Lampard cannot pass buck as possession-shy Everton flirt with relegation places

“Every new coach wants to be high press, high energy, win the ball back, play quickly, all that stuff, there’s nothing new in that,” Frank Lampard scoffed to Gary Neville last year, in one of the many media interviews he gave during his extended break from management. And he was right, of course. Pretty much every young manager who emerges off the Uefa Pro Licence course seems to have the same few stock phrases to hand: a broad-brush managerial philosophy that is so vague as to be essentially meaningless.

Late last month Lampard finally made his return to management at Everton, and in his first press conference outlined the way he wanted his new team to play. “When I think of Everton, it’s a team that loves to see crosses and pressure and second balls, shots and combinations and things done at speed, a team that wants to run and a team that wants to press high up the pitch,” he said. “Those things absolutely align with my philosophy.” A textbook sales pitch. Of course, as Lampard well knows, the devil of coaching is not in the theory but in the practice, and thus far it’s fair to say the practice has been mixed: two convincing home wins and two convincing away defeats. By the time Everton play on Saturday evening, they could be in the Premier League relegation zone for the first time since Marco Silva was sacked more than two years ago. Their opponents? Manchester City.

“Enjoy the ball,” Lampard was heard urging his players during one of his first training sessions, and a key early focus has been on converting a scarred, scared Everton squad into a team comfortable in possession. The arrivals of Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli are a clear attempt to augment the level of technical ability in midfield. Everton’s ball