Michael Ball urges Frank Lampard to tweak the system he wants to set at Everton as their wide play with the likes of Alex Iwobi ‘isn’t good enough’, via his Liverpool Echo column.
Lampard fell to his sixth defeat in 10 games as Goodison Park boss on Sunday as the Blues exited the FA Cup to Crystal Palace. The England icon has struggled to build momentum on Merseyside since replacing Rafa Benitez in January, with just four wins in all competitions.
Everton’s win over Newcastle United last Thursday also snapped their run of four straight Premier League defeats, each without scoring. Lampard used a 4-2-3-1 shape for the first time in his tenure at home to the Magpies, yet then returned to a 3-4-3 at Selhurst Park.
Lampard has now favoured a 3-4-3 for five of his 10 games in charge, along with a 4-2-2-2 twice and a 4-3-3 twice. But a 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 formation is yet to return a top-flight win. A 4-2-2-2 system also led to defeat away to Southampton on the back of beating Leeds United.
Only against Brentford and Boreham Wood in the FA Cup has a 3-4-3 shape led to Everton winning. It also led to defeats to Newcastle and Wolves before losing 4-0 at Crystal Palace.
Andros Townsend opened the Selhurst Park tie on the right-wing on Sunday with Seamus Coleman providing support from wing-back. But a knee injury forced the former Eagles ace off early, with Demarai Gray introduced. Iwobi also replaced Coleman in the second-half.
Frank Lampard urged to change Everton system as wide play ‘isn’t good enough’
Iwobi proved to be Everton’s hero against Newcastle last week when he combined with Coleman and Dominic Calvert-Lewin to score their late winner. Yet the Nigerian fell to the bench against Crystal Palace and offered little once he entered the action in south London.
His style of play has also alarmed Ball, as he feels the £34m forward is not giving Lampard what Everton need. Instead, the ex-Toffees man feels Iwobi and the Blues’ fellow wingers give opposition defences an easy ride and cost the Goodison Park outfit chances to score.
“Your job as a winger is to take an opponent on,” Ball wrote. “Alex Iwobi needs to run past them, not inside. As a full-back, when a winger runs inside your relief is so great. You’re like: ‘Thank you for doing that, you’ve made my job easier’.
“When have our wingers ran to the byline and crossed it in? Passing it backwards, passing it sideways, holding the ball up one time in 10 isn’t good enough.”
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