Everton 1-4 Brighton: Pressure piles on Frank Lampard as Toffees suffer humiliating defeat

In the end, the scene was sad and depressingly familiar: an empty stadium, the soundtrack of riot, and the stench of failure.

Everton had ended 2022 by stealing a point from Manchester City, but 2023 began with ritual embarrassment. This was the kind of night that leaves a manager worried about his long-term future and leaves the fans sweating over their club’s top-flight status.

First, all credit must go to Brighton, a progressive club with a long-term vision and an exceptional plan. They scored four times, could have had a couple more and had a swagger that left the Everton denizens wishing their own team could play with such quickness and wit.

Roberto De Zerbi will go into the commercial end of the campaign from a position of strength and why shouldn’t they dream of qualifying for Europe? They have all the tools to go all the way and are playing as well as anyone around them at the table.

But what about Everton, this once proud institution? They have played relegation Russian roulette often in the last decade and one of these days, they will reach the point of no return. This performance was so bad, so depressing, it left you dreading what’s around the corner.

Frank Lampard looked distraught as the game drew to a close. He will know how impatient and nervous owner Farhad Moshiri gets at times like these and the next few days will no doubt be uncomfortable. This, after all, was a night with no redeeming features.

A result as unexpected as that of the Etihad could not fail to inject confidence and, of course, Everton’s start was brilliant and enthusiastic. They were on the front foot quickly and within three minutes Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez had sprung into action to frustrate Alex Iwobi.

It was also a good save, the Spaniard diving to his left to deflect Iwobi’s shot off the post. Lampard had wanted the atmosphere to be like a bear pit, one of those nights when Goodison bubbles, and this was the kind of early skirmish that could easily have led to it catching fire.

They came again in the sixth minute, this time Tom Davies stinging the palms of Sánchez with a 20-yard drive. He never had the direction to cause anxiety, but this was Everton declaring their intentions: could they build on that? The answer, certainly for the rest of the first term, was no.

Once Sanchez had his foot on the ball, Brighton took a deep breath and began to pass and move around Everton, their luminous orange jerseys blurring as they made the hosts’ midfield and defense look as mobile as training ground dummies. .

Brighton, really, should have taken the lead in the 10th minute when the enthusiastic Solly March, what a fine professional he has been since his days as an England under-21 international, scuttled to the back line and picked Mitoma in the back. behind. post but headed towards.

It doesn’t matter. On the ensuing attack, Moises Caicedo swept a long ball from right to left and Everton right-back Nathan Patterson misjudged it horribly, allowing Mitoma to collect, turn the Scotsman around and then slide inside Conor Coady for pass to Jordan Pickford.

What a terrible goal it was for Everton to concede, but Brighton certainly didn’t complain. With a foothold in contention, they spent the rest of the opening period dominating possession and playing with the swagger of a team that knows its roles inside out.

The second goal should have come on 20 minutes, but Evan Ferguson’s instinctive volley hit the post after Mitoma, again, wreaked havoc when left-back Pervis Estupinan released him free. Had Brighton doubled their lead at that point, the game could have been over.

The only time Everton have scored more than one goal at home this season was against Crystal Palace on October 22 and this inability to create proper chances, let alone convert them, is proving crippling; teams without a hit are eliminated.

And that is precisely what happened. Bam-bam-bam, three times in six minutes, Brighton charged forward in the second half and launched the kind of attack that indicated several of the Blues wanted to throw in the towel. It was a shameful capitulation, an affront to these fans.

Ferguson, such an outstanding prospect, clinched the points in the 51st minute with a super finish before March came on the scene, past Everton defenders who comically fell down in a desperate attempt to make a tackle.

Shouts of “get the board out!” it erupted immediately, with hundreds of fans rushing for the exits, before Pascal Gross completed the humiliation, his goal securing Brighton their biggest away win in the Premier League era.

There was time for one last addition to the scoreboard, a Demarai Gray penalty in stoppage time, but after theatrical cheers, those left in the stadium began to sign for the removal of the blackboard. This really is a winter of discontent.