Lampard must brutally axe “hard-working” Everton ace who “makes things happen” - opinion

Frank Lampard is facing arguably the biggest challenge of his managerial career thus far as he tries to steer Everton away from the Premier League relegation zone, with a number of financial and political issues going on in the background.

It’s not helping matters that two of his star players, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, are enduring a bad patch of form at a difficult, high-pressure stage of the season.

Richarlison is in a particular poor run, registering just two goals and one assist in all competitions since the start of 2022.

Despite averaging a solid 6.82 match rating across the season in the Premier League, the Brazilian has scored just four goals and created three more, working out at a scoring frequency of one every 365 minutes. That’s not good enough for a player worth £49.5m (as per Transfermarkt) who’s playing for a team fighting for their top-flight lives.

He can still be a hit with fans and critics, with journalist David Prentice once suggesting that the forward “makes things happen” for the Toffees.

Club and international team-mate Allan also heaped praise on him last month, saying: “He’s very hard-working and I try to pass on my experience as I get older to help and guide him. I’m sure he will have a great career here at Everton and for the Brazilian national team.”

However, Lampard’s patience with Richarlison must be running out after averaging a 6.45 Sofascore match rating in his last four Premier League games, failing to find the net and missing two big chances in total during that time.

In the Toffees’ last outing, a 5-0 humiliation at the hands of an inconsistent Tottenham, the 24-year-old completed just nine passes in 90 minutes, had zero shots on target, completed zero crosses and won just