Everton: Lampard 'disappointed' over 'missing link' at Goodison Park

Everton’s ‘missing link right now’ is a striker, but manager Frank Lampard will be encouraged by their performances, according to journalist Simon Phillips.

The Toffees have failed to win any of their opening six Premier League fixtures of the season and have often been frustrated in front of goal despite putting in some battling displays.

Lampard lost key attacker Richarlison over the summer after he was sold to Tottenham Hotspur in a £60 million deal.

Everton were able to replace the Brazil international with Dwight McNeil and Neal Maupay, though, but an injury to Dominic Calvert-Lewin on the eve of the campaign was a major setback.

The 25-year-old struggled with several fitness problems throughout 2021/22, and his continued absence appears to be having a detrimental effect on the Goodison Park outfit’s results.

Yet Everton have still earned draws against the likes of Liverpool, Leeds United and Brentford despite failing to score over one goal in any of their fixtures.

Transfer insider Dean Jones previously informed GiveMeSport that Lampard wanted three new attackers at the club, but the Everton hierarchy were unable to deliver, and Phillips believes that will have caused some disappointment.

He said: “He’s stabilising at the moment. And I think it’s not the worst form of performances that we’re seeing from them, they can improve, sure, but I think at the moment, Lampard is going to be content with how it’s going.

“They’re making sure that they are in there, and they’ve been hard to beat themselves, so that’s an improvement from last season. I think if Lampard got his striker, which is the missing link right now, I think we’d be seeing much more better results.

“But he’s obviously disappointed that they didn’t manage