Lampard feels the heat
The pressure is mounting on Frank Lampard and a 4-1 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion at Goodison Park has only heaped on a whole lot more.
It seemed that the saving grace of this squad would be the solidity of its defence, but Tuesday night’s hammering saw a fragile set of players ripped apart in front of its own supporters – who unsurprisingly weren’t best pleased.
Boos rung out in all four corners of ‘The Old Lady’, results as such are no way to treat her in her final full year of football.
Holding the board to account
Many sang out in protest, not against the man directly in the firing line but instead at those above him. Of course, Farhad Moshiri wasn’t in attendance – assumingly with more important business to tend to than running a football club into the ground.
The Blues’ least favourite brother Bill Kenwright was spotted at Goodison Park, but supposedly left his seat at 2-0 down and didn’t return. Denise Barrett-Baxendale watched on for the full 90 minutes.
The board are their own issue entirely and need addressing on a much larger scale. This piece will aim to establish whether Frank Lampard would be able to turn it around if given time and money to spend in January, as well as looking at other potential candidates.
Survival efforts
Merely a week into a month-long transfer window, there is plenty of time for Everton to bring in enough firepower to mount serious survival efforts.
Various names have been thrown around in the typical fashion of murmurs and whispers – Ben Brereton-Diaz and Viktor Gyokeres are both names which have resurfaced after being heavily linked in the summer. Both currently reside in the Championship so would come relatively cheap.
Looking abroad, Everton are said to be eyeing up a move for Largie Ramazani, a 21-year-old Belgian winger currently plying his trade at UD Almeria. He played his youth football for Manchester United before making the move to the Spanish club. He certainly isn’t prolific.
Given the shoestring budget it seems as if whoever is in charge will mainly be looking at loans to bolster his thin squad. We are desperate for attackers, as seen in the loan of Ellis Simms being cut short. He bagged seven goals in 17 games before being recalled.
However, it is looking likely that academy graduate Anthony Gordon will be moving on in the next few weeks, with Spurs being heavily linked. Managing Director Fabio Paratici is reportedly a huge admirer of the 21-year-old and tried to sign him in the summer window.
Should Everton receive a fee for the winger, it is unlikely the manager will be able to reinvest it all in the squad, with the club still struggling to operate within the confines of FFP (Financial Fair Play) laws.
Unable to compete financially
Though, with the departures of Abdoulaye Doucoure and Micheal Keane looking likely, and Salomon Rondon already out the door, there may be more leeway this time around. Still, the club can’t spend as much as the teams around them will.
Nottingham Forest are one of the clubs sat in the drop zone as it stands but can seemingly spend as much as they want on whoever they want. Southampton are plotting moves for various players including exciting Croatian winger Miroslav Orsic – though recent reports say their offers have fell short of Dinamo Zagreb’s expectations.
Wolves are also in a precarious position but given their recent managerial appointment of Julien Lopetegui, it is likely they’ll be flexing their financial muscles to try and stay afloat. They’ve already secured the £40m signing of Brazilian Matheus Cunha.
Stick or twist?
Given the financial restrictions, Everton may seek out a defensive manager and task him with steadying the ship. A similar scenario was played out in the 2017-18 season when Sam Allardyce was brought in to ensure Premier League survival. To his credit, he did a good job and led the team to an eighth-place finish.
Sean Dyche
Should the club try and take a similar route, the obvious replacement for Frank Lampard would be Sean Dyche. He is currently without a job after leaving Burnley last season after an apparent falling out with the board. The Clarets would be relegated in the ensuing months.
Dyche won Burnley promotion to the Premier League in the 2015-16 season and managed to keep them in the topflight for seven seasons on a shoe-string budget and a subpar squad, not good enough to be playing where they found themselves.
They even enjoyed a venture into Europe in the 2018-19 season having finished seventh in the season prior. They earned a place in the qualifying rounds, unfortunately missing out at the last hurdle having lost out to Greek side Olympiakos.
He is renowned in England for being somewhat ‘old-fashioned’, focusing on building a team with a tough core and spine, seeking out defensive stability before worrying about scoring goals. When you’re at the bottom every point count, and he turns narrow losses into draws, even sometimes stealing wins against big teams.
Considering his track record and his history of overperforming with poor teams, Dyche looks a good choice for the club short term. He would likely seek out a few short-term deals for players and perhaps former players who suit his system.
Physical forward players were vital to his system, having relied on Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood for much of his Burnley tenure. The latter is out of favour at the flying Newcastle United, so Dyche would likely try bringing him in even if it be on loan.
Dyche would also be linking back up with his former players Dwight McNeil and James Tarkowski. Tarkowski was a particular favourite of Dyche for his physicality and tenacity, as well as his outstanding defensive capabilities. He would also suit Dyche’s low block to a T.
Wayne Rooney
Looking at other possible managerial appointments, behind Dyche at second favourite according to SkyBet is Wayne Rooney. A man who doesn’t need any introduction in terms of his history and career as a footballer – like Frank Lampard he is relatively new to the managerial role.
So far on his CV, Rooney has two spells at Derby, first as Caretaker Manager and later as Manager. To his credit, he did a good job and was extremely unfortunate to see the Rams drop down to League One following a 21 points deduction.
Without the deduction, they’d have finished 17th in the Championship on 52 points, steering well clear of relegation. It is also important to note that due to their transfer embargo and filing for administration, at times Rooney couldn’t even field a full eleven of senior professionals, having to use many players from the academy.
Since he has taken up the managerial role at DC United – another of his former clubs. Last year they finished bottom of the Eastern Conference.
Rooney is still very inexperienced as a coach and is likely not ready to take the step up to Premier League management. Everton can’t afford to take any more of a gamble than they already would be in sacking Lampard, so anyone brought in needs to have been there and done it.
Roberto Martinez
SkyBet’s third favourite for the job is Roberto Martinez, former manager of the Belgium National Team but more importantly former manager of Everton Football Club. It is well known that Bill Kenwright is a huge admirer of Martinez and would likely be his favoured candidate.
Roberto took over in the 2013/14 season following the departure of David Moyes to Manchester United. In his first season, he led the Toffees to a fifth-place finish and a subsequent venture into the Europa League.
The loan acquisitions of Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry and Gerard Deulofeu as well as James McCarthy following Martinez from FA Cup winning Wigan made for a great team – one of the best that Goodison had seen for years.
Martinez differed stylistically to Moyes, with the Belgian favouring to play ‘beautiful football’ and give the crowds a show – as opposed to grinding our results in a more defensive style. The Goodison faithful loved him for a short while before the team started to decline.
The next season saw the Blues bow out of the Europa League in the Round of 16 to Dynamo Kiev and then finish 11th in the league. He fell out of favour with many Everton fans for how his team gave up so many leads in so many games.
The next season came and he would be sacked in May following a series of disappointing defeats including a 4-0 drubbing against Liverpool and a loss to a poor Sunderland side. He would be replaced by David Unsworth as Caretaker.
Martinez has never really proved himself as a great manager following his FA Cup win with Wigan. Whilst still a brilliant achievement, they were also relegated in the same season. His spell with Everton was subpar and he was one of the worst Belgium National Team Managers in years. He would not be getting the Everton job based on merit.
Other names mentioned include David Moyes – who still resides in his role as West Ham manager, but it is looking increasingly more likely he’ll soon be relieved of his duties. I doubt there would be a more ‘Everton-like’ appointment than a manager who’s just left his former club battling relegation, whilst we’re in the exact same position.
It’s yet to be seen whether Frank Lampard will be given any further time or games to turn it around, but what is known for certain is that something must change, or Everton will drop to the Championship.