West Ham United 2 - 0 Everton
Another "six-pointer". Another chance to turn a tide threatening to wash away the Toffees' proud 69-year unbroken membership of the top flight in a league where, theoretically any team can beat another on its day... any team, it seems, except this Everton one.
There are mitigating circumstances that have prevented Lampard from building on a sequence of results that helped keep the Blues up last season – the loss of Richarlison, the fact the club effectively threw away the first five games without a striker and the shackles imposed on the ability to spend this month by FFP and the need to fund the construction of Bramley-Moore Dock – but there are still no signs that the manager is remotely able to get a tune out of this squad anymore.
Lampard spoke afterwards of his desire to dig in and repeated what has become his mantra – that a year ago he took over a struggling team that was in a relegation battle and that improvement would take time. But while Newcastle United turned their form around from a similar situation even before their serious investment arrived and the likes of Aston Villa are now righting their ship, Everton have regressed in quite alarming fashion since that misleading performance against Crystal Palace in October.
That was the last time the Blues won a game in any competition and, based on all the evidence since the World Cup break, it’s hard to see how and when they will win a game again under the current manager, even with the anticipated introduction of at least one new attacking face in the form of Arnaut Danjuma – assuming he doesn't turn tail and head for the hills! – between now and the transfer window.
A proactive ownership would have replaced Lampard during the break for the World Cup after it was clear that his tenure was failing following three successive defeats, two of them alarming reverses against a Bournemouth side that hadn’t won for six weeks prior and haven’t tasted victory since.
A responsible Board of Directors would have made the obvious change after the 4-1 shellacking by Brighton three weeks ago. A hierarchy that doesn’t give him the bullet now is derelict in its duty and will effectively have accepted relegation to the Championship.
It is, to use their own words once more, profoundly sad.
This was a performance by a side crippled by a lack of self-belief, overseen by a manager who looks incapable of instilling any confidence in them or changing a game to rescue a losing situation.
Today, he made some positive moves in withdrawing Seamus Coleman and Vitalii Mykolenko (who now looks hopelessly out of his depth in this defensive system) in favour of deploying Dwight McNeil and Alex Iwobi as wing-backs but, inexplicably, left the atrocious Idrissa Gueye on the field alongside substitute and fellow defensive-midfielder Tom Davies without introducing any of his strikers in the closing stages.
Whether that was a veiled acknowledgement that Neal Maupay, the man ostensibly brought in by Director of Football, Kevin Thelwell, to replace Richarlison isn’t up to the task and a tacit admission that Ellis Simms isn’t ready, it meant that the Toffees remained toothless in a game that wasn’t beyond salvation given West Ham’s own fragilities. One goal could have changed things considerably even at 2-0 down but, in truth, they didn’t really come close to scoring one in the second half.
Frustratingly, if Everton had started the game with the relative tempo they showed in the second period, they might have been able to have preyed on the tangible nervousness among the West Ham faithful in the opening stages. Both teams appeared frightened by their own shadows but the visitors were at least looking fairly comfortable on the ball.
But that dominance of possession lacked any urgency, with Amadou Onana, so effective and purposeful at times last week against Southampton, disappointingly hesitant to drive forward alongside Gueye who with each passing week is making a mockery of the fact that he was once signed by Paris Saint-Germain for what felt at the time like a cut-price £28m.
Iwobi was industrious but sloppy with his distribution while there was no connection between Demarai Gray and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in forward areas, while the former wasted two corners in the first 15 minutes by floating his deliveries over all the taller bodies that had made their way up from the back.
Everton might have had a penalty when Angelo Ogbonna appeared to handle a cross from Gray with a quarter of an hour gone but neither the referee nor Video Assistant Referee, Andre Marriner felt it was worthy of being penalised as an infringement.
However, the Hammers got the encouragement they needed to come out of their shells as the half-hour mark approached when a poor pass by Gueye was intercepted and Jordan Pickford was forced to make an excellent one-handed save to push Said Benrahma’s dipping effort over his crossbar.
The opening goal came just eight minutes later, though, when the ball was chipped back into the Everton box following a West Ham corner, Yerry Mina and Conor Coady got in each other’s way and Jarrod Bowen was on hand and fractionally onside to knock Kurt Zouma’s flick-on past the keeper from close range.
1-0 became 2-0 three minutes before half-time when an attempted pass by Iwobi was cut out, the Hammers countered and Michail Antonio skipped past James Tarkowski’s ill-advised lunge on the touchline. The burly striker centred past Coady and Bowen arrived to thump it home and claim his second goal of the afternoon.
Iwobi went very close to giving the visitors hope heading into the interval but his low drive took a decisive deflection off Declan Rice skidded wide off the outside of the post.
Needing to change things up, Lampard made his half-time substitutions and there was a perceptible change in Everton’s posture for the first 15 minutes or so.
Iwobi almost connected with Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s put-stretched leg with a clever slide-rule pass and Gueye’s shot from 25 yards was tipped behind by Lukas Fabianski but it was West Ham who came closer to adding to the scoreline.
Pickford had to do superbly again to turn Emerson’s shot onto the crossbar in the 65th minute and Nayef Aguerd headed over from the subsequent corner before Rice was inches away from making it 3-0 following a run down the left flank and a shot that just missed the far post.
Aston Villa’s win at Southampton kept Everton from dropping to rock bottom in the division but without a win since October, no sign of one coming under the present manager, and Lampard having now overseen the worst points return from the first 20 games of a season in Everton's history, his continuing employment at the club seems inconceivable at this point.
Everton, as a club seemingly gripped by apathy at the top and agony and frustration among a helpless fanbase but with things still so compressed at the bottom of the table, it is still not an irretrievable situation if the Board act decisively and give a new appointment time ahead of the visit of Arsenal to bed in and help on the recruitment side over the next 10 days.
The inevitable question at times like these is “who could do a better job than Lampard?” Sadly, with a run of results that is now represent the worst record after 20 matches in the club’s entire history, it’s become more a case of could anyone do any worse?
This Everton team looks bereft of everything apart from in goal — poorly coached with no confidence, no belief, no cohesion and no direction… except down.
Reader Comments (93)
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2 Posted 21/01/2023 at 21:20:00
And we've been seen to stand by him.
Been seen to, because truthfully many of Us never ever believed his gushing hopeful lies.
Silly billy kenwright is and always has been a Chancer. He never ever had the werewithal to run his beloved Club.
OUR Club.
Never.
Worse still, he has ALWAYS run Us like "Arkwrights Open All Hours" corner shop.
Eventually silly billys luck was bound to run out.
We've NEVER progressed in his dreadful miserable years.
Truthfully, Evertons luck ran out when kenwrong took the Chair.
By his OWN words. temporary.
Yet a thousand years later
Pantomime bill is still making a theatrical joke of his " Beloved Everton".
Shame upon you william kenwright, the worst, most unsuccesful chairman in Evertons once PROUD history.
You will take Us into a division which We have only visited twice before in Our entire Proud history.
Please, read that sentence over and over.
We have been there for a sum total of FOUR years, but this time YOU will desert Us there BANKRUPT and bereft.
That, silly billy is an achievement to be deeply, deeply ashamed of.
It's a thoroughly apalling legacy Bill.
And it is what YOU will be remembered for.
Now GO !
BOOOOOOOOOOO HISSSSSSSSS
3 Posted 21/01/2023 at 21:28:48
I've never particularly liked Sean Dyche's style of football but enjoyed his personality. I'm coming round to the idea that he might be the best bet. Nobody would be getting an easy ride, that's for sure. He would play to whatever strengths we've got and we would at the very least go down fighting. That would be something to be grateful for in the current chaotic mess.
4 Posted 21/01/2023 at 21:40:41
Graeme Sharp could regain some credibility by turning up for the Arsenal game.
5 Posted 21/01/2023 at 21:47:46
The problems run far deeper than Lampard but he's not proved himself as a competent manager. I think he is a liability and must now go very quickly.
It's not too late for an experienced organiser to come in and knock these players into shape and give us some sort of a chance.
It's gone on way to long , Mr Moshiri now has to act.
6 Posted 21/01/2023 at 21:51:33
If and when we get new ownership or start again, there should be a thorough enquiry into everything that has occurred, on and off the pitch, since the day Kenwright turned up.
I suspect that as well as gross incompetence there has been malfeasance and worst of all utter contempt for every supporter.
7 Posted 21/01/2023 at 22:04:57
8 Posted 21/01/2023 at 22:07:37
We haven't had motivation here since 2013.
9 Posted 21/01/2023 at 22:11:38
10 Posted 21/01/2023 at 22:12:11
We're the worst team in the premiership.
Moshiri is not responsible for firing Lampard.
I It's somebody else's job.
Therefore it is also not his responsibility that We're in the mess We're in.
He is the owner of the club ?
11 Posted 21/01/2023 at 22:32:56
He talked about digging in after the game. But surely that was him waving the white flag.
I don't care if he's trying to make a point. He should be trying to win the fucking game.
12 Posted 21/01/2023 at 22:35:21
I sincerely hope it is the right decision for Everton and the Fans and not just one to make those phonies on the Board save face and make them look blameless. I think, if we weren't before, the laughing stock of the Premiership, I can live with that, I just want someone to make a decision before it is too late to save our 70 year existence in the Top Flight.
13 Posted 21/01/2023 at 22:50:33
...which seems to be something of a theme in Everton games, even at home.
Either that is coached - in which case that's shameful on Frank's part.
Or the players aren't following the game plan - in which case Frank is still cuplable, in not getting to grips with that early in the game.
14 Posted 21/01/2023 at 23:29:50
Another one is the occasional good start for 10 minutes or so when we come close to scoring, that quickly turns to nervousness and withdrawal upon the first decent attack by the opposition.
We then do nothing until panicking over the approaching loss, only starting to play from around 70 minutes, having gone a goal or 2 down. Of course the subs and tactical changes are non-existent or ineffective, and we lose.
15 Posted 21/01/2023 at 23:55:36
16 Posted 22/01/2023 at 00:07:25
He should have gone after the Bournemouth aggregate of 7-1, we have lost 4 league games and gone out of the cup since then, the guy is a serial loser.
17 Posted 22/01/2023 at 01:28:13
It actually looks like they will go with Frank Lampard until the end of the season.
If a new manager is appointed, it will be in the close season and his main task will be to get Everton promoted from the Championship – a task that will take between 3 to 5 years.
The situation is very similar to what Newcastle and Aston Villa experienced in recent past history.
18 Posted 22/01/2023 at 03:41:02
The board has many faults and is lacking but so is the team that enters the borders of the football pitch and ergo the manager.
I have never, ever seen a team so bereft of ideas. Pass left, pass right, do the same again before passing backwards – for fuck's sake, the aim is to pass forward, make moves and score! On the occasion a pass is made forward, guess what happens? It goes backward again and the next forward pass takes forever!!!
The West Ham defeat just highlights the problem we have. After a few nervy moments, we matched them for possession with neither team threatening.
And then, boom we are two down due to the stale and static football we play. An opposition team just needs one chance because we are so fragile, or rather, predictable.
McNeil and Davies brought on to make a change yet on many occasions the McNeil option was ignored. Why bring him on then??? And are not five substitutions available during a game? Frank Lampard made two at the break so had three more options on the bench to affect the result.
For fuck's sake, Frank why did you not use Simms? We were two down already. Why did you not take a chance (two down already) and use your three remaining substitutes at some point? Hell, we were losing so why not take a punt?
The Board has failed the club but Frank has failed us. He is the one who leads the coaching of the players; he is the one that selects the team that runs out onto the field; he along with with his staff are those that coach his methodology and it is not working.
19 Posted 22/01/2023 at 04:04:00
Take a look at your win ratio which is so poor and don't kid yourself that you can pull us out of this massive hole. We trusted and believed in you but enough is enough and the players that you brought in are pretty terrible.
This is your team on your watch playing your way who obviously have given up on your methods.
I doubt anyone can save us but to install someone who has a bit of fight and who demands respect might make a fist of it. These very average players obviously have no respect for your methods or ideas and those behind you in a second-rate coaching set-up.
Why do we do the same things very badly, week-in & week-out, with the same set-up continually followed?
Are the kids any worse than some of the imposters we have wearing the shirt?
Does Bill select the team and decide the tactics?
Who chose those we have brought in this year?
Drastic measures may offer a sniff of hope.
A laughing stock of a board and now a laughing stock of a manager who will never again get a job in football for sure.
Good talkers always get found out!!
20 Posted 22/01/2023 at 04:18:31
I also think he would relish the challenge and if appointed take this club by the scruff of the neck.
I know he is getting on a bit but life is short. He has got a bit about him that man. The problem is that our owner or whoever is supposed to be in charge at our club haven't got the courage to at least offer him the job.
21 Posted 22/01/2023 at 04:30:10
Do you think we have the kind of players to suit his style? Fast, brave, committed?
I think he might be someone to get the best out of Gordon and Patterson but, them apart, I'm not so sure about the rest.
22 Posted 22/01/2023 at 04:37:17
How does this madness add up?
23 Posted 22/01/2023 at 04:43:31
I believe he would get the best that everyone of them has to offer. That is all we can ask for and is not what we are getting at the moment.
One thing I am sure of is that the owner has to be brutally honest with him about transfer funds. If we haven't got any and he was told so he would appreciate that. Going by his past actions it might even convince him to take the job.
I would also tell him and the rest of them that as our manager he was answerable only to him and that he was the boss on all football-related issues.
24 Posted 22/01/2023 at 04:46:03
I guess it depends who made these decisions. Did Frank want McNeil and Maupay? If he did then he's an idiot. But we're they Thelwell signings and he like the rest of us realized they're not fit for purpose?
On Simms, I assume lack of money led to him being recalled as opposed to Frank thinking he was great. His comments on him returning weren't exactly glowing, it was more like a Hail Mary move.
Then we have Gordon who was roundly crucified by fans and the media for costing us the Southampton game. Isn't it reasonable to think Frank was similarly unimpressed? As to his value, despite speculation, there's no evidence Chelsea, Spurs or anyone else ever put in a bid for him much less one for tens of millions.
25 Posted 22/01/2023 at 04:48:15
In thinking about it further I guess we also have Gray and Godfrey who are quick. I have no problem with Bielsa. He's probably more inspiring that Dyche. So it's as good a suggestion as Amy other.
26 Posted 22/01/2023 at 04:52:33
27 Posted 22/01/2023 at 04:58:27
If Thelwel was responsible for signing Maupay and McNeil against Lampards wishes, why would the owners sanction another multi million pound spend on more players chosen by the same DOF just to be underutilised by the existing manager?
Liverpool regularly sell promising young players for 㾶M+, some of whom hardly play a handful of first-team games. Here was an opportunity to sell Gordon, a young prospect for big money, yet the board or DoF decided he was the player they wanted to build the team around and gave him the No 10 shirt and started talking about a massive new contract.
Fast forward a few months and suddenly the same player isn't worthy of coming off the bench even with the team 2-0 down with 3 available substitutions — just utter madness.
28 Posted 22/01/2023 at 05:08:17
I don't know mate and that's the problem the whole club seems dysfunctional to the extent neither the owner nor chairman seemingly have the responsibility of firing the manager. I'm not saying Frank is good; I'm just saying I've no idea who makes recruitment decisions.
This Thelwell seems like a poor man's Dario Gradi but then we hear from Rangers that it was Kenwright who decided to buy Patterson. It just seems as if players get signed without agreement of the manager and DOF.
29 Posted 22/01/2023 at 05:27:47
30 Posted 22/01/2023 at 06:29:42
IMHO, if Frank is to be let go, the Hail Mary move would be to name Leighton as Interim Manager till the end of the season.
For what we know of Leighton's down-to-earth personality, he might not even accept the post should he be offerred the role. But should he choose to accept, he will bring the following benefits:
1) Other than Seamus, he is the last link to the Moyes regime that brought us the stability, structure, discipline and relatively consistent success. He knows what it takes to forge a closely knitted team spirit and how to demand the best out of players in a quiet, measured yet assertive way.
2) He is technically astute, which has been highlighted a number of times by Don Carlo & his coaching team.
3) Nobody at the club played for more managers (8 in total) than he did (Moyes, Bobby Brown Shoes, Koeman, Rhino, Fat Sam, Marco Silva, Big Dunc & Don Carlo), which would give him a unique Alchemist perspective on how to mold the team into a Frankenstein. Nobody knows better than him, in terms of the individual SWOT for the majority of the squad.
4) Some of my fellow Evertonians mentioned the need to bring in a tough disciplinarian who can bring constant earful to the players. Like Leonardo DiCaprio said in the movie Inception: "Positive emotions trump negative emotions every time. We all yearn for reconciliations. Catharsis." We rarely see Leighton losing his cool and erupting like a Volcano (even during his voice-out that turned Bobby Brown Shoes against him wrongfully) and his cool composure is needed for a team of misfits to gain back the confidence.
5) Some of the youngsters who are on the fringes of First Team have already played for him, which would make their eventual transition into the First Team even easier. He might be even daring enough to play some of those youngsters for a change.
Going with Leighton, what else do we have to lose?
31 Posted 22/01/2023 at 08:52:01
Look at Burnley, I think they were a better team than us last season but they got relegated, sacked a manager whose record was much better than Frank's, but look at them now. With a new young manager and they look ready to come straight back up.
We all agree that from top to bottom our Club is in a mess. We clearly need a new and better qualified Board who can provide overall control and strategic direction and a manager and support staff who can build and improve a team who are capable of playing effective and attractive football.
Sadly there is nothing and no one in this present set-up who seems to have the skill set or personality to lead and organise. So it's my belief that we should be thinking longer term than simply the next match as I cannot see with this present set-up that a winning formula is possible.
'Sack the Board' initially sounded an unrealistic and unlikely outcome, but now I believe it's a clear and obvious necessity and would give the owners, whoever they are, a chance to recoup some of their losses, and more importantly a chance for us the supporters to dream of Better Times ahead.
32 Posted 22/01/2023 at 09:00:29
Asking for a friend.
33 Posted 22/01/2023 at 09:07:20
But the preoccupation with the board has to end. They've built a stadium, backed managers and negotiated the P&S waters in some unprecedented times. Add in the fact that Moshiri is clearly looking to sell up anyway, I don't see anything to gain from adding to the toxicity surrounding the club.
We have an unbalanced squad and a rubbish manager. That's the reason we're in this mess.
34 Posted 22/01/2023 at 09:09:24
I am sure that, when Everton were in West Ham's half, Frank was telling players to pass back. Herein is the problem.
We have to be more direct, in the centre on the edge of the opponents and with telling crosses, not Gray corners that don't beat the first defender.
35 Posted 22/01/2023 at 09:48:07
If we don't make changes we go down, for sure. If we don't get in 2 new strikers (at the minimum) we are doomed to failure!
As for the manager, we've already tried 6 or 7, with increasingly bad results.
Make whatever changes are necessary - Everton CEO (you are supposedly in charge in your role as CEO) and make them fast! BK is just a figure head.
DBB you need to act fast or go!
36 Posted 22/01/2023 at 10:02:08
a) Can we afford to pay off Frank and his backroom staff.
b) Have we got a new manager lined up to take over within 24 hours.
A professionally tun club would have factored in a pay off in this year's financial dealings, and would have negotiated a deal with a new manager before yesterday's game.
I'm not holding my breath.
37 Posted 22/01/2023 at 10:06:40
38 Posted 22/01/2023 at 10:13:43
39 Posted 22/01/2023 at 10:15:01
After his audition for the role of Pontius Pilot, Moshiri effectively showed that he remains a frontman for Usmanov and has little power or even interest in our club, Kenwright remains as "Billy Liar" and the players remain inadequate.
Pickford, Onana, Calvert Lewin and just possibly Godfrey are the only ones who could raise a seven figure fee in the transfer market. The players are lacking in skill, motivation, tactical acumen and spirit and Lampard can't solve their inadequacies. Who could starting from this awful nadir?
We will sack Lampard and probably we have to, he's not even an adequate manager/coach, but my point is starting from where we are now who could solve the problem of Everton?
Like many of the contributors, I go back a long way (1953-4 season was my first game) and never have I felt so despairing of Everton's situation. I honestly can't see us getting out of this and I don't think a new manager is going to solve much.
The club needs to be sold and root and branch overhaul need sto be undertaken. In the old days Everton could have been relegated and hoped this process could occur, now with the financial imperatives of being in the Premiership it looks very difficult.
A plaintive, desperate cry of COYB, but little conviction that anything will change, with or without Lampard as manager.
40 Posted 22/01/2023 at 10:20:46
I fear there is worse financial news to come and those bastards know it and are petrified. Moshiri dropping in the £760 million figure was just a hint.
I am beginning to doubt if any of us will ever sit in that new stadium.
41 Posted 22/01/2023 at 10:27:54
Floundering board and ownership throws another manager under the 82C, whist continuing their ignorance to a very loyal dedicated support base they don't deserve.
Arsenal home sold out almost as soon as it went on sale.
How dare they show us the contempt they have done.
42 Posted 22/01/2023 at 10:35:30
43 Posted 22/01/2023 at 10:56:48
Moshiri has put his money were his mouth is. No one can deny that. Look whats going up at Bramley Moore. It's clear though that he needs help football wise. Is he ignoring advice, does he get any ?
Does he ignore it, don't know.
What are Sharpe and the other "icon" directors/ambassadors doing ?
Frank has to take some blame also.
20m for McNeil, FFS.
He needs to be brave.
The current selections have had enough chances, they have proven they will take us down.
DCL just isn't good enough.
Ditto Davies, McNeil.
Idrissa is not the Idrissa of old. It's time for Price/Onyango, young but they can't do any worse.
Simms got to be given chance over DCL.
I've only seen highlights of yesterday but maybe, maybe wing-back is Iwobi's role moving forward, His passing always been questionable.
You don't win anything with kids ????
Change in mind set is required.
44 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:01:28
45 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:02:41
Always outraged, never embarrassed. .
But our supporters will be there and when we get a result, we can give them it back.
Although then they will claim abuse as the nasty bitter people aren't allowed to shout back at the bullies because it upsets them.
46 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:02:56
And yet, we are disjointed, slow and ineffective. Open as a barn door throughout the pitch.
This is about tactics and communication, neither of which are working.
A better manager will get more out of this squad.
If the worst does happen, I wouldn't be confident in him getting us back up.
The obvious choice for me is Dyche. I could see them turning to Ferguson (cheaper option) till the end of the season, before thinking more longer-term in the summer. That's if they're actually capable of thinking...
47 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:12:27
Perhaps it is time for a rebrand one that might come with a new stadium, and one that leaves behind some (but not all) of the old traditions at Goodison. It might mean a rebuilt aspirational squad, rather than the endless patchwork nature of the team in last decade. And let's face it the only way out of the current predicament is likely to be a patchwork manager and patchwork players. We all want new leadership, new owners etc but in the current climate these things are intangible, and how likely are they to meet our ingrained expectations?
48 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:13:50
Rob, do you think those cowards will show up for either of the Arsenal or derby games? I don't.
49 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:21:26
50 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:22:58
The acid test for any manager, particularly in our financial situation, is whether he's getting the best out of what he has. I don't think he is.
51 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:26:52
Lampard has brought in average players to replace average players.
Onana being the only one with potential to be more than average.
We didn't need 2 centre backs or a winger. We needed goal scorers and still do. This is the main reason why we are in this mess.
Lampard wants a possession based game. Yesterday we probably had the most possession in any game he has managed and still got easily beaten.
60 mins in and we had a counter on. The ball played into the midfield 30 yards from their goal and nobody knew what to do with the ball. The options are iwobi or gray. No runners, no quality for DCL.
What does Thelwell do? There must be loads of strikers around Europe approaching the last 6 months of their contracts.
In our position to survive you need to play percentage football and scrap for every ball. That will not happen under Lampard.
The players are playing to orders. God knows how they score in training.
The only slight positive is that we aren't anchored and that teams around us are still struggling.
Get Danjuma signed and get Lampard sacked in that order.
52 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:29:01
53 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:32:28
54 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:37:03
Surely the problem is he hasnt yet been thrown under the 82c bus. How he has got Everton to joint bottom and not been sacked is the main problem.
The most important person at any football club is the manager, I just wonder how much successive Everton managers have been hampered by the employment of a DOF. Lets just take the present incumbents Lampard and Thelwell who was responsible for signing Coady (onloan), Tarkowski, Gana, Onana, Maupay, McNeil, Garner.Vinagre (on loan) Delle Alli.
I know you are a big supporter of the DOF model but for me this role should revert back to what it used to be Chief Scout. He goes and gets young players that we can develop. He should have no involvement in any first team purchases, that should be the sole domain of the manager. Not put into the hands of people who have never ever managed a team so have no idea how to put a team together. For those who do support the DOF model surely if the manager is just there to coach whatever player the DOF buys, then when does the DOF become accountable if the team fails.
55 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:40:45
Frank was a great player but seems to lack what is needed to change tactics to suit the glaring weaknesses in the squad.
Yes, hindsight is 50/50 but surely the Richarlison departure and void unfilled was the first big red flag.
DCL getting injured then Townsend would not have been big deals with the right replacements but Gordon and Gray have mostly been disappointments.
Maupay and Gueye have been awful signings.
Gueye was never terrific when he was previously at Everton and so it proved at PSG after a while when he couldn't secure a starting role.
It all comes down to money which Everton seem to have little of and so the chances of turning this around will lay on the shoulders of whoever can get a solid strategy in place.
Offense will offer little as we have seen, so getting a really tight defensive system has to be a priority to turn the corner.
It's looking grim but it's not over yet.
56 Posted 22/01/2023 at 11:57:03
57 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:03:08
Our wingers are horrific ( Gray/Gordon/McNeil). Gueye is worse than Nyarko ever was and I've seen nothing from Onana to support the promising hype from some posters.
58 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:04:45
I seemed to have missed DBB's neck brace yesterday. Was kenshite wearing it or was that just his 15 chins.
59 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:06:26
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesnalton/2022/07/02/marcel-brands-reveals-everton-difficulties-and-clashes-with-owner-farhad-moshiri/?sh=7f68d9002cee
60 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:09:03
61 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:10:27
Nor is our lack of creativity a sacrifice for a tight defence, we are leaking goals.
These are issues that an astute coach might fix, we need to get one soon. There really is nothing to lose now.
62 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:11:12
We need goal scorers regardless of position. A forward line of Mauphy and DCL will get relegated from the league.
We just about stayed up with Richarleson last year and haven't replaced him.
Goals win games and get points. Possession wins nothing.
63 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:21:20
The ball has to be moved quicker and we need to score or at least threaten the opposition goal. All 3 whu centre backs came off the pitch knowing that our striker wasn't a threat. Antonio like Adams the week before played with a purpose and bullied Tarkowski and Coady.
Buying a holding centre mid is not going to score goals.
At the bottom we have to scrap for our lives. How many have we got in this team that would do that?
64 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:21:24
As far as this season is concerned we sold Richarlison and havn't replaced him adequately, if that was ever going to be possible.
We only just survived with him in the side so how was this season likely to go, exactly how it has gone thats how.
We just havn't the players to score goals, how are you going to win games?
Even now we have time to stay up, I like Frank but we need a reset and a change of tactics thats our only chance.
Get Dyche in he will stir them up, we also need to find a couple of players that he wants.
If thats possible I don't know, but it looks like its our only chance for this season.
65 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:38:33
There seems to be no real idea of how we play. Just what is our style? What purpose do we achieve?
To me we look an utter shambles. The lack of shape and awareness of our game plan is totally down to the management team. Frank has had 12 months to sort things yet we look worse now than when Rafa left.
66 Posted 22/01/2023 at 12:49:53
But that only works if you have a high press with fast attackers and wing backs or full backs that will overlap. Otherwise you cannot get out and, while maybe being in control of your half of the field for long periods, have nothing in the attacking third but long balls and hopeless punts.
This is what I do not get with Frank. We've never had the players to suit this system in the attacking third. He should have identified this a while ago and gone with a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 using a centre midfield with a destroyer and a box to box player in it. Yes, this is hindsight but it has taken me months to understand what he's trying to achieve and, if I am right, he either wanted a hybrid of a Klopp/Ancelotti formation or was completely naive about the top of the pitch.
67 Posted 22/01/2023 at 13:12:59
68 Posted 22/01/2023 at 13:37:55
69 Posted 22/01/2023 at 14:06:13
You are absolutely correct to question who was actually responsible for the signings made since the appointment of Frank Lampard.
On the basis of comments made by Moshiri yesterday, the club is seemingly being run in a totally dysfunctional manner. It is perfectly feasible that Thelwell [ and possibly with the connivance of others] was responsible for bringing in Maupay, McNeil, Tarkowski, and Garner along with arranging the loan of Coady.
Frank staved off relegation last year, an achievment which seems to have been too easily forgotten by many of his critics.
I don't believe in kicking a man when he is down as appears, from many comments on here, to be happening in Frank's case.
He inherited a can of worms and arguably deserves a decent level of financial support in what remains of the transfer window. I am confident Frank has the ability to get us out of the current mess particularly if the meddling Thelwell is shown the door and the Director of Football position done way with.
70 Posted 22/01/2023 at 14:18:53
The icing on the cake is writing of Jimmy Garner too……he's hardly had a sniff, then got a 4 month injury.
71 Posted 22/01/2023 at 14:24:52
Apart from the obvious, we were just poor and DCL was missing most of the game. Even they knew once they had taken the lead they could relax. They still want TGT sacked though.
His surprise was our fans were quiet compared with their normal standards.
72 Posted 22/01/2023 at 14:27:06
74 Posted 22/01/2023 at 14:32:14
75 Posted 22/01/2023 at 14:34:00
Is that the issue?
76 Posted 22/01/2023 at 14:53:23
At United and Newcastle when you change the manager there are resources to buy some of the players you need to fulfill what a manager wants to do tactically or who have the attitude the manager wants.
The situation at Chelsea is interesting. The board seems to have infinite resources, the squad seems quite talented with a combination of experience and youth and if Potter is backed then he might get it all moving in the same direction. If he doesn't then the new manager will be backed, the squad remains talented.
Is this the situation at Goodison ? No, we have zero resources, a crap manager and a talent-lacking squad with seemingly little spirit for the fight. I'd suggest changing the manager will have little impact, because so many other things are wrong and changing the manager may have little impact unless you have resources and talent. In my time we've had two great managers Catterick and Kendall Mark 1, both were backed and both took over talented if incomplete squads and both knew how they wanted to play. We've had the seven men defensive types, Moyes, Allardyce, Benitez, Lampard; the cavaliers like Martinez and Silva and still we're useless. If changing the manager is the magic wand let's get one in by tomorrow. I fear that Lampard is asymptom of our demise, not really the sole cause of it.
77 Posted 22/01/2023 at 14:53:50
78 Posted 22/01/2023 at 14:54:56
We know Frank lives in London and therefore can't be at every training session and he delegates these to Mr Clement and Cashley Cole along with that young guy Joe Edwards.
Now I used to watch a fair bit of Swansea and our style is just like theirs. They were good enough at it for a while before the wheels came off but we are not.
Like Abraham, Domenic is left to rot up top. He canters about receiving crosses after the midfielders and defenders have had time to funnel back and we wonder why we have no cutting edge?
Just because the board are incompetant and our owner is clueless we really can't excuse our affable millionaire for his footballing blunders.
He has to go.
That kind of possession-based dross is a slow death to any team bar Man City.
It will not get us out of the Championship.
79 Posted 22/01/2023 at 15:05:27
80 Posted 22/01/2023 at 15:10:12
81 Posted 22/01/2023 at 15:13:27
82 Posted 22/01/2023 at 15:22:27
83 Posted 22/01/2023 at 16:36:29
84 Posted 22/01/2023 at 16:54:52
85 Posted 22/01/2023 at 17:00:36
86 Posted 22/01/2023 at 17:01:56
87 Posted 22/01/2023 at 17:02:33
If this was the case then sacking Frank is simply throwing money away as we will almost certainly go down anyway. There may be a relegation clause in his contract that negates or at least reduces any pay off (although a points deduction may render such a clause void).
The above is simply a thought that crossed my mind, nothing to substantiate it but worrying all the same.
88 Posted 22/01/2023 at 17:22:53
89 Posted 22/01/2023 at 17:26:55
90 Posted 22/01/2023 at 18:38:55
91 Posted 22/01/2023 at 19:39:59
able to buy any players that might save us
92 Posted 22/01/2023 at 22:38:18
If that has happened, it's one of the all time internet mysteries how it hasn't been leaked out by now.
93 Posted 22/01/2023 at 22:42:03
94 Posted 22/01/2023 at 23:16:20
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1 Posted 21/01/2023 at 21:17:54
You could not have said any truer words, Moshi reluctant to sack as it reflects to him being a failure.