Halt the slide, deal with dysfunction: Frank Lampard’s Everton tick list

Forget any long-term vision, structural changes or philosophy for now; this is a salvage operation first and foremost. Six years of mismanagement, woeful recruitment and illogical decision-making by Farhad Moshiri have taken Everton to the precipice of relegation. The club has not suffered a relegation in 71 years but a team assembled at exorbitant cost are destined for the Championship on current form. Everton collected 10 points from the opening four games before injuries struck Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Rafael Benítez’s divisive reign started to unravel. They have added nine points from the past 16 matches and are the worst-performing team in the Premier League over that extended period.

The two main strikers have returned, albeit rustily in Calvert-Lewin’s case after four months out, but to an error-prone team without confidence, without a clear strategy and with the confusion sown by playing for seven managers in less than six years (caretakers included) reflected in individual performances. Four points above the relegation zone, Everton face a critical test away at Newcastle in their next league game and have Manchester City, Tottenham, West Ham, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leicester and Arsenal still to play. Frank Lampard needs to instil belief and an effective gameplan immediately.

Evertonians are in open, understandable revolt over how Moshiri and the board have not only spurned an opportunity to close the gap on the Premier League elite but driven a wedge between themselves and a team, and managers, that most cannot identify with. The club’s latest farcical managerial search showed what a soap opera Everton have become.

The chairman, Bill Kenwright, is understood to have led the