2021/22 Frank Lampard

[Saint Domingo]

The players with character, if there are any, won’t mind what Frank said at all. I’m sure Gordon Allan Richarlison even Pickford will probably say there going ‘he’s spot on’.

It’s the weak willed cowards in the team who will have their lip out and be crying on the phone to their agents.

As ever the conundrum for Frank is the same as all recent Everton managers. How do you motivate this group of players to perform when they know that if they land the manager safe into the next transfer window that most of them will be out.

Thats what worries me most about the lack of relegation clauses in contracts. The likes of Keane Coleman Gomes etc. I don’t think they’d be bothered where they are if they’re still picking up their wage no matter what for another few seasons. Lampard will probably be out, they’ll survive the summer window, and then they can start conning the next manager all over again.

They’re a rancid rabble.

 

[MikeH72]

We do have good players. These players were 4th this time last year.

We don't have amazing players. And they are clearly all not 'world class' but to say we don't have good players is simply incorrect. We are massively underachieving and should not be in this position, even though it's fully deserved. We should not be in a relegation battle and the fact that we are speaks to poor management, woeful underperformance and a dreadful running of the club.

Just because the better players are easy to shift isn't an excuse. It was the excuse people made for Brands. Thelwell's job is literally to get rid of the players we don't want.

Yes, we will have to sell players we would like to keep in an ideal world but that doesn't mean you just jump to that instead of doing the legwork of legging the other dolts who are the actual problem.

On Digne, the theory of selling when we did in terms of his career was fine. It wasn't fine in the middle of the season when it was well documented and proven that a big part of his drop off was playing under a dinosaur manager.

I'd have had no issue with selling Digne if a) we were stable in January or b) we'd have waited until the summer. But neither of those things happens and we now have a LB, that we spent a cool £17m (17 MILLION) on, who can't get in over a CB and JJK.

I think we should stop using last season as the benchmark immediately. Sheffield United finished 10th in their first season, and then the year after the same players finished bottom and settled in mid table in the Championship. Anyone is capable of a freak season, last season was the mother and father of freak seasons with no fans in the grounds leading us to believe that Michael Keane was a half decent defender. How you can look at these players and think the first half of last season is their true level is just beyond me.

 

[Stevie Nicks Bootleg]

I actually think it’s a case of the players just not being good enough certainly for the 97-98 season.

Look at that 97-98 season. Claus Thomson, Mitch Ward, Farrelly, Carl Tiler, Earl Barrett an ageing and declining Southall, Short and Watson.

That side of 97-98, went away and got some massive results, home to Arsenal, Leeds, Liverpool, Blackburn and Chelsea were hugely significant in staying up.

This squad doesn’t lack the talent, if just doesn’t have leadership in anyway, and the years of neglect in the market, failing to add quality shows immensely, when we have no real reliable centre halves, no bite in midfield and we’re relying on a Winger to play upfront and score us goals.

97-98 was writing on the wall for me, that’s the worst Everton team I’ve seen, they defied everything and stayed up.

This side is the most expensive in history and we’re relying on Anthony Gordon to save us.

Pretty much agree with all that, I definitely agree with 97/98 being the worst i've seen too definitely worse than 93/94. But every team stays up with 'massive results' and if/when we stay up we'll look at crucial wins and points that saved us (so far it's been Arsenal at home; away points vs Utd and Chelsea) and i'm sure it'll be some of our games coming up.

 

[EFCPaul]

People who don't watch Everton on regular basis comment about Everton and show how clueless they are about the team. It happens every week.

Supporters should just ignore these "pundits", they will say anything to sound interesting and stay in work. Babbling airheads, and half of them were crap footballers themselves anyway.


On Lampard, truthfully he hasn't been perfect since coming in. He's made several tactical blunders that as a young manager he really does need to learn from. Saying that though, as supporters we should all still be firmly behind him because he's proven a winner. He speaks so eloquently after games and seems to have a firm grasp on what the problem is at the club. This group he's got to work with are the most gutless and self-entitled that there's ever been at Everton. There's a talented few in there but the vast majority are simply terrible and/or downright cowardly. Pep, Klopp or Tuchel probably wouldn't get much out of them.

Everything between now and season's end should mean very little in terms of judging the new management team, just get the ship into harbour by hook or by crook. Let Frank get to the summer, let the new DoF get to work on shifting as many people as he can out, hopefully get a couple of players in who are made of the right stuff. Only then can this new project really get started.

 

[Jebus_lives]

Give him time.

If we are relegated, its not on him, we were in free fall before he arrived.

We need a mindset change and someone who has the ability and patience to do that - I hope it's Frank (everything I've heard from him suggests it will be) and they need time to do it.

Fundamentally, the group of players we've assembled is not good enough in any measure of a good footballing team.

Our recruitment needs to be young players with desire and if they think of Everton as a stepping stone, that's fine, so long as they produce while they're here and we sell them at big profit.

 

[willo30]

Was madness selling Jamo and Digne though mate - Kean to for my money to, like really stupid, you dont sell your best players and expect to get better. It wont be widely accepted here but Gylfi is a massive loss as well.

Essestially we've gone through a season without a playmaker, a replacement center forward and sold our best full back to a rival, who then a couple of weeks later got an assist for his new team to deny us a point.

Its pretty clear we didnt have any masterminds to be trusted player trading or squad building. Im looking at Josh Bowler and what hes doing and saying WTF.

Those deals were stupid, people will say wages and we needed the money, that money is useless in the Championship and the ultimate loss could be 100s of millions.

What did we expect to happen......much of our current woes are down to our own stupidity.

I don't think this season was ever about getting better. It was about balancing the books and to finish around mid table. It's backfired big time.
Probably why Carlo walked as it's not in his nature to accept mediocrity.

 

[Baines' left foot]

There is a difference. Arteta is fairly humble and spent time learning as an assistant to Guardiola. Lampard thought he could jump straight into management with John Terry as his assistant. At least that useless [redacted] he hasn't turned up here as well. Wish the timing had been right for us to have got Arteta

Arteta’s first manager job was in the Premier League yet Lampard’s was in the Championship, so I don’t agree with that. Also Aston Villa seemed to slip a fair bit after Terry left as Dean Smith’s assistant. He’s a massive tit but probably a decent coach.

 

[Lanolin]

There is a difference. Arteta is fairly humble and spent time learning as an assistant to Guardiola. Lampard thought he could jump straight into management with John Terry as his assistant. At least that useless [redacted] he hasn't turned up here as well. Wish the timing had been right for us to have got Arteta

Terry was never an assistant or any part of Lampard's backroom staff, in any of his jobs.

 

[HeltSkelt]

Arteta’s first manager job was in the Premier League yet Lampard’s was in the Championship, so I don’t agree with that. Also Aston Villa seemed to slip a fair bit after Terry left as Dean Smith’s assistant. He’s a massive tit but probably a decent coach.

But Lampard failed in the championship whereas Arteta was part of a winning set up in the Premier League. Anyhow we’ve got what we’ve got. Not the fans’ fault

 

[BlueToff]

4th under an all-time great manager, playing exclusively behind closed doors and playing some of the most god awful togger the Premier League has ever seen? That season was a sham and this squad got completely found out towards the end of it. Their true level is what we are witnessing now.

Trying to sell the dregs of the Steve Walsh era is the only shred of sympathy I can spare for Marcel Brands - who is a monstrous charlatan and his name is not nearly attached to this catastrophe as much as it should be. Thelwell is going to have similar problems excorcising this squad of all of Brands' failures, when you give the likes of Yerry Mina £140k or stick Michael Keane on a new shiny 5 year deal, you're usually stuck with them for the long haul I'm afraid.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on the Digne issue I think. As for Mykolenko, I think laying into the lad for not displacing Godfrey (who Ancelotti happily used as a left back and shunted Digne further forwards on several occasions) or Kenny (Lampard needs to own that one) is a little disingenuous as it doesn't factor in a rather unfortunate series of events playing out in the lad's home country that might be distracting him a little bit.

Their true level isn't 4th or what we are witnessing now at all. They're a mid-table side, we all know it. However, it's been further stripped of quality (not that there was much) over the last year. However, mid-table teams have good players. Palace are mid-table, have good players. Same with Brighton, etc. And Everton, too, have good players. We should not be in this position. We do need a reset in the summer and yes that will involve selling the 'better' players and that's fine, as long as the actual turbo-gash goes too.

 

[BlueToff]

I think we should stop using last season as the benchmark immediately. Sheffield United finished 10th in their first season, and then the year after the same players finished bottom and settled in mid table in the Championship. Anyone is capable of a freak season, last season was the mother and father of freak seasons with no fans in the grounds leading us to believe that Michael Keane was a half decent defender. How you can look at these players and think the first half of last season is their true level is just beyond me.

Yeah that's fine, but we finished 10th then anyway. We're a mid-table team. A mid-table squad. Maybe even 11th-14th. We shouldn't be in a relegation battle.

That's not a defence of the players, btw, but to say we don't have any 'good' players is wrong because if that's the case then none of us have a right to be arsed that we keep getting slapped week in week out.

 

[BlueToff]

We have a couple of good players. Most of them can probably do a job in the right scenario elsewhere.

What we don't have is a team or a squad. A bunch of individuals who can not adapt to any slight problems and a squad with holes all over the place.

Annoyingly I think we can push on next season, some big contracts are up and the manager should be able to bring in some new players. Of course the massive fly in the ointment is what division we will be in whilst doing this.

I fully agree with everything you say. But the poster said we don't have good players which is incorrect. If we had no good players, then we should all just be happy that we're clinging on for dear life and not already gone.

 

[BlueToff]

Was madness selling Jamo and Digne though mate - Kean to for my money to, like really stupid, you dont sell your best players and expect to get better. It wont be widely accepted here but Gylfi is a massive loss as well.

Essestially we've gone through a season without a playmaker, a replacement center forward and sold our best full back to a rival, who then a couple of weeks later got an assist for his new team to deny us a point.

Its pretty clear we didnt have any masterminds to be trusted player trading or squad building. Im looking at Josh Bowler and what hes doing and saying WTF.

Those deals were stupid, people will say wages and we needed the money, that money is useless in the Championship and the ultimate loss could be 100s of millions.

What did we expect to happen......much of our current woes are down to our own stupidity.

Well we probably needed James' wages off the books but you know full well that I didn't want him or Digne gone.

Kean is a waste of space tbh

 

[Lanolin]

Yeah that's fine, but we finished 10th then anyway. We're a mid-table team. A mid-table squad. Maybe even 11th-14th. We shouldn't be in a relegation battle.

That's not a defence of the players, btw, but to say we don't have any 'good' players is wrong because if that's the case then none of us have a right to be arsed that we keep getting slapped week in week out.

You a make a fair point here. I do struggle to get my head round the fact that some people insist that the players are all crap and they don't try, but are then apparently shocked when we lose 1-0 to Wolves or whatever. It doesn't make an awful lot of sense.

 

[Baines' left foot]

But Lampard failed in the championship whereas Arteta was part of a winning set up in the Premier League. Anyhow we’ve got what we’ve got. Not the fans’ fault

How did Lampard fail exactly?