Everton: Frank Lampard’s job is on a knife edge, but is he REALLY their biggest problem?

As another chorus of boos rang out at Goodison Park following Everton’s dismal 4-1 defeat by Brighton on Tuesday, Toffee fans were haunted by the prospect of another torturous fight against relegation.

The Merseyside club narrowly escaped relegation at the final hurdle last season, rectifying a campaign the Evertonians will soon want to forget, but it looks like they are destined for another match of torment and heartbreak.

A well-fought 1-1 draw against reigning champions Manchester City on Saturday briefly renewed hope, but Frank Lampard’s side showed little to no resistance in Tuesday’s humiliation against the Seagulls.

Naturally, as with modern football, the 44-year-old is bearing the brunt of the storm and risks becoming the latest casualty for Goodison Park management.

However, Toffee fans will be the first to admit that Everton’s crisis runs much deeper than Lampard’s: investment is down; fan pessimism has skyrocketed; and recruitment, in general, has flattered to deceive.

sports mail has taken an investigative look at the discernible problems at Everton, proposing why Lampard should not be held fully responsible for the team’s failings on the pitch.

Before delving into Goodison Park’s woes on a board level, it’s important to note at the outset that Lampard’s record at Everton looms large compared to his predecessors.

No Toffee manager since 2016 has posted a worse statistical record than Lampard, whose winning percentage of 30.77 is inferior to the likes of Ronald Koeman (41.38 per cent), Sam Allardyce (38.46 per cent) , Marco Silva (40 percent). ), Carlo Ancelotti (46.27 percent) and Rafael Benítez (31.8 percent).

Even Lampard’s overall winning percentage makes for kind reading when displayed alongside Everton’s form this season, winning just three games out of 18 so far (16.7 per cent).

Whether their poor form on the pitch is a direct result of Lampard’s tactics is open to debate, but Everton’s problems were apparent long before the Englishman arrived at Goodison Park last year.

Fans have struggled to understand the club’s long-term vision for several campaigns and have become discontented as a result, becoming too used to the underfunding of the transfer market year after year.

Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri, who took charge of the Merseyside club in 2016, once willingly shelled out for new Everton stars but has since lost the desire to do so after countless costly flops.

Everton’s scattered approach to recruitment since 2016 has seen Gylfi Sigurdsson arrive for £45m, Michael Keane and Davy Klaassen join for £25m and £24m respectively, and Yerry Mina sign for £27m.

Meanwhile, injury-prone midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Arsenal underdog winger Alex Iwobi and former Barcelona star Andre Gomes are all players who have joined the Toffees for fees worth more than £22m. sterling. And then of course Everton lured James Rodriguez with a contract worth £5.2m a year.

While there are still some profitable signings there, namely Jordan Pickford, Richarlison and Lucas Digne, Everton’s business has failed to deliver the goods in the long run and, over time, Moshiri has simply refused to dip into the cash. .

The continuous cutting and changing of managers has not helped the recruitment strategy in any way, as the club favors different styles of players in each separate manager appointment.

Moshiri’s coup to lure Ancelotti is likely to have been on the condition that he meet the Italian manager’s early transfer demands, including the signings of Rodriguez, Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure.

However, since Ancelotti’s return to Real Madrid, Everton cut off the tap. Benítez only received a handful of free deals, including future flop Dele Alli, aging center forward Salomon Rondon and Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend, who was deemed surplus for requirements at Selhurst Park.

Demarai Gray, who also arrived at Goodison Park that summer, continues to play a key role for Everton under Lampard, scoring a late consolation goal against Brighton.

Everton’s confused and ever-changing recruitment strategy took another violent turn when former director of football Marcel Brands left Merseyside after citing “a clear difference in vision and direction” between his plans and those of the club.

Returning to PSV after his acrimonious departure, Brands continues to oversee transfer policy at the Portuguese club, which just sold Cody Gakpo to Liverpool for £35m this month.

Everton fans will no doubt have been further frustrated to see Premier League newcomers Nottingham Forest spend over £140m in a single window this summer, having averaged a net spend of £52 million per season since 2017.

Lampard made a fruitful start to the Premier League campaign and at one point had the best defensive record in the league, finding himself an unknown place in the top half of the table.

Despite the positive start, supporter negativity was quickly restored after Everton’s successive 4–1 and 3–0 defeats by Bournemouth in November; the wheels subsequently came off and the Toffees have not been able to recover since.

Although it is right to question Lampard’s record, Everton must first analyze its transfer policy and relationship with fans before sacking the manager.