Neville returned against Brentford after five games out with a foot injury

Everton captain Phil Neville has urged his side to get back to basics if they are to turn their form around.

The Blues are second from bottom in the Premier League and were knocked out of the League Cup by Brentford on Tuesday.

"It's not a happy place at the moment," Neville told BBC Radio Merseyside. "We felt we really climbed a mountain with our performances last season.

"Lets play winning football again and get back to basics. Lets forget last season as we're second from bottom."

The former England international admitted there were great expectations on his side going into the new campaign, after they ended last season with just two defeats in the final 24 league games.

Everton face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday and Neville says the players should now be living up to the reputation they have worked so hard to generate for themselves.

"I think it's what we've always wanted," the skipper continued. "Don't always ask for it and when you get expectations and then be fearful of them.

"We're not fearful of anything and hard work is going to get us back into it. We had a great pre-season with everyone fully fit and that's what we wanted going into the season.

"We've started the season bad again and we need to give ourselves a kick up the backside very quickly."

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