Frank Lampard at risk of being ‘thrown under the bus’ as reporter highlights top three Everton offenders
Frank Lampard saw a weakened Everton side swept away in a 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Tuesday, ending the Toffees’ Carabao Cup campaign.
Lampard chose to prioritise this weekend’s Premier League clash against Bournemouth over the midweek Carabao Cup tie by making a plethora of changes to his lineup at the Vitality Stadium.
But it wasn’t as though Everton’s lineup was made up of academy youngsters – Lampard instead regrettably relied on fringe players to get the job done.
It was a dire performance on the south coast and many players were booed off the pitch by the travelling support. Tony Scott, who reports for the Liverpool Echo, believes three players in particular are ready to throw Lampard under the bus.
“He [Lampard] thought that this team that he put out against Bournemouth was well capable of beating Bournemouth who made 10 or 11 changes themselves. And on paper, Everton should’ve wiped the floor with them,” Scott told the All Together Now podcast, as transcribed by TIF.
“He can’t help it if these 1-11, who throw many, many managers under the bus – we’ve seen the likes of Mason Holgate, Michael Keane, Tom Davies – the list goes on, the [number] of managers they’ve thrown under the bus, and they’re going to continue to do it.”
Squad overhaul
Lampard was left shell-shocked on the sidelines as he witnessed the steep drop in quality of his Everton side after he made changes.
Everton were always expected to rotate and rest players for the Carabao Cup clash, and Bournemouth did the same to level the playing field.
Frankly, the side Lampard put out was still relatively strong and featured many players that consistently featured in the Premier League last season.
But that says it all – last season’s relegation dogfight wasn’t a blip – the players simply aren’t good enough. Lampard gave them another chance to prove themselves on Tuesday and they got played off the park by Bournemouth’s B side.
It was an embarrassing showing and will have proved to Lampard that many of those players need offloading from the club as soon as possible. The three mentioned by Scott – Holgate, Keane and Davies – are certainly three that the Toffees wouldn’t miss.
Lampard has already shown in the summer that he can replace them with better players, so the board need to back him and allow him to completely overhaul the squad.