Everton manager Ronald Koeman has admitted his team cannot afford to keep starting slowly after they could only pick up a 1-1 draw with Swansea on Saturday.

The Toffees, 23.00 to finish in the top four, were expected to cruise to victory at Goodison Park but they were punished for a poor first-half performance.

Swansea took the lead just before half-time as midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson scored from the penalty spot after defender Phil Jagielka brought him down.

In the second-half, Everton finally got going but Seamus Coleman’s 89th minute equaliser came too late and Swansea eventually claimed a point away from home.

Saturday’s draw leaves Everton in seventh, five points off the top five and Koeman admits they need to improve their starts going forward.

He told Sky Sports: “It’s wasn’t the result you’d expect before the game, but there was a big difference between the first and second half.

“It was really flat and there was less aggression. We had to start the game how we did in the second half, because that was a different team. We made it more difficult for our opponents.

“We spoke about it before the match but maybe it was a question of confidence after the 5-0 defeat against Chelsea.

I don’t know, because we spoke about starting aggressively, not like that. “If you learn from lessons then it’s not a problem.

I hope they will learn how we need to play, and that was in the second half.”