Everton captain Phil Jagielka insists he and his team-mates must also accept the blame along with Roberto Martinez for their stuttering season.
Despite reaching the FA Cup semi-finals with a dramatic home win over Chelsea on Saturday, the Toffees have been inconsistent in the Premier League and threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at home to West Ham in their previous game.
Some supporters have questioned boss Martinez' management and whether he is the right man to take the team forward, especially following the arrival of a new majority shareholder in Farhad Moshiri.
But skipper Jagielka said: "You can't throw all the blame the manager's way. There has to be a pretty even split between him and the players.
"I understand that people will do that, because that's the way football is. Obviously the manager has to take some responsibility because that's his role but, to the same extent, we're the people out on the pitch and we have to perform.
"We certainly haven't been sat in the dressing room blaming anyone, that's for certain. We know we need to perform for the fans to make Goodison a fortress, and we know that's not been the case for the majority of the season.
"It's the way it's gone for us, we've had disappointments and reacted well to them. We did that, and being in the quarter-final of the cup made it that much more special.
"The fans played a big part. We played well, kept it going and showed we have something."