Sean Dyche names Everton player who was 'excellent' and who was 'tremendous' in Fulham loss

Sean Dyche took the positives from another 'strong' Everton performance despite crashing out of the Carabao Cup.

The Toffees' dreams of reaching Wembley were ended as they suffered a penalty shootout loss against Fulham in the quarter-finals of the competition at Goodison Park. Everton had won their previous fourth Premier League games, lifting them seven points clear of the relegation zone despite being handed a 10-point deduction for a breach of financial rules.

Everton did not create a lot of goalscoring chances and went into half-time after a Michael Keane own goal. But the Blues showed the desire to find an equaliser and were level in the 81st minute through substitute Beto's header. That took the tie to penalties but misses from Amadou Onana and Idrissa Gana Gueye meant Fulham won the shootout 7-6.

However, Dyche refused to be downbeat despite the reverse and insisted that more signs of progress were on show. The Everton manager said: "I thought the performance was another strong one. We didn't find the true quality in the end of lots of good moves, we got into some really good positions but I'm not going to question that, lately we've been very good at that. The general performance was very strong again, having to change the style and move people. Jarrad was excellent playing at left-back, Jimmy Garner was tremendous higher up the pitch, Gana second half. There were still some very strong signs of what we're doing. Unfortunately, it doesn't pay you back tonight but it will do over the rest of the season as long as we stick with the principles and keep delivering performances like that."

On Beto's impact following a second goal off the bench in four games, Dyche said: "It's a scruffy good goal. They can't all be amazing goals. It's a scruffy goal but it's a good finish. He was effective when he came on again, he's beginning to get back to that player he was when he arrived here. He was almost overthinking it and now he's not. He's raw, playing from his instinct and I'm enjoying that but inevitably you go out of the competition. I've made it clear with my intentions, the teams we've put out and even tonight with risk/ reward and injuries and it goes against us.