Frank Lampard right to publicly criticise Everton flops not pulling their weight – Kevin Campbell
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Frank Lampard isn’t throwing anybody under the bus by criticising Everton players publicly because they “aren’t pulling their weight”, according to Kevin Campbell.
The Toffees boss was clearly furious following the 4-1 Carabao Cup defeat at Bournemouth last week, having changed his entire XI and been rewarded with a miserable showing from peripheral players, drawing a comparison with Donald Trump for apparently shifting responsibility for the defeat away from himself.
Former Everton captain Kevin Campbell is right behind the manager however, as players have to prove they are ready when given the chance, otherwise there is nowhere to turn when first-team players underperform themselves.
He exclusively told Goodison News: “I don’t think he’s throwing players under the bus. I think what he’s doing is giving players an opportunity to play and stake a claim for the first XI.
“There’s only 11 who can play, so you get players on the periphery who think, ‘I should be in the first team’.
“But when you get your opportunity the one thing you have to do is perform. You can imagine there’s been plenty of players knocking on his door saying, ‘I deserve a chance’, and when they get their chance they don’t perform.
“It’s not good. It’s not good for the football club that the peripheral players aren’t performing, and when the first team players don’t perform what you should be doing is saying, ‘Right, he’s doing well, I can make a change’.
“They can’t even do that because the peripheral players aren’t pulling their weight.
“I think Conor Coady said it after the game, some of the players, and everyone, has to have a long hard look at themselves. And that goes with the manager. He’s going to do that, he’s going to assess everything.
“But I think the players as well, because the manager can only do so much. He can prepare you, he can get you in the right from of mind, but once you cross that white line you’ve got to execute, and unfortunately for the last few games Everton haven’t been.”
Lampard wasn’t the only one amazed at how poorly the players given an opportunity in the cup performed as Jim White was also aghast, and considering the team was filled with hundreds of Premier League appearances there was really no excuse.
The former England midfielder had told talkSPORT after the game on (8 November): “At both ends of the pitch you can work and work, but if you make those mistakes repetitively, then that’s probably why you’re not in the squad.”
Given how the starters were arguably even worse four days later some of the back ups might be wondering why he wasn’t as scathing about them, as there is currently plenty of blame to go round.