Frank Lampard has called upon Everton to be come 'a more stable side' after they eased past Crystal Palace by a 3-0 scoreline on Saturday afternoon.
The Toffees have endured a mixed campaign thus far, mixing two-game and three-game losing streaks with a six-match unbeaten run sandwiched in the middle.
That inconsistency ultimately left Everton one point above the relegation zone ahead of the meeting with Palace, but the Merseyside outfit responded by producing their best performance of the season.
After Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his first goal of 2022-23 to put Everton ahead, further strikes from Anthony Gordon and Dwight McNeil secured the three points for the home side.
Everton are now back in the mid-table positions in the standings, and Lampard wants his team to evolve into one which is able to produce a consistent set of performances at both ends of the pitch.
Speaking to Match Of The Day, the Englishman said: "I'm absolutely delighted. It was everything we needed today. We've been on a tough run of games which we have competed in but today had everything. It had the organisation, the aggression and real energy in the team and them some real quality goals from us against a real quality opposition.
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"It was a really good afternoon for us to see players feel that confidence and to see players come into the game that haven't been getting so many minutes and that's great for the group.
"I talk a lot about realism and keeping ourselves in check because it can be very up and down. The thing is to try and stay stable and keep working. The squad is pretty new in places and you saw performances from some of those players today. The more they settle, we can move in a good direction. We have to keep ourselves on the ground and try and replicate the energy and the way we played and our idea like we did today."
In sharp contrast, Vieira was critical of his team's efforts, labelling the display as "a bad performance" on the back of two comeback victories at Selhurst Park against Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Also talking to Match of the Day, Vieira said: "It was a bad performance from us. I think we were second best in every department of the game and we saw a team who played with determination to win the game and we didn't match that level. It was a bad team performance.
"We didn't start well at all and we lost the ball in our own half. The way we recovered wasn't aggressive enough. Today was a bad day for us."
Despite suffering defeat at Goodison Park, 12th-placed Palace remain level on points with Everton while also possessing a game in hand.
Darren Plant
