David Moyes still believes Everton will qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League despite suffering their second defeat at the hands of Benfica on Thursday night.
The injury-ravaged Toffees lost 2-0 at home to the Portuguese giants on the back of last month's 5-0 Group I mauling at the Stadium of Light.
Second-half goals from Javier Saviola and Oscar Cardozo meant that Everton have now failed to win any of their last seven matches in all competitions.
However, despite their patchy form, Moyes still believes that a place in the last 32 in Europe is still well within their grasp.
The only good news for Everton on another grim evening for the club came in the Greek capital where the two other teams in the group - BATE Borisov and AEK Athens - drew 2-2, the perfect result for Moyes' side.
"There are some tough games coming up but we never thought the group would be easy," he explained.
"This is a long competition with lots of teams in it and others coming in later.
"Benfica broke quickly and the goals were not like the ones in the first game. It was a tighter match this time.
"They were not beautiful goals but poor from a defensive point of view. We became a little bit open in the second half as we tried to score.
"We lacked a bit of quality going forward and that did not help us but Benfica are a good side."