Evertonians across Merseyside would be ecstatic after finally getting an English manager to lead the club forward. After tenures under Rafa Benitez, Carlo Ancelotti and Marco Silva, Frank Lampard is next in line to try and turn around the club’s fortunes. The Chelsea club legend is without a job for the past 12 months after getting the sack at Chelsea where he became a club legend. Since then he has spent majority of his time with his family and with his newborn son Freddie. The managerial search for Everton was down to a shortlist of three with Vitor Periera, Duncan Ferguson and Frank Lampard all in the race for the job.
Farhad Moshiri, the owner of Everton Football Club, was under serious pressure to bring in some changes at the club after a dismal run of games under Lampard’s predecessor Rafa Benitez with the Toffies winning only 1 out of the previous 14 games and the club languishing in 16th position,4 points off the relegation zone. Let’s take a look at what Lampard will bring to the club and how the team will lineup under him:-
STYLE
Lampard preferred possession-based attacking football during his tenures at Derby County and Chelsea FC. He has used various formations such as 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 and sometimes even shifted to a back 3. The crucial positions in Lampard’s system are the 2 fullbacks. They are expected to join the attack whenever in possession and provide width to the team moving forward. At Chelsea, similar roles were deputized by Ben Chilwell and Reece James. The both of them were instrumental in starting the wide attacks and pinging balls in the box. Frank prefers using the wide spaces of the pitch rather than interchanges and link up play down the middle with a similar approach used during both of his previous jobs. Dominic Calvert Lewin would benefit from this style of play as his aerial threat could be utilized by the Everton fullbacks and wingers.
NEW SIGNINGS
Lampard has already secured his first signing as Everton boss with Donny Van De Beek joining the club on a loan deal until the end of the season. He is said to be a fan of the player and would certainly help him revive his career after 2 troublesome seasons at Manchester United wherein he has found gametime hard to come by. According to sources close to the club, Ruben Loftus Cheek and Ross Barkley are two players which have caught Frank’s eye from Chelsea but any deal for the two needs to be done quickly with the transfer window shutting on 31st January.
PROBABLE LINEUPS
The current Everton squad isn’t short of good quality players and Lampard would need to find the right system to bring out the best of the squad. The following could be two systems which Lampard could use with a fully fit squad:
BACKROOM STAFF
Lampard is set to raid Chelsea again this time for backroom staff with Anthony Barry and Joe Edwards being earmarked by him to join Everton. According to the Matt Law of Telegraph, Chelsea are not expected to stand in the way of either Joe Edwards or Anthony Barry if they wish to join Lampard at Everton-even though they are both rated highly. Apart from these two, there are rumours of Duncan Ferguson who was competing with Frank for the job being given a role in the backroom staff.
TASK AHEAD
Lampard has a difficult job with the objective for the rest of the season being avoiding relegation and finishing at a respectable position in the table. The Toffies aren’t far off Leicester City in 10th with only 7 points separating the two sides with 18 games to go. If things go well and with proper recruitment in the summer for next season, Lampard could steer them into the European spots next season given he already was successful in finishing 4th with Chelsea in the 2019/2020 season.
