Everton surrendered their unbeaten record in the top flight this season on Sunday away at Southampton as the Toffees were humbled by a 2-0 defeat.

 

Although Carlo Ancelotti’s men are still top of the Premier League table, they have only kept a single clean sheet in six top flight outings having conceded ten goals in the process.

 

 

And ex-Everton star Ball issued advice to his former team that they need to be more clever with their defending as even small lapses and mistakes on the pitch can add up and turn out to become catastrophic in terms of getting a positive result.

 

The 41-year-old urged his former club to be more aggressive in their defending as he stressed that being solid at the back does not necessitate parking the bus, but means cancelling out the opposition’s attack by making it more difficult for them to play their game.

 

 

 

“These incidents [small mistakes while defending] add up”, Ball wrote in his Liverpool Echo column.

 

“It’s all about team defending.

 

 

“It’s not parking the bus; it’s being clever with your defending and cancelling out your opposition.

 

“Stop them creating chances and make it difficult for them.”

 

Everton are without a win in their last two matches and will look to bounce back on Sunday when they travel to Tyneside to take on Newcastle United in the Premier League.