The Nigeria international played the last half hour of the encounter but could not rescue the Toffees from a surprising 2-0 loss to a struggling Norwich side on Saturday with coach Marco Silva issuing a firm warning afterwards.
An inconsistent Everton were poor going forward in the first half and Alex Iwobi was brought in for Morgan Schneiderlin in the 56th minute as Marco Silva sought more attacking impetus for his team.
Hard as the Super Eagles playmaker tried, though, he could not stop Everton from being beaten 2-0 at the Goodison Park by a spirited Norwich City.
Todd Cantwell opened the scoring after the break before Dennis Srbeny added a late second for the visitors.
An under pressure Marco Silva knows his fate could be sealed within the next week as Everton travel to Leicester City next Sunday before going to Liverpool three days later and completing a frenetic six-day period by welcoming Chelsea to Goodison.
The disappointed manager has now charged Iwobi and his teammates to earn back the points lost to Norwich, while warning them that tough times lie ahead.
“We are trying to get some consistency,” Silva said on Saturday as monitored by Soccernet.ng.
“It was our aim to get a second win in a row, to have a good run of results.
“We did not expect an afternoon like this.
“But that is the reality.
“We have to analyse and show them [players] why things happened.
“We went in [to the match] in a good mood, after good performances and results but we had issues [against Norwich] we did not expect.
“We have to react strongly after today. For sure, we can.
“It will be a really tough week for us with three games in six days.
“We have to react strongly and with confidence and get the points away we lost at home this afternoon.”