Everton Women manager Willie Kirk was left disappointed following a harsh 4-0 defeat against Manchester City on the opening day of the 2021/22 Barclays Women's Super League campaign.

Evertonians supported the Blues in their numbers at Goodison Park but the Toffees boss felt his side did not come close to the levels they are capable of.

“The players are very disappointed,” Kirk told evertontv.

“We feel we have let ourselves, each other, and ultimately the fans down.

“We asked the supporters to turn up and cheer us on, they certainly did that.

“It’s one game out of 22 but it’s certainly a result that I did not see coming.”

Everton found themselves 3-0 down at half-time in at Goodison, with City having struck three times in the space of 12 minutes.

While the Blues' performance improved in the second half, Kirk felt his team underachieved across the piece.

“I think it’s a really poor performance,” he added.

“Maybe the occasion has played it’s part.

“There’s no doubts in the quality we have. You could see in spells the problems that we can cause.

“The spells just weren’t long enough.

“The quality wasn’t maintained for long enough.

“We would give the ball away really cheaply.

“We talk about being brave on the ball. The way we want to play this season, we need to be brave off it as well and we never done that.

“Three-nil down at the break was always going to be difficult to come back from but as much as I thought the second half was improved, it still wasn’t the standards that we have been setting in recent times.”

The Everton manager has spoken openly in the weeks leading up the season that he wants his side competing at the top end of the table and battling for a spot in the Champions League.

However, he says his team must quickly rectify issues which proved costly last season – and did again against City.

"Last season, we would lose goals quite quickly in a short space of time against the bigger teams," Kirk added.

“I don’t think it should have happened today.

“I don’t think City had to work hard for their goals. They found it easy to score their goals, which is disappointing.

“We have missed an opportunity today.

“I think we were better prepared than them and fitter than them.

“We haven’t capitalised on the things that were in our favour.

“We need to dust ourselves down, take all of that on the chin about letting ourselves down, and move on to next week.”

Everton travel to London next weekend to face off against league champions Chelsea, with the match to be broadcast live on the BBC.