Andy Townsend brands claims Everton could sack Frank Lampard as ‘utterly ridiculous’ as he needs to realise who is ‘simply not good enough’ at Goodison Park, he told talkSPORT.
Lampard has endured a tough start to his Merseyside tenure so far with six defeats after 10 games in charge. The Blues have also only won four times, including two games in the Premier League, while they bowed out of the FA Cup after a 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.
Two wins from seven top-flight fixtures so far also leaves Lampard with an average of just 0.86 points per game. Farhad Moshi fired Rafa Benitez in January after just six-and-a-half months in charge following a run of five wins from 19 for an average of one point a game.
Benitez’s departure marked the joint-shortest tenure any Everton manager has held based on games overseen with 22 in all competitions. Lampard can now only reach 21 by the end of the current campaign, with 11 games remaining of the Toffees’ Premier League season.
But as the Blues find themselves precariously above the relegation zone in 17th, Lampard could find his position in the Goodison dugout comes under threat without a turnaround.
Andy Townsend slams ‘utterly ridiculous’ claims Everton could sack Frank Lampard
Townsend, however, believes sacking Lampard should be one of the last things Everton are considering right now. Instead, the Goodison hierarchy must back the Chelsea and England icon as he needs time to realise which of his players are not up to the standards required.
“I just don’t see the personnel they’ve got there ever being good enough to surge them up the table in a different direction,” Townsend said. “The question about Frank that could he be sacked before the end of the season? That would be utterly ridiculous.
“The [prospect] should not even be on the radar. They hired him when they were in a bad position, and it’s not getting a lot better. He would like to have the impact. Listen, he’s got to have some time to weed out some of the boys who are quite simply not good enough.”
Everton and Moshiri will be extremely loath to let their Premier League status come under further threat with Lampard, should he fail to address the Toffees’ poor record during his tenure so far. But the Blues having games in hand should aid his position, for now at least.
The Merseyside outfit have played two fewer fixtures than Watford in 18th-place and have three in hand over Leeds United. Winning just two of those games in hand would move the Blues above the Whites and Brentford into 15th, with a nine-point advantage on Watford.
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