Lampard has a lot of work to do. What challenges await him at Everton?

Rafa Benítez and Everton was not a good connection. A club that regularly wants to fight for the top of the table is once again in the bottom half of it and mired in relegation battles. Frank Lampard should save it. What challenges await him in his new job?

The former Chelsea star midfielder is still new to the role of manager, yet he has managed to show he has something. He led Derby to the Championship playoff final, Chelsea reached 4th place and the FA Cup final under his management despite a transfer ban.

Now he has another challenge ahead of him, by no means an easy one. Everton are in the midst of a very unsuccessful season, with only 19 points after 20 rounds, 4 points away from the relegation zone.

Moreover, the Toffees have only one win in their last 14 league games. Lampard’s task will not be easy. The fans and the management will demand results from him, and soon.

Everton have an important game against Newcastle at St. James’s Park on Tuesday. A loss would put Lampard’s side further back in the relegation battle. What does Lampard need to change at Everton to avoid this?

Defending standard situations

Above all, work on the defensive game that has been bringing the Liverpool team down this season. This was also nicely seen in the last game against Aston Villa, when Everton showed a good performance (especially in the 2nd half), but before the end of the first half the Toffees players left space for Buendí to take his chance.

It was the 10th goal Everton have scored from standard situations, only Leicester (11) and Crystal Palace (12) are worse in the league. No wonder Lampard wanted to bring in Chelsea’s Anthony Barry as an assistant, who is in charge of standard situations at the Blues. However, Barry declined and Lampard will have to do things differently.

Everton’s defence hasn’t been helped by Yerry Mina’s health problems this year and the departure of long-time mainstay Lucas Digne, who was sold by Benítez.

Lack of goals

Equally important will be the revival of the attack. Demarai Gray is the team’s top scorer with 5 goals, which is not much after 20 rounds. Everton have suffered from injuries to Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin, who have been the main source of goals in previous seasons.

Although Calwert-Lewin started the 21/22 season fantastically, with 3 goals after 3 rounds, a forced break due to a thigh injury followed and the English striker only returned in January. And logically, he is still struggling to get back into form. Moreover, Frank Lampard has confirmed that he will miss at least Saturday’s FA Cup game at Calvert-Lewin again.

Richarlison has been plagued by knee and then calf injuries again this season and has 4 goals so far. And since Salomón Rondón has not proved himself as a reliable goalscorer at Everton, Frank must get Calwert-Lewin and Richarlison back to the form of years gone by as soon as possible if he wants to take the club to the higher reaches of the table.

Bringing in youngsters and changing the flanks of the defence

This shouldn’t be a problem given his previous stints. During his time at Derby, he afforded the most minutes to under-21 players of any club in the Championship and Premier League and the youngsters shone under him at Chelsea (although the transfer ban there played a part in that).

Talented young players are not an exception at Everton, with defender Jarrad Branthwaite, midfielder Tyler Onyango and wingers Anthony Gordon and Lewis Dobbin currently vying for space.

Considering how many failed transfers Everton have had in recent years, Lampard’s successful incorporation of youngsters could save the club a lot of money.

The edges of the defence in particular will need to be rejuvenated. The left side has been manned in recent years by Lucas Digne, who left due to disagreements with Benítez, while on the right side we find long-time mainstay Seamus Coleman, who is now 33 and it is questionable how much longer he will keep his place in the club’s starting line-up.

The club has responded with the arrivals of young defenders Vitaliy Mykolenko from Dynamo Kiev and Nathan Patterson from Rangers. Incorporating them into the line-up as soon as possible will be Lampard’s next task.

Resurrecting the careers of van de Beek and Alli

Donny van de Beek (24) came on loan on the last transfer deadline day, followed by Dele Alli on a permanent transfer. Both have spent time on the bench rather than on the pitch in recent years and both will be looking to change their situation.

And it will be Lampard who will be in charge of getting the best out of them. Both Van de Beek and Alli are still relatively young players and have regularly shown in the past that they can be among the main drivers of the team. If they put in such performances at Everton, the whole team will benefit and it will be a big advantage for the club.

It will also be interesting to see how (if at all) Lampard puts both players in the lineup. Will they both play in the 10 position? That would mean a big responsibility for the defensive midfielder behind them, i.e. Doucouré or Allan. That would potentially make it easier to switch to a three man defence, but that would in turn mean sacrificing one of the offensive players.

A 4-2-3-1 formation with Alli at the tip and van de Beek behind him accompanied by Doucouré/Allan is also an option, but this is not the Dutch midfielder’s favoured position. There is also a suggestion to put Alli on the wing, which in turn would probably take away Andros Townsend or Demarai Gray, who are among Everton’s better players this season.

In short, Lampard has a lot to think about, after his engagements at Derby and Chelsea, he has another tough stint ahead of him. It won’t be easy at Everton and above all, he won’t have much time to make changes, as his new team will have an important game against Newcastle on Tuesday.

Source: Skysports, The Football Faithfull