PHIL JAGIELKA admits Everton are missing the craft of Mikel Arteta – but cannot use the Spaniard’s exit as an excuse for their disappointing run of form.

Last week’s 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United was a sixth in seven games for David Moyes’s men, a run that has seen them tumbling to 17th in the Premier League table and out of the Carling Cup.

In many of those games, Everton have been frustrated by an inability to turn healthy possession into goalscoring opportunities.

But Jagielka accepts the departure of Arteta, who joined Arsenal for £10m on deadline day in August, shouldn’t be allowed to detract from the team’s collective failure.

“We’ve maybe not got as much craft with losing Mikel, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” said the centre-back. “It was a good move for Mikel and we’ve brought other players in. We’d love to reject everybody’s bids for every single one of our players and spend £10m or £15m in each transfer window, but we know that isn’t going to happen.

“It’d be easy to say we miss Mikel, but the boys who have come in have done well in previous games. It’s not just down to us losing one player.”

Jagielka admits the combination of a defence struggling to keep clean sheets and a misfiring forward line has sapped self-belief in the squad.

“We have good players, but maybe not with the confidence they should have,” he added. “If we are winning games and keeping clean sheets, it helps everyone.

“But at the moment the strikers are low on confidence as they are struggling to score, and the defenders are low on confidence because if we aren’t conceding one goal a game it’s two goals a game.

“From back to front, it’s a frustrating time. We can’t go finger-pointing. We are in it together as a team, and we’ll get out of this together.”