champions League or Europa League.
Daniel Lewis
