Lampard calls out Everton players after another gutless showing

Everton started off their FA Cup quarter final away at Crystal Palace brightly enough, but failed to capitalize on some early chances, and then conceded from yet another boneheaded setpiece mistake at about the quarter mark of the game, and then proceeded to fold like a cheap suit to end up 4-0 losers against a very average Eagles side.

Speaking after the game, manager Frank Lampard spoke about the lack of confidence and self-belief in his side.

“I don’t have a magic wand to get inside people’s heads and change resilience across the whole squad. That’s a work in progress.

“The difficult thing for us is that we don’t have lots of time in terms of the league to do that. My job title is quite vast as a manager, but to get inside heads and change that with the flick of a switch is not possible.

“As frustrating as it is for me, as frustrating as it is for the 4,000 fans who travelled down and the people watching [at home], that’s one we have to fight against.”

The former Chelsea midfielder was certainly as unimpressed by his players’ mentality as the fans were.

“It’s done damage that we won’t go to Wembley, our fans won’t got to Wembley and we won’t have the opportunity to go to a final. But after the break it’s up to us.

“There’s only so much you can keep trying to butter someone up to give them confidence. There’s a balance of confidence and playing at the cut-throat end of football. This is a quarter final today to get to Wembley, and if you haven’t got the confidence to play, then you can quickly flip to say have you got the b******s to play? Excuse me, but that’s the football reality.

“If you fall somewhere in the middle, don’t worry about it. We didn’t play that badly today and Palace didn’t play that well and we lost 4-0, because of a lack of confidence and a lack of what I just said.

‘It wasn’t tactics. Tactics showed in the first 20 minutes that Palace couldn’t get out of their half. So when you do things right within that structure you’ll be alright.

“If you can’t be clinical in front of goal, you can’t score goals. If you allow people to stroll into your box to finish with ease, they’ll finish with ease. It was real basics.”

The Blues had started the game well but the injury sustained by Andros Townsend on his return to his former ground Selhurst Park changed everything, but Lampard went on to express his irritation at the Blues game being moved to Sunday’s early fixture and the Premier League upholding Allan’s suspension for what was never a red card.

“It looks bad, we think it’s a knee injury. He got his studs stuck in the grass. Well scan him over the next day or two, but the early signs are that it will be a bad knee injury.

“We were playing well, we started well, Andros was contributing. We stopped the game, the change of personnel - even after that I thought we remained in relative control until the goal goes in obviously.

“It (the injury) was a blow in those terms, yeah. Two things hindered us, one was the scheduling - which is difficult to rely on when you’ve just lost 4-0. But we could have played at 3pm or 6pm, but the broadcasters want to show other teams.

“And then Allan’s suspension not being turned over, because it was a wrong decision and it was easier to save face and leave him with a three-game suspension. We missed a big player today and we will now for two league games.”