David Moyes admitted squad selection has been a major headache of late after seeing his side lose 3-0 at home to Portsmouth. The Everton chief has made clear throughout the summer his intention to add to his current crop, and began that process last week with the signings of Lars Jacobsen and Segundo Castillo.
Neither player was fit enough to start against Saturday's visitors however - a situation which left the likes of Phil Jagielka playing out of position in midfield.
It also meant 17-year-old Jack Rodwell started his third successive game. Moyes was full of praise for both players but conceded the circumstances are far from ideal.
"It has been a hard week because I knew I probably wouldn't have a new player in the team," said Moyes. "We are still playing Phil Jagielka in midfield and we are still playing Jack Rodwell in midfield.
"We have put James Vaughan in when really we wouldn't want him to play for another three or four weeks."
The challenge, therefore, lies with the more experienced figures in the squad, says Moyes.
"I think it is our senior players who are letting us down at this present time either by not contributing or not defending as well as they should do.
"You don't want to go into an international break after a defeat like that, but that's the way it is. We may change [the defence] but we can't at the moment because we don't have the players."
As for the performance itself, Moyes was at pains to criticise.
The defending, he confessed, was far from convincing. But, having seen his side miss a penalty, and create a host of other chances, the Scotsman was keen to draw the positives.
"We created and we haven't done that in other games," he added. "The defending was very very average and it should have been much better.
"Leighton Baines delivered some good balls and we got lots of crosses in, but we didn't have the magic player who could have done something different.
"I thought we deserved to get a goal out of the game and we kept trying to do the right things.
"They changed their system, and they always had the threat of [Peter] Crouch and [Jermain] Defoe on the counter attack.
"I didn't think we deserved to win at West Brom and we didn't deserve to beat Blackburn.
"In truth I think we played better [against Portsmouth] than the other games but we didn't get the goals.
"The boys gave a great effort but big moments, like the penalty save just after half time, and the save from Mikel, changed the game."
