Abdoulaye Doucoure turns criticism of himself back onto Frank Lampard in Everton season of extremes
Abdoulaye Doucouré has dismissed criticism he received earlier this season for sitting on the ball in the Everton warm-up and questioned why there wasn’t the same focus on his lack of use.
The midfielder was pictured prior to the Manchester City game on New Year’s Eve while his teammates got ready for kick-off [Daily Star, 31 December], with the Liverpool Echo’s Joe Thomas calling it a “really strange sight” on Twitter two days later amid fan criticism.
But the Malian has played down the significance while turning the focus on former manager Frank Lampard with veiled criticism of the now-Chelsea boss for routinely overlooking him following 90 minutes on the opening day.
The 30-year-old said, as per the Daily Express: “For me, it was a little accident, it was not something big. In the warm up everyone can sit on the ball, when you are not playing and you are not involved in the moment. I have always been a very top professional.
“I warm up for 45 minutes [and] sometimes I didn’t come in. No-one talks about that so why do people talk about me sitting on the ball for one time in my career?
“Obviously it was just something that happened under the previous manager and I don’t want to explain more. Everybody knows I was out of the team, but for me it was not a massive thing.
“For me what is more important is the club. For me, how I play, who the manager works me and how the team works me. These are the most important things. The past is the past and now I focus on Everton.”
Break down
Clearly, it sounds like Doucouré did feel demotivated under Lampard since his effort was being ignored with minimal game time.
While some would argue that it is his job to give maximum effort in the warm up either way, he wouldn’t be the first player in football history to lose the will to do so if he knew it wouldn’t go anywhere.
Doucouré got a minute off the bench in the 1-1 draw at the Etihad that night, as part of a combined total of 98 minutes in the Premier League under Lampard between mid-September when he returned from injury and mid-January when the manager was sacked.
The 23 January report from the Daily Mail that revealed a bust up between player and coach laid bare an issue that had been simmering behind the scenes as Lampard’s reign went off the rails.
But Doucouré has essentially been vindicated in that dispute by the arrival of Sean Dyche, who immediately restored him to the line up and has been rewarded with vital contributions, with four goals and two assists that may prove crucial to the relegation battle.
The breakdown of the relationship with the previous manager robbed Everton of that output when it has badly needed it all season, so for the focus to land on the two-goal scorer at Brighton on Monday (8 May) for sitting on the ball one night would have rankled with him.
All has changed since, and while his future at the club is still up in the air, if his input keeps the club up it won’t be criticism coming his way, after going from persona non grata under Lampard to virtually first name on the team sheet for Dyche.