Alan Shearer tells Farhad Moshiri to help Frank Lampard and sign a striker for Everton
Alan Shearer says Everton must sign a striker this summer to “give Frank Lampard a chance” after their opening day defeat to Chelsea.
The Toffees fell to a 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park with a makeshift attack as Dominic Calvert-Lewin missed out through injury while Salomon Rondon served a suspension for his red card last season.
But without a striker the team lacked a real killer instinct in and around the penalty area and Shearer told BBC Match of the Day [August 6] that Everton must sign a striker otherwise he’ll be concerned for their chances in the league this season.
“Even with Calvert-Lewin and Rondon, they still need a forward in there,” he said.
“Of course they didn’t have either of them in there today and they’re going to be without Calvert-Lewin for a while. It was plainly obvious today their problem.
“There’s no blame at all to Anthony Gordon because he’s trying to do his team a favour by being in there, but this is an amazing ball in and that should be in the back of the net and a centre-forward, as Frank said, a number nine, I’m pretty sure that would be in there because he just doesn’t really want to head it. Takes his eyes off the ball.
“You can’t really attach any blame to him at all, they’re looking for a focal point.
“They’ve got to give Frank Lampard a chance and bring a centre forward in, otherwise I’d really be concerned for Everton.”
Needed
It’s pretty clear that Everton are in desperate need of a striker, but sometimes it takes people on the outside to get that message across to people who are close to a situation.
Hopefully Shearer has done that with this message, because he’s spot on. Even with Calvert-Lewin and Rondon available it isn’t enough over the course of a Premier League season.
Calvert-Lewin simply can’t be relied upon at this point to be available regularly and Rondon isn’t good enough. This team is severely lacking goals and it must be addressed as a priority.
Without that addition Everton are running a very serious risk of being dragged into yet another relegation battle this season, having only just avoided the Championship last time around.
Kevin Thelwell and Farhad Moshiri have been given ample warning, and should they choose not to address the problem then anything that happens after that is squarely on them.