Simon Jordan fumes at Frank Lampard after Everton defeat v Crystal Palace
Simon Jordan says Everton have a lack of ability to overcome adversity and the blame lies with Frank Lampard to fix it, after their FA Cup exit to Crystal Palace.
The `Toffees crashed out with a 4-0 defeat on Sunday after a poor showing at Selhurst Park, losing almost all momentum they gained from their dramatic 1-0 win over Newcastle on Thursday.
Once again the Blues capitulated after conceding despite a decent start and Jordan, who was speaking on his talkSPORT show [March 21, 11:08], believes their ability to overcome adversity has to come from the manager.
“What I see is a team that can’t react to adversity,” he said. “The first 15 minutes of that game Everton were at it, on it, across it and over it. Palace couldn’t get out of their half. They couldn’t get a ball to feet without getting snapped at by an Everton player.
“Of course they lose Townsend which changes a slight balance but not that much, then bang, concede a goal, gone. No backbone, nothing. They’re like a punch resistant fighter who has lost his punch resistance. The moment he gets hit, the next punch that hits him knocks him out.
“Everton are like that. They concede a goal, the first corner comes in I mean the corner is a good corner but the second one comes in and it’s badly defended. But you’ve only just lost a goal, get back, get in amongst it. That’s where his problem is.
“It isn’t about tactics or technique, it’s about having the balls to step in and it’s about how you recover from adversity. This team have no punch resistance. They have no ability to recover from something.
“Maybe when you’re not losing, when you’re at Goodison and not losing a lot of the time you don’t have to recover from adversity. Winning 1-0 against Newcastle, the moment they go behind.. boom, they’re gone.
“What does that tell you? That’s your job Frank. That’s your job to build in the resistance. It’s your job to build in the ability to overcome adversity. It’s your job to make sure these players understand that what you don’t do is you don’t stop when you get punched, you carry on and you push someone back.
“What Everton did in the first 15 minutes, after the 25th minute they were not in this game. And it could have been six or seven.”
Accountability
So far Lampard has blamed defeats and poor performances on referees, the players, poor finishing, individual errors and now a lack of cojones, but never himself.
There seems to be a real lack of accountability coming from the Toffees boss and that is something he must address in the two week international break.
Whatever he’s telling the players to do, or asking them to try and do, is clearly not working. Especially away from home. So change it.
Constantly selecting players that are low on confidence and form such as Michael Keane and Jonjoe Kenny only harms the team and makes it harder if they do fall behind to get anything from the game.
There are players in the squad like Nathan Patterson and Dele who are waiting on a chance to impress and give this club all they can to try and save them, and they can’t possibly perform worse than the players currently in those positions.
In other Everton news, ‘Not giving enough’ – TalkSPORT pundit loses it with Everton squad after loss v Crystal Palace