The Everton FC Attitude Problem

For the next two months, Everton's fate lies at the feet of the current squad, let's all hope they respond in a positive manner to Lampard's rebukes, if they don't and go into ultra-sulk mode, we are doomed to the drop.

One sentence was enough for me though mate, and sums up, why our present squad are struggling so badly, and even had their new manager, questioning their bravery. “Being honest with your teammates out on the pitch and reminding each other of your roles and responsibilities” = enough said!

Of course, the dilemma is if you bring in youngsters it's tantamount to burning your bridges with your club's seasoned professionals. It seems like Lampard may have done that with his comments anyway.

This group lack leadership and, as soon as something goes wrong, like conceding first or Townsend's injury, the belief drains out of them. They live in a bubble of comfort and wealth. The ones who know they will be leaving for bigger things don't have to kill themselves for the shirt; the ones who know they will be released have no investment in the club's future.

Therefore it has been the new signings (Townsend & Gray along with Rondon) who have tried their best. The kids like Gordon, Branthwaite and Dobbin have also given their all. Then the is Van de Beek who has reason to show Man Utd he is worth keeping, who tries hard.

Then there is the enigma that is Dele Alli, capable of much but lacking motivation or ambition, and the baffling loanee, El Ghazi. A guy who has not had a look-in. It's a motley crew.

So although I admire Anthony Gordon's progression this season and have praised him on many occasion, you don't have to be an Evertonian to care and play for Everton. You have to have the desire to play and the will to win on top of the ability. And most of these players have ability. They lack mentality.

Sorry to bang on about my military days, but to touch on a point made above. When you go to places, as much as a patriot I am, you aren't thinking Queen and country. It's about your mates around you and looking after each other. Fighting for each other.

Same thing applies to a football pitch. You look after each other. Win together, lose together but in it for each other and together.

You might think senior pros such as Delph, Gomes or Keane would assume the mantle but, as Danny observes, only Allan, Gordon and (in my book) Richalison appear to offer hunger and intent in their play… but we are basically a very fragile team.

What is very clear is that the traditional bond between fans and players – which was even in evidence in the mid '90s when we were also relegation candidates – is now hanging by a thin thread. These players have to spend the remaining weeks sorting out their mental attitudes; otherwise, they will lead this club to oblivion.

I've never seen players who burned hotter competitively than Tim Cahill, Leighton Baines or Seamus Coleman, but none has had the indefinable... something... that makes a man a leader, someone who can inspire his teammates to follow him into hell.

We've seen it twice in recent years, both in aging veterans acquired from elsewhere -- Gareth Barry and Phil Neville. But the current Everton is bereft of it, and unless Lampard can confer it himself or find it somewhere in his squad, our ceiling of improvement is very low indeed.

I think we saw a bit of it in Begovic. I know it is fairly unthinkable to swap Pickford, who has largely been in good form for two seasons, but I did see a calm authority from the big man in the Newcastle game.

If Delph could stay fit he could lead, and Allan too when back from his ban. It is worrying that there are so few candidates.

Teams have attitude, a collective one born out of the culture, self-belief and belonging. When applied to the club, it's hard to find such collective focus that will give a uniform sense of purpose.

For me, it's not just about having the "right attitude" – it's having passion and pride in what you do.

Like attitude, passion is love of what you do, where you do it, and is the mirror image of attitude, you need passion which indeed drives attitude.

You can be inspired by passion but it walks hand-in-hand with attitude. One without the other becomes an unfulfilled potential.

This club lacks players with attitude who display little passion, it is a fatal flaw in the team's make-up that, until players have it once more, they will give in when the going gets tough.

Throughout my professional career (yes, I had a good one!) I hired people who had passion, loved what they did, it was infectious. Attitude is the result of passion, as I used to say, if you haven't got the passion, don't get up in the morning. Passion, attitude and skill, the perfect combination, having people who look for that combination make great teams. Clearly, we haven't.

Good players don't have an issue with attitude, they don't hide, terrified of howls of derision at their miscontrol or inability to hit a cow's arse with a banjo.

Good teams have good players – it really is that simple.

Allan is a fiery player who sets a good example, but not a player that other players follow.

Delph was once that kind of player -- he was Villa's captain and unquestioned leader around 2015 or so -- but you can't lead if you can't play.

I looked it up not long ago... in a 13-year Prem career at Villa, City and Everton, Delph has made just 199 appearances. He has missed nearly 150 games (and counting) because of injuries. That's staggering.

I've seen it said before but one's attitude determines their altitude.

Right now, for us, that's down.

What's heartening is that Lampard has said that if players don't want to fight then they won't play… I pray that he's as good as his word. His Everton management career may depend on it.

We have 11 games and probably need 12 points. That's just over a point a game or 3 win and 3 draws (and 5 defeats). With a good set up and player mentality, then that's achievable.

Depends how badly the group collectively want it.

Brilliant, brilliant article.

The Moshiri years have merely but massively shown that perpetual gross incompetence at the top always drains a previously fertile land of the core sustenance to even begin to sustain basic existence, never mind profit.

Begovic might not have worn the armband, but leaders aren't always loud, and many teams have several players who "lead". Back in the '80s, look at the leaders that our team had. Southall, Ratcliffe, Reid, Gray etc.

That's precisely why Southall is banned or at least not welcome at Goodison as he demands the club aim for the top with professional people which makes them very uncomfortable in their little world.

Unlike the usual ex-players that obviously can't say too much because they are still on the payroll. Thanks to bleeding heart bollox who employs whether they are the best or not.

The owner has created a culture and shot himself in the foot, bringing to the club players without any desire or motivation other than crossing the Is and dotting the Ts on over-incentivised contracts.

Mike @14. We agree on many things. I don't know if Begovic is a leader or not. I'll disagree with you slightly though on this occasion. In my experience, a cool head and remaining calm under pressure is a good leadership trait. It installs confidence in those around you.

Shouting and screaming is for Sergeant Majors / Drill Sergeants at basic training level. It serves a purpose for a period, but ultimately people follow because they believe. Power through influence and conviction rather than shouting and beating people into submission usually gets people to perform in situations they otherwise wouldn't. That will lead to revolt. The ability to motivate comes in different forms.

Sorry. I went deep. I'm Sandhurst trained, albeit for 4 weeks on my "knife, fork and spoon" course where they trained us mortals raised from the ranks to be gentlemen!!!

Obviously having the talent in the first place but equal to that is the drive and ambition and setting themselves the highest personal standards – ''Nil satis nisi optimum''.

Whatever happened to our squad, how did they get to the top of their profession?

I had some dealings with the club a few years ago, over a period of time, so I got to know a very little bit about what goes on.

What disappointed me, was there was an internal ennui, a defeating ethos of 'we don't compete' – there seemed to be no drive to succeed, or actually want to try too. Internally, they seemed happy to 'make the numbers up' in the Premier League, happy to tread water. Now, I wondered why this attitude was so prevalent? There seemed no urgency to change it.

Richarlison has got to be played on the left wing too for me – I know he looks good for Brazil up front but he doesn't usually for us when played there.

Mina is an interesting problem for us. There is no doubt that he is a decent player and a positive presence on the pitch, as people say. But the constant chopping and changing at centre-back due to his regular injuries makes it hard to get stability or a settled partnership in the middle of our defence.

Is it better to try to form a long-term partnership between two others who stay fit usually, for the good of the team? Not that there are any candidates who stand out at the minute, apart from Branthwaite!

I am a fan of Lampard but he knows these remaining games are just as important to him as they are to Everton; should Everton get relegated, it may be a stain on his managerial career that he may never recover from.

Should Everton get relegated, then he will have to shoulder some of the blame; some will say despite having two excellent Chelsea players on loan at Derby, he still failed to get them promotion.

The critics will also say, despite getting Chelsea to a Cup Final and into the Champions League, he failed to follow up after a very promising start: at Xmas were top of the Premier League and top of their Champions League group. But a run of I think 1 win in 8 was his undoing and He was replaced with Tuchel who went on to win the Champions League.

Having played with great players and having managed great players, he must be at a loss to see such an unmotivated group as we have here. The criticism he received at Chelsea was they were too open at times and that is certainly something that this group have been accused of under his leadership.

But it's a poison chalice to manage this club with this group of players, although he must have been aware of this before he signed. Mina missing is massive for this group as the stats show we win more games with Mina in the side; also to lose Allan for 3 games hasn't helped.

I think what can be laid at Frank's door is Dele Alli who so far has delivered very little, and yes he hasn't played much. But when you consider how pleased Frank was to get him signed, I can only conclude that he is showing very little to encourage Frank to start him. Now if Alli doesn't make many appearances and we go down, this will be the biggest question aimed at Frank.

Plus how do you offload a player who is showing nothing? And the massive downside is we have to pay Spurs a lot of money once he has played 20 games. Maybe they would have to practically give him away in the summer – yet more money we haven't got going down the drain.

Barry's conclusion then leads me to ponder, just why the club have ended up on this path? Some players have failed or are faltering due to serious injury, or Covid (Delph, Calvert-Lewin, Gomes, Mina, Godfrey, Coleman, Davies). Then we have those with evident talent but whose attitude or mindset appears flawed (eg, Holgate, Pickford(?), Alli, Gomes, & Delph again!)

Then we have the slightly baffling signings and squad players who just don't appear to be needed in this relegation fight (e,g Alli again, Mykolenko, El Ghazi, Tosun) and finally, the enigma that was Gylfi Sigurdsson, who will lose this club the best part of £50 million with no likely resale fee?

My goodness, with all this baggage, any top sports team would struggle! It saddens me to say this but, for the first time in 60 years supporting Everton, I would have absolutely no problem if we jettisoned the first team entire squad and started again, with gracious thanks to the likes of Calvert-Lewin, Richalison, and Allan all of whom I believe will be moved on.

Sorry, that really does sound a bit extreme, maybe persevere with some of the youngsters, but only if we can bring in leaders with "attitude".

I think we have persistently bought the wrong profile of player for the club.

Look at the players bought by currently well run clubs such as Wolves, Brighton, Leicester, Palace and West Ham.

They are generally younger players on an upward trajectory, bought at relatively low cost from markets which offer very good value (France, Portugal, Belgium, Czech Republic, Scotland and the Championship).

We are buying players who have already peaked at a level below top 6 standard - who then deteriorate in both form and value leaving our squad saddled with a poor player, high wage bill and no sale proceeds to reinvest in improvements.

Personally I don't think we should be spending more than about £20m on any player and our focus should be a mix of:

- Moyes style 23 to 26 year olds capable of forming a stable first XI competing in the top half again; and

- Martinez style 18 to 22 year olds of very high potential to develop over a couple of seasons and help us up into the top 6 or thereabouts

Pride, passion and belief in your ability are necessary in that cooperation; unfortunately, none of those three necessities seem to exist in too many of these players, they just turn up and seem to play as individuals, not as a team, and teamwork is as essential as pride, passion and belief in their ability.

Surely there is one player in the squad who has the strength and sense to call for a squad meeting to discuss ways to get the club out of this predicament we are in; has there been meetings of this sort? If there hasn't, which seems likely, then there should have been and that is when we can all see that the players are as worried and care about Everton FC as we, the supporters do. Then we could start having consistent performances for the rest of the season to prove it, showing the passion, pride and belief that we have.

It really is up to the players; the manager and coaches can only prime them – it is up to the players to fire us up, there is certainly nobody in the boardroom to save this club of ours.

Everton strike me as a side that lack determination.You will plenty of badge kissing, hand jesters, running about , coming over to fans after the match and wheeled out 'have to do better', 'we need to fight', 'we have to stand up and be counted'.Everton are good at this as if persistence is the name of the game.

The difference between determination and persistence is that with determination you have to put in work and effort to adapt and improve, with persistence you turn up with a attitude playing to the gallery, but without the thoughtful work and effort put in to actually impact on the team.In others words go through the motions.( Tony Abrahams did a article on his observations of players during the Wolves game.He described them as being actors.)

The team was not prepared and the players had not put the preparation in.After 22 minutes of running about at breakneck speed which resulted in injury to a aged player, that is what was exposed.Bullshit not determination.That is one thing they are consistent at.

As always, bang on the money. At the end of the day, it's down to the players.

You ask: Do the players care as much as we do? Sadly, most do not, Dave. They are all on mouth-watering sums of money and know that, even if Everton go down, there is nothing in their contracts that allows Everton to reduce their salaries.

So, either way, their lifestyles won't alter a jot; they will either be sold and the buying club will have to match what they are getting at Everton or they will refuse to leave. Just like Tosun, Delph, Bolasie, Besic, they all stay to the last day of their contracts as they know no other club will pay them anything like the money they get from Everton.

I think even if we hopefully avoid the drop, we will have to sell our better players, as we have lived beyond our means for too long under Moshiri and that can't go on.

I hope we stay up for us long-suffering fans who definitely don't deserve the anguish that will bring, and with this club, there is no guarantee of a swift return.

Only Everton could acquire a billionaire owner, with an even richer billionaire sponsor, only for it to all go pear-shaped. How could any of us believe that, within 6 years of Moshir i & Usmanov coming on board and throwing in excess of £600 million at the club, we would be in severe relegation trouble???

The Uefa and Premier League rules on governance and Financial Fair Play in terms of compliance, regulation, a code of financial conduct, would it seem on face value to have been overseen by the Everton board for at least the last 10 years and longer.

I've no idea on the business and commercial side, where Everton is or will go, but taking the football side of Everton FC as my most important interest in Everton FC, the massive grey cloud of uncertainty and confusion is not moving soon.

The most important season in the club's recent history is running to its conclusion. Let's hope that starting Sunday, Everton can start their recovery plan to stay in the Premier League.

That would be something but the bigger picture in view of healthy sustainability and commercial growth and success linked to results on the Park, looks very concerning. It would be good for the soul if the club was more open and honest with its business development plans, but that side of Everton, will I doubt ever come out.

The club can't carry on taking the concerns of Everton supporters for granted. Hope eternal, UTFT!

The squad is neither good enough, nor athletic enough, nor motivated enough to keep us up. Any two of those three and we'd be fine. One, we'd have a chance. But we have none of those attributes. We have a manager with no experience in this kind of situation - either as a player or a coach - and an owner who has money but no brain.

Perhaps in the Championship we'll be able to have a re-set at player, board and management levels, introduce this elusive "culture" that I keep reading about, and come back stronger.

One point I would like to make is Pickford constantly berating his defenders even when he is the one causing the problem. Now thats ok if you have characters like Allan or Coleman who will tell him to piss off but when you have such weak characters as Keane and Holgate for example they then treat the ball like a hot potato and do not show for the ball.

As someone said we have recruited players on an individual basis not a considered team plan.

I just hope we survive this season and Thelwell and Lampard are allowed to build a squad of their choosing and Kenwright and Moshiri do not interfere.

A good article, btw, let's see if our lads show some real bollocks on Sunday at 2pm!

I'm not hopeful like... sigh

Also, he needs to look a little more happy. He looks angry all the time. If he also could look glad sometimes to share team players up and not roll on the ground so much I think he could be a great captain.

"I think what can be laid at Frank's door is Dele Alli who so far has delivered very little..."

I disagree. Alli has been given a chance by Lampard to revive his career and deploy his talent, at virtually no financial risk to the club.

The fact that he has failed to take advantage of that opportunity is entirely due to the player himself. Lampard bears zero responsibility in my view.

I played club sport for many years and have come across a number of individuals who have completely destroyed the atmosphere in the dressing room. They were often good players but with many personality problems.

Among the most common were: arrogance, believing they were better than they were, criticising team mates, never accepting responsibility, cruel sense of humour but couldn't take a joke themselves – just generally up themselves.

This all too often caused splits and cliques to develop which spilt over into poor performances on the pitch

Not saying this is a problem at Everton but just highlighting that attitude can be negative as well as positive.

I agree with Mike Gaynes point @5 above re Mina, but would go a little further by saying Allan and Doucoure playing well in front of him, feeding Gordon and Gray to release Richarlison seems a pretty good set up to me.

The biggest disappointment to me has been Doucouré’s recent form. Get him playing well and attacking from midfield – that would make a big difference to our team performances.