Everton boss Frank Lampard’s hands are tied with ‘big players’ in squad
Everton boss Frank Lampard has admitted his hands have been tied with some of his “big players” since taking charge.
The former England international was quick to point out the Blues’ injured absentees following their 2-0 defeat against Southampton on Saturday (February 19).
Lampard also highlighted the midfield as an area of concern for the Toffees clash against Manchester City next week which could be aided with the potential return of Abdoulaye Doucoure.
He told Liverpool ECHO: “Since I’ve been here at the club we’ve got injuries to big players. We’re missing Ben Godfrey today, missing (Abdoulaye) Doucoure, missing Demarai Gray, Fabian Delph.
“What I am saying is that they are big players for the club and sometimes your decisions are half made for you by the injuries in the squad.
“And the rest of them are made for you by things you want to select for the game. So, we will have to see who is able and ready.
“We weren’t good enough in midfield today. That’s the job for us in the week to get right.”
Mentally weak
Everton are going to need more than some work on the midfield if they want to get anything out of Manchester City. With that being said, they do face the Premier League champions at Goodison Park, a place where the Blues seem to have no problem winning under Lampard.
Away from home is another story with the loss at St. Mary’s confirming the Toffees away concerns. It is almost as if the moment something doesn’t go directly in the favour of these players, they are incapable of winning which is bizarre.
In all fairness, they have been set up rather negatively for a long time now which is bound to suck the life out of the players as soon as they face any sort of uphill battle.
The former Chelsea boss has a lot of work to do with the squad in terms of their mentality and it will certainly take some time to resolve some of these issues so deep-rooted within the squad.
In other Everton news, Frank Lampard has called for patience for striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.