Premier League: Toffees look for miracle man to get them out of sticky situation
Everton manager Frank Lampard, who was left go by the club earlier this week.
WELL the writing was well and truly on the wall for Frank Lampard with the heavy symbolism derived from a former manager coming back and wiping the floor with his Everton team.
David Moyes is hardly having a successful run with his West Ham crop at the moment, They are currently struggling to dig themselves out of 16th place in the Premier League. But Moyes’ team looked like Argentina in comparison to the Toffees when they clinically dismantled Everton, all before the half-time whistle, at the London Stadium.
With Everton not playing again until February 4, as they are already out of the FA Cup, it allowed the board the time to cancel Lampard’s contract and provide themselves the space to find his replacement.
Lampard was able to guide Everton to safety last term with a heroic last day escape and celebration when avoiding the drop. But he has come under growing pressure in recent months amid the club’s awful run of form. And with just one win in their past 14 games, across all competitions, and being only goal difference away from being bottom in the Premier League, it could not have come as a surprise, even to Lampard, that he was now surplus to requirements.
The initial favourites to replace Lampard include some of the usual suspects and one or two more interesting progressive prospects.
Immediately, former Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa was mentioned for a return to England and a lot of people can see a similarity between the ‘giant fallen on hard times’ role he played at the Yorkshire club been recreated on Merseyside. It is also believed that Bielsa had talks already with Everton boss Farhad Moshiri, which would seem like this has been in the planning for a while. It would be welcome to see a return of the free-running tactics of the forever crouching Argentine, but that style ran out of steam pretty quickly at Leeds once opponents caught on to their high-line tactics and he struggled to formulate a Plan B.
Next up for mention was ex-Burnley manager Sean Dyche. His gruff no-nonsense style of management would be seen by many just what Everton needs. But does he have the reputational weight to back up his talk with these high-paid players?
Two former, much loved, legends of the club are also on the list in Duncan Ferguson and Wayne Rooney. Former player, coach, and interim manager, Ferguson loves the club and bleeds blue. But one wonders if he is a man of the past at this club rather than someone who can bring them forward in the future.
Rooney on the other hand would certainly be seen as one for the future. But maybe not just yet. Rooney exceeded expectations in his impossible stint at Derby. The fight, but ultimately hopeless attempt to avoid the drop with the Rams, showed his determination but probably took a lot out of him. Rooney was linked with the Everton job back in November and he admits it would be a ‘dream’ job for him. But maybe not just yet for the current DC United manager, who seems to be liking his time in the MLS, and away from the English media spotlight.
The next name mentioned on the shortlist is Brentford’s Danish manager Thomas Frank. Who has done wonders, nay miracles, with the Bees in his time at the London side. If they were to replace Frank with am… Frank… it would certainly be a smart move, as the Danish manager has proven very resourceful and seems to have the admiration of the players and fans in a similar fashion to that of Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. However, Brentford have reportedly ‘rejected’ an approach from Everton to speak with Thomas Frank and it's also reported that the Dane is ‘not keen’ on replacing Lampard anyway. One might suspect that if Thomas Frank would move it would have to be to one of the traditional ‘bigger’ top six sides at the moment.
Everton have their hands full to find a manager that can save the day yet also bring back the glory days to a genuinely big club with high aspirations. But aspirations which are sadly reseeding with each passing year of failure.
It’s hard to see who or what can save them. It’s not from lack of investment, with the club spending well over £600m on talent in recent years, comparable to their neighbour Liverpool but without a fraction of the return in silverware their noisy neighbour has achieved. Green shoots under Carlo Ancelotti gave some hope to the club but that was short-lived soon as Real Madrid came knocking on his door once again.
On top of all the transfer debt, the club will soon inherit the cost of the new stadium they’re building down in the Liverpool docks. Having the best state-of-the-art, modern stadium in the Championship is not what Everton were hoping for when they turned the sod on the development back in August 2021.
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