Roberto Martinez believes Everton must learn to be more ruthless at each end of the pitch after allowing Norwich City to fight back to draw on Saturday.
The Toffees could have been cruising at the interval after Romelu Lukaku scored for a seventh straight game while missing further chances.
Leighton Baines also hit a post and Arouna Kone twice went close before Wes Hoolahan equalised early in the second half for a 1-1 draw at Carrow Road.
Martinez rued missing out on a victory for a third straight game following draws with Bournemouth and Crystal Palace.
“(The) team has to suffer and has to go through this period to realise all the good work that we do, all the expansive football that we play and the quality that we show needs to be backed up with ruthless streak in front of our goal,” Martinez said.
“(We need to) make sure we don’t give an opportunity to the opposing teams to get back level.
“We’ve been very unfortunate and I think luck plays a big part in final results.
“The performances have been very consistent in the last three and we feel we’ve dropped six points, which is an incredible gap in the table.”
Norwich boss Alex Neil was frustrated by the first-half showing and is keen for his side to find consistency in performance.
“What we need to do is come away from this inconsistency, because that’s where the issue lies,” Neil said.
“You look at our performance against Arsenal, we got a good point against a really good team. We could’ve won that game.
“We went to Watford, played poorly (lost 2-0), and then came back here and had a game (against Everton) where one half is not acceptable and the second half is really good.”
Neil was pleased his senior personnel stepped up in the second half.
“It’s all right me shouting at the side of the pitch all the time,” Neil added.
“You need guys in the team who will take the team by the scruff of the neck, lead them and demand the most out of each and every player, I thought we had that in the second half.”
He also hopes to add to his options during next month’s transfer window.
“One of the things that has made it more difficult for us is the fact that we didn’t strengthen the squad as much as we wanted to before the season started,” Neil said.
“Hopefully we can put that right in January. The more strength the squad has, the easier it becomes to win games. We need to add strength in depth to the squad.”
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