Claude Puel was supposedly the manager under pressure at Goodison Park yet Leicester City appear in rude health compared with Everton under Marco Silva. A fifth defeat in eight matches, inflicted by Jamie Vardy’s clinical finish plus a dreadful home display, meant the new year arrived with a new low for the Everton manager. He needs fresh ideas, not only a new striker, to halt the slide.

Everton were booed off as Leicester savoured a third win in four matches and a rise to seventh in the Premier League. The visitors were poor too, in truth, but able to execute their gameplan to frustrate and punish any mistakes. Silva’s team offered plenty, Michael Keane’s the one that led to Vardy’s winner, as their winter regression deepened. Everton have won once since November, not kept a clean sheet in eight games and have the same points tally as at the equivalent stage of the last forgettable season. They were clueless here.

“We were too nervous and anxious without reason,” Silva said. “We are playing a lot of games in a row with no time to rest but that is not an excuse when you miss simple things like passing the ball. When you play in this way with easy mistakes, bad things come to you and that is what happened with the goal we conceded. We gave them the chance to do what they came here to do.”

An early kick-off on New Year’s Day brought predictably meagre fare. The atmosphere was akin to a bad hangover, with an occasional groan breaking the silence, and the performance of both teams did little to lift it. The first half in particular was littered with basic errors, although Everton did create what few opportunities arose before the break.

Jonny Evans blocked a shot from the otherwise subdued Richarlison and Jonjoe Kenny, one of the few pluses for Silva in place of Séamus Coleman, struck a post after connecting cleanly with Lucas Digne’s low cross through the Leicester penalty area. The full-back also set up Dominic Calvert-Lewin for a powerful header that flashed wide of Kasper Schmeichel’s goal.

Leicester threatened even less in the first half, despite receiving several invitations by the hosts’ careless distribution. A tame header from Evans was all that concerned Jordan Pickford in the Everton goal and Puel sought improvement by replacing Rachid Ghezzal with Marc Albrighton during the interval. Predictably, given the nature of a dire game, it was a mistake that provided the visitors with a cutting edge and not a change in personnel.

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The breakthrough stemmed from a Schmeichel clearance that skimmed off Theo Walcott’s head and dropped to Keane midway in the Everton half. Under no pressure the central defender produced a terrible first touch and conceded possession to Ricardo Pereira. Quality then made its belated appearance at Goodison. The Portuguese right-back, stationed on the left wing by Puel, sent Vardy through on goal with a perfectly weighted pass. The striker took full advantage of his only chance of the game with a low shot into the far corner.

Silva brought on Bernard and Cenk Tosun in an attempt to restore parity but, one shot and one header by the latter aside, Everton remained lethargic, unimaginative and lightweight. They could have been punished further when Vardy broke from another Keane mistake and the defender escaped a handball claim inside the area. Harry Maguire also volleyed over a Ben Chilwell free-kick from only three yards out. His blushes were spared somewhat by an offside flag but that call was wrong too.

Asked about speculation over his position at Leicester afterwards, Puel replied: “That is not my concern. The most important thing is to show our quality as a team and a club. I am just a person who serves the club and I would like to continue to help the team and the players.

“Speculation, I cannot have an impact on this. The only thing for me is to continue my work. I love my squad and the young players. They gave their best today and we need to keep our focus because we want to perform and improve all the time. I repeat: it has been a good first half of the season. Seventh and the quarter-finals of the [Carabao] cup is not bad.”