By George Overhill

9th Nov, 2022 | 12:40pm

Simon Jordan: Frank Lampard can now argue for Everton signings, Jim White aghast at flops

Frank Lampard can use the failure of the wider Everton squad at Bournemouth on Wednesday to argue for new signings, according to Simon Jordan.

The Toffees boss changed his entire starting line up for the Carabao Cup trip to the south coast and was rewarded with a miserable 4-1 defeat, after which he was evidently furious with the players he had given a chance, telling talkSPORT: “If you make those mistakes repetitively, then that’s probably why you’re not in the squad.”

Jim White could not believe that a team made up of established senior professionals could do so poorly, and Jordan thinks it could prove to the ownership that the squad needs more work.

Speaking live on talkSPORT on Wednesday morning (9 November, 10.14am) White asked: “How can a manager rely on players these days? Assuredly rely on players.

“Simon, last night when I heard Lampard’s made changes right across the board and Everton have lost 4-1, I thought it must be literally kids.

“Then I look at it: Begovic, Holgate, Keane, Mina, Patterson, Doucoure, Davies, Garner, Anthony Gordon, Maupay… I mean, Jeez.”

Jordan responded: “I’m not entirely sure, given the position in the league, why there’s an assumption that Everton would go to Bournemouth and beat them anyway, even with a full strength squad.

“It’s very interesting language for Frank to use. Obviously it’s based upon frustration and exasperation because nobody wants to be on the end of a 4-1 shellacking.

“It’s a case that he can utilise, and make an argument with the ownership model about the strength in depth that he’s got inside the playing squad that needs to be changed up.”

Let down

Some fans have turned on Lampard for apparently fielding a weakened side and giving up on a potentially winnable trophy.

It clearly is what he believes is an understrength line up because plenty of these players don’t get much of a look in for Premier League games.

But despite taking a number of youth team players, and giving Stanley Mills and Tom Cannon late substitute cameos, it was otherwise a squad of seasoned Premier League players who should not be crumbling so badly against a promoted side who made plenty of changes of their own.

Anthony Gordon and Nathan Patterson probably do get into Lampard strongest XI and wouldn’t have been out there had they started the Leicester defeat, but players like Yerry Mina, Michael Keane and Abdoulaye Doucoure have cost Everton a lot of money.

Plenty of the Toffees squad are good on their day but collectively don’t offer enough regularly enough, let alone drag their teammates with them in tough times.

The manager can’t shift the responsibility for the poor loss entirely onto his players because after all it is his job to improve them, but the line-up on paper wasn’t awful.

Yet considering many of the players who feature in the cup were central to the relegation battle of last year, it is another reminder that the squad isn’t strong enough, and if there is money available in January it needs to be spent to avoid going through another nightmare like the previous campaign.