Alan Brazil has slammed Vitaliy Mykolenko for his role in Everton's Merseyside derby defeat last night on TalkSport.

The Lowdown: Everton brought back down to earth

After a stunning start to life as Everton manager, Sean Dyche's Toffees side were brought crashing back down to earth on Monday evening as they were easily swept aside by their local rivals.

Everton did manage to pick up three points from two games against Arsenal and Liverpool, which many may have taken prior to the victory against the Gunners, but last night showed why they are near the bottom of the table.

The Toffees failed to take the game to Liverpool at any stage, managing just three shots on target which equated to an expected goals ratio of just 0.3 (as per FBref). Meanwhile, their defending from the likes of Mykolenko, Conor Coady and also goalkeeper Jordan Pickford left a lot to be desired.

The Lates: Mykolenko poor in latest defeat

Indeed, Brazil picked out Mykolenko for his lack of defensive awareness in Everton's defeat as he left a lot of the pitch open for Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo to drift into for the first goal.

He said: "Mykolenko, what was he doing? He came right across trying to cover, and he was like the right-hand side centre-back. He didn't have to go that far over, he just left the middle wide open. Surely he had to be another 10-12 yards back, central, and then the cross into the box would've been harder."

The Verdict: Problems arise for Dyche

While getting beaten by Liverpool is not something unusual for Everton over the years, the fact that both of the goals they conceded had included errors meant the Toffees didn't make their rivals work very hard, which will be frustrating for fans.

Dyche will be furious that experienced players such as Coady and Pickford made high-profile errors that allowed Liverpool to score as he will have been looking to players like them to lead Everton away from the drop zone, as they remain engulfed in a relegation dogfight.

In fairness to Mykolenko, while he did indeed vacate a lot of space behind him for the first goal, he clearly felt as though he had to go over and close down Darwin Nunez in a split-second decision, such was the devastating speed of the Uruguayan's counter-attack.

But Brazil wasn't alone in slating the defender's display, as reporter Jeorge Bird also felt he had 'difficult moments' all game.