Lampard under pressure as Everton slump to Brighton defeat
LONDON - The odds on Everton manager Frank Lampard getting the sack tumbled on Tuesday after a dismal 4-1 home defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion left them just above the Premier League relegation zone.
Bookmakers William Hill were offering odds of 1/5 on the former England international and ex-Chelsea boss becoming the next Premier League manager to be axed after a dire performance that saw his team booed by the home fans at Goodison Park.
“You are not going to win every week. We have to get back to the work. It is as simple as that. I am a Premier League football manager, there is pressure in the job wherever you are,” Lampard told Sky Sports following the defeat.
With his team in 16th place on 15 points, three ahead of bottom side Southampton before their clash against Nottingham Forest, Lampard and his players had a long discussion about what went wrong against the Seagulls at full-time, but he remained tight-lipped about what was said.
“I won’t go through what was said in the dressing room afterwards, it’s up to us to put it right and we go again against Manchester United (in the FA Cup) in a few days,” the 44-year-old said.
The four teams below Everton – West Ham (14 points), Forest (14), Wolverhampton Wanderers (13) and Southampton (12) – all played on Wednesday, with their results not available at press time, so it is possible that the Toffees could find themselves in the relegation zone on Thursday.
After holding champions Manchester City to a 1-1 draw in their last game, Everton were booed off by the Goodison Park faithful at half-time when they went in 1-0 down to Brighton, who scored via Kaoru Mitoma, but the worst was yet to come.
A woeful spell saw the visitors net three goals from Evan Ferguson, Solly March and Pascal Grob between the 51st and 57th minutes, with Everton’s only response coming from a Demarai Gray penalty in second-half stoppage time.
“Very disappointing. It was even in the first half I would say, in general play it was pretty even, (then) three goals in six minutes, defensive mistakes, finishes the game,” Lampard said.
The former England midfielder did not rule out adding players to his squad in the January transfer window as he tried to hold on to his job.
“We are trying to help the squad. We will look at that,” he said. - REUTERS
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