You would not have thought a 1-0 defeat for Everton against Liverpool would have been a particularly bad result if you had looked at the score from Anfield on Sunday.

But it was a defeat that unleashed a torrent of negativity which will put the heat on the Everton players to stand up and be counted when they face the Seagulls on Saturday.

The Toffees remain without a win at their city rivals since September 1999.

But that only tells part of the story.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp made nine changes for the FA Cup tie from the side that beat Sheffield United in the Premier League.

Six of the players involved were from the Reds’ under-23s.

The superb winner was scored by 18-year-old Curtis Jones.

This has left Everton facing an awful backlash from the press, supporters and pundits.

Former England striker Alan Shearer accused Everton of looking “scared”.

He claimed: “It was poor, no link up play, “The number of times we counted in the second half the ball went up to Dominic Calvert-Lewin and he flicked it on and there was no one within 40 or 50 yards of him. What was the point?

“They looked scared, they looked petrified.

“There was no one ready to put their foot on the ball and take control of a bunch of youngsters in that Liverpool team who dominated Everton in the second half.

“It was embarrassing from Everton.”

Even the Liverpool Echo used words such as spineless, embarrassing and shambolic to describe the performance.

Things had appeared to be on the up since Marco Silva’s sacking after their 5-2 drubbing at Anfield in the Prem.

The Toffees had gone five matches unbeaten in the league, punctuated by a Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to Leicester, but have now lost back-to-back matches.

New boss Carlo Ancelotti, who took over from caretaker Duncan Ferguson, felt his side surrendered after a bright start when they failed to take chances to go ahead.

He will have been alarmed by just how little his players influenced a game against such inexperienced opponents.

The Italian immediately put the focus on the Premier League and a strong finish to the campaign.

But a lack of goals is an issue he will need to address.

Everton have scored just 24 goals in 21 league matches.

Gylfi Sigurdsson, one of the few players to front up after the Anfield loss, blamed missed chances for the latest defeat.

And Albion will have to be wary as the Toffees did create chances.

Calvert-Lewin had a couple of opportunities, while Richarlison had a great chance which a player of his quality should have finished.

Mason Holgate also planted a free header straight at goalkeeper Adrian when he had the whole goal to aim at.

Midfielder Sigurdsson said: “We created enough chances in the first half to score. It’s obviously likely to happen when you don’t take your chances that you get punished. I think that was a prime example of that.

“It’s changed since Duncan Ferguson came in (as caretaker after Silva’s sacking) and during the first couple of games under this manager we picked up a couple of results so we need to get back to that now.”

The loss to Liverpool, and the backlash, means pressure will be on Everton’s under-performing players from the fans to put in a performance against Albion at Goodison Park.

That could work to Albion’s advantage if they can play their own game and frustrate Everton.

It surely will not take much to get the fans on their backs again if the Toffees fail to rise to the occasion.