2022/23 Frank Lampard

[brieverton]

The standard now seems to be 17th.

Lampard doesn't appear to bring anything to the table that can get us comfortably beyond that, and that in itself is only a modest ask.

This was the worry once the effects of the fist-thumping from last season and beginning of this started to subside.

You wonder what else is there.

I get the limitations, I certainly do, and desperately want to see him do better, but he said himself after the Palace game in May that his task was to ensure this didn't re-occur and, to date, with mitigating circumstances yes, he has singularly failed to improve our lot by any metric.

 

[nsno-chris]

This is exactly where we are at the moment.

The only way it changes is better options up front where we lack any real quality.

Apparently he should be able to turn Alex Iwobi into a 10 goal a season midfielder, a man who played in a very attacker free flowing Arsenal team; yet never managed to get over 3 goals in a season.

The same with Gray.

Dwight McNeil played in a team designed solely to get balls into the box, the entire team was setup to win the second ball and get it to the wing. He had 18 assists in 150 games

The quality of our team says a lot. Yes, we could improve patterns of play but my god these are on par with that 90’s team of Mitch Ward

 

[marcus]

The standard now seems to be 17th.

Lampard doesn't appear to bring anything to the table that can get us comfortably beyond that, and that in itself is only a modest ask.

This was the worry once the effects of the fist-thumping from last season and beginning of this started to subside.

You wonder what else is there.

I get the limitations, I certainly do, and desperately want to see him do better, but he said himself after the Palace game in May that his task was to ensure this didn't re-occur and, to date, with mitigating circumstances yes, he has singularly failed to improve our lot by any metric.

Very modest squad with very limited attacking options & goal threats...

Best striker out for most of the season...

We are where we are cos we are what we are with what we got...

 

[blue to the bone]

At Brentford?

Didn't Brentford lose 8 in a row last season. Not crap I guess according to Billy beane !

 

[allen]

Very modest squad with very limited attacking options & goal threats...

Best striker out for most of the season...

We are where we are cos we are what we are with what we got...

We also have the fifth best defence in the league, which is a huge improvement.

Baby steps, but things are getting better, starting with the back.

 

[BigDuncTributeBand]

I wouldn't say an excuse more being realistic. Lampards had the easiest gig of any EFC manager since Martinez who inherited that Moyes side - if we were 15th currently most fans would be content as expectations are so low.

If Benitez had us 15th there would be riots at Goodison. Thats ultimately the difference both managers walked into tough circumstances but one was doomed from the start whereas the other has a cheerleading club for doing the bare minimum.

Benitez wasn’t doomed from the start. He made an absolute tit of the job with the way he went about managing change, he wasn’t smart about it, didn’t have subtly in his people skills/management. His authoritarian style killed the team, they had no spirit, looked beaten before the game even started. He lost the players, several have spoken about it, Richarlison at least twice. We’d have gone down if he’d stayed 100%. If Lampard looks like he’s lost the players, he will have to go too.

In a crap team, all you have is team spirit and belief. If you kill that then there’s nothing, you have to go and Benitez did. That’s it, get over it.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Huge game for him tonight

For all our sakes, I hope it's 3 points for Everton come full time

 

[Lanolin]

The attacking options are crap but ultimately managers have to find a way to get results with what's available to them. There are numerous other teams who have options which look just as bad as ours on paper who are doing better than us, and there have certainly been sides in the past who have had worse attacks but managed to find ways to make it work. It's a difficult job he's got - that's why he gets paid a fortune to do it - but it's not impossible. I can't give him a free pass because a couple of players (signed since he's been here) aren't up to the job, that's just how it is for a club like us, he needs to start finding a way to get results and he needs to do it quickly. He seems like a decent bloke and I really don't want to go through the whole new manager thing again so I don't want to advocate sacking him, but if we lose tonight he'll be very lucky to still be employed on Friday.

 

[marcus]

We also have the fifth best defence in the league, which is a huge improvement.

Baby steps, but things are getting better, starting with the back.

I agree defence is much better...

But our forwards have been poor or injured & we have no cover....

 

[allen]

I agree defence is much better...

But our forwards have been poor or injured & we have no cover....

Yes, exactly. The focus in the summer was on shoring us up - and that was successful.

Unfortunately the two duds we hit were both of our already limited attacking recruits - but Coady, Tarkowski, Gana and Onana and have proven to be good business in hardening us defensively.

I remain anxious about what we're going to be able to get in terms of attacking reinforcements this window, but I think one good addition could make a big difference. Two even more so.

 

[davek]

A draw is ok as long as we follow that up with 3 points against S'ton.

We need to be realistic: Brighton are a much better team than us with better players. A win would be excellent; a good display and a draw would be acceptable.

 

[Moomin]

I mean, you can.

Eddie Howe, for example, has improved Newcastle's players. Pep improves every player he's worked with... Klopp is an incredible coach. But much less prominent managers have also improved players - it's a big part of the job.

Our midfielders, two of them signed in the summer (Garner hasn't been playing), has been badly underperforming recently too. Who's that on?

It can be true that Everton do need better attackers - they absolutely do - and that Lampard hasn't been doing enough to improve them. We know he can improve players because he's done it before, some even here at Everton. He got Iwobi playing with confidence, he handed Gordon trust (maybe too much) and knew how to get the best out of Richy too.

Everything needs to improve from an attacking perspective, from recruitment through to coaching/a plan to get us to goal.

Before Emery came in at Villa they had the same amount as wins than us ( 3 )

After 4 games in charge Emery has the same amount of wins as us now.

 

[Thomasc]

Goals from midfield were always a problem, with the likes of Iwobi, Gomes, Davies etc contributing very little.

The only real source of goals we had outside of Richy and DCL was Gylfi who could pop up with a goal occasionally.

Adding Onana and Gana has done nothing to improve that situation.

So when they attacking options are as bad as they are, with players like Gordon who is as bad as Walcott in front of goal, it’s no wonder we are relegation candidates again.

The only thing which has improved is the defence, but again having such a weak attack means that they have to be on top of their game every week, which is a pretty big ask in this league.

Not a real lot has improved as we hoped it would under Lampard, so he needs to start producing some results, or he won’t be here much longer.

 

[Goodisongang]

A draw is ok as long as we follow that up with 3 points against S'ton.

We need to be realistic: Brighton are a much better team than us with better players. A win would be excellent; a good display and a draw would be acceptable.

Nar should be going for the 3 points here, especially if caicedo and Mac allister are still missing like they have been.

I don't agree they are a "much" better team, they were just far more organised under potter and the new manager hasn't had enough time to input his own stamp on them yet.

We can beat these.

 

[Goat]

A draw is ok as long as we follow that up with 3 points against S'ton.

We need to be realistic: Brighton are a much better team than us with better players. A win would be excellent; a good display and a draw would be acceptable.

No they arent.

What good players do they have?

Utter horse manure that they are better than us.