Match Report

Frank Lampard's reign at Everton began with a flurry of goals and a first win as the Blues swept Brentford aside to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup.

The new manager oversaw Everton's biggest win of the season so far as Yerry Mina, Richarlison, Mason Holgate and Andros Townsend all found net to render Ivan Toney's second-half penalty meaningless.

Lined up in a 3-4-3 formation and exhibiting a more settled passing style and more confidence with the ball at their feet overall, Lampard's side made all the early running in this all-Premier League tie and went close through Richarlison when the Brazilian dragged a shot wide in the seventh minute.

Everton lost Ben Godrey, however, not long afterwards when the defender pulled up limping after stretching into a challenge in the centre-circle and had to be helped off the pitch with a suspected hamstring injury.

Anthony Gordon narrowly cleared the crossbar with a nice curling left-footer in the 25th minute but it was Godfrey's replacement, Yerry Mina who made the breakthrough from a 30th-minute corner after André Gomes had stung the palms of David Raya in the Brentford goal with a terrific 25-yard effort.

Gray swung the dead ball in from the left and Mina easily won the match-up with his marker to power home a header from six yards out.

Richarlison had a decent chance to double the advantage six minutes later but he snatched at the opportunity and smashed it over before the Bees belatedly came to life and threatened their hosts for the first time in the game.

Mathias Jensen's ball inside found Sergi Canos and he forced Jordan Pickford to push the ball behind but the keeper was adjudged to have been fouled as the resulting corner came in while Gray sliced another promising off target at the end of the first half.

The second period was less than three minutes old when Everton double the lead. Allan picked the ball up in midfield, chipped it deftly into the path of Richarlison and the Brazilian forward took advantage of the goalkeeper's decision to rush to the edge of his box by knocking it calmly into the open net from 18 yards out.

Brentford responded, first when Roeslev's cut-back skidded across Everton's penalty area and just evaded Toney in front of goal and then when Christian Nà¸rgaard picked the striker out with an excellent defence-splitting pass. Toney smartly left his foot in as Pickford slid across to close him down and referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot.

Toney sent Pickford the wrong way with his spot-kick and halved the visitors' deficit but it would take Everton just eight minutes to effectively make the game safe. Gordon's cut-back found Gray but his shot was blocked behind and from the consequent corner, the Blues scored their third.

Once again it was Gray the taker and when Bech Sorensen got a head to the ball under pressure from Mina, he could only knock it into the path of Holgate who nodded inside the far post to make it 3-1.

Lampard made his second and third changes with 17 minutes to go, withdrawing Gordon and home debutant Vitalii Mykolenko in favour of Townsend and Jonjoe Kenny and the match went into a prolonged lull until Richarlison and Gray made way for Cenk Tosun and Alex Iwobi with a couple of minutes left of the 90.

And both of the later substitutes were involved as Everton put the gloss on Lampard's day with the Toffees' fourth in stoppage time. Iwobi touched Tosun's clever ball inside on to Townsend in the box and the winger had time to pick his spot and whip a shot past the keeper.

So the perfect start for the new boss, the biggest margin of victory in a first match in charge for an Everton manager since WJ Sawyer 104 years ago, and safe passage to the next round, albeit at the cost of Godfrey whose pace will be missed at the back when Everton face Newcastle in a crucial Premier League match-up on Tuesday evening.

However, the team will travel in much more confident mood for having won so comfortably today and looked so much more assured in their own skins for the large part under new management.

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Updates

Frank Lampard takes charge of his first match since being appointed as the new Everton manager, an FA Cup Fourth Round tie against Premier League opposition in the form of Brentford.

He is without both of his two deadline-day signings as well as the last acquisition under Benitez as Dele Alli, Donny van de Beek and Anwar El Ghazi are all cup-tied and Dominic Calvert-Lewin will also be absent after he sustained a minor knee injury. He joins Abdoulaye Doucouré, Tom Davies and Fabian Delph on the injury absentee list.

Mykolenko gets another start, with Gray, Gordon and Richarlison up front.

A nice introduction for the new manager, Frank Lampard getting a warm welcome before Everton kicked off, doing their best to play on the front foot from the start and push Brentford back.

Anthony Gordon did well to pick out Richarlison with a pinpoint ball pinged in but the big Brazilian felt a breath on his back and went down in sniper-esque fashion.

That play eventually led to the first corner of the game, for Brentford, who decided to impeded Pickford at their own expense. But the Blues got pressed trying to play out from the back, and didn't get very far.

Good work from Godfrey picked out Richarlison and this time he tried a bit harder to stay on his feet, turn and shoot... but wide.

Godfrey needed treatment, then hobbled off, Mina coming on after just 13 minutes, which deflated any flow in the game, it was stop-start and scrappy.

A horrible backpass from Coleman almost embarrassed Pickford under pressure. Everton tried to build were now not even getting into the Brentford area.

Gomes gave away one of his own special free-kick gifts that was fortunately not capitalized on, although he was booked for grasping a player's arm. Gordon made space inside and fired a decent attempt a few inches over the bar.

After 25 minutes, Everton finally showed a bit of attacking intent through Gray but his cross in was poor. After a rather dull spell, Gomes took a tasty shot from distance that forced a save.

From the corner, Mina powered home, a simple and straight-forward goal from Grayfine delivery.

That seemed to inspire some more lively forward play, Richarlison firing rather a lot wide when he should have done a lot better. Gordon's wild backpass almost caused havoc.

A more positive move through the middle saw a looping ball not falling properly for Richarlison, who could not get over it and shot wildly high.

Everton were slowly but surely building better forward movements, but one broke down and allowed Brentford to attack, with a decent shot on target from Canos that Pickford parried over for a corner.

Another corner was given up when Everton tried to play out. They cleared the next and Richarlison tried to break but was stopped illegally by Roerslev, who saw yellow.

Gray had a run and shot but it lacked control and composure, and he failed to slide in Richarlion on his left. With 3 minutes of added time, Everton conceded another corner, this one put straight out on a strong gust of wind! Not much of a cup-tie really... but Everton ahead.

Brentford resumed but the football from both sides was just messy. Nothing seemed too be happening until a lovely goal made in Brazli: a ball over the top from Allan was won by Richarlison ahead of the advancing keeper and directly adroitly into the empty net.

Toney collapsed very easily in front of Mina challenge but no penalty. However, Everton were opened up again and somehow Brentford failed to score when a great pull-back was missed completely by Roerslev.

Brentford had started to play, however, and Toney got in behind, was deemed to be fouled by Pickford although Toney kicked the ball behind, away from Pickford and the goal. Still given as a penalty, for some reason, even with VAR, scored by Toney.

Jensen came off worst in a collision with Demarai Gray but Everton kwpt on playing and won a corner, delivered to straight to Raya, and worked upfield to win a corner when Pickford shovelled it behind.

From the second phase Toney almost scored again off a hopeful lob. At the other end, Gordon superbly stole the ball and set up Gray whose goalbound shot was deflected over. On the corner, Holgate was there to nod in at the far post off a nice header the wrong way from Roerslev. And Goodison finally burst into song!

Gordon played a nice ball through to Mykolenko who crossed towards Richarlison but he could not get clear of the defender. A slew of subs disrupted the game.

Brentford got forward to win a corner that was cleared back to Raya. Everton tried to playout the last 15 minutes but Brentford had other ideas and continued to create nervy moments in the Everton backline.

Tosun and Iwobi were given short run-outs a few minutes before the end as Everton continued to play the game out. But Townsend had other ideas, lashing home a great shot after a nice flick on from Iwobi to make it 4 in added time.

A fine victory for Frank Lampard's first match in charge.

Scorers: Mina (31'), Richarlison (48'), Holgate (62'), Townsend (90+1'); Toney (pen:54')

Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Keane, Holgate, Godfrey (13' Mina), Mykolenko (73' Kenny), Allan, Gomes [Y:23'], Gray (88' Iwobi), Gordon [Y:67'] (73' Townsend), Richarlison (88' Tosun).
Subs not Used: Begovic, Branthwaite, Patterson, Gbamin.

Brentford: Raya, Henry (84' Stevens), Norgaard, Canos (73' Ghoddos), Jenson, Toney, Jansson (C), Ajer, Janelt (62' Baptiste), Sorensen, Rasmussen [Y:41'] (72' Dasilva).
Subs not Used: Llorente, Là¶ssl, Onyeka, Oyegoke, Young-Coombes.

Michael Kenrick

Great to see our players expressing themselves

While in the car, out of nowhere Ste suddenly gasped. It was the sort of gasp that is usually reserved for when someone runs out in front of you when you're driving, and we all thought something serious had happened. And then he broke it to us. “I forgot my ticket, so I'm going to have to go to Goodison first to get a new ticket printed”. Phew!

We got to the pub pretty early, though as it got busier you really felt a palpable sense of optimism and excitement, while we watched West Ham United make extremely hard work of their fixture with Kidderminster Harriers.

Just on around 2pm Gary and Sue also joined us, and we got the much anticipated team news on our phones. Three central defenders began the game in Ben Godfrey, Michael Keane and Mason Holgate. Vitalii Mykolenko began at left back, with Seamus Coleman preferred to Nathan Patterson on the opposite side. We were a bit surprised to see that Frank had gone for two in midfield, especially given the problems this caused for his predecessor. It was great fun in the pub. For various reasons its been quite a while since many of us have been there together at the same time, and it was really great to see everyone.

We arrived at Goodison Park slightly earlier than usual which was just as well as it was pretty busy at many of the turnstiles. We got to our seats well in time for what was a very lengthy play of the sirens, which was followed by a long pause to build up anticipation that little bit more, before Z-Cars rang out. Frank Lampard received an excellent applause from the crowd.

Everton began the game a little edgy, and there was nothing really between the teams in the opening sparrings. It actually took Everton a little while to click into gear. This wasn't helped by the early injury to Ben Godfrey who appeared to pull a hamstring, and was replaced by Yerry Mina.

While the old problem of not having enough bodies in midfield continued to hamper us as we conceded a lot of the ball in the centre, Frank did something about that and made a tactical tweak, and asked Demarai Gray to drift into the centre to pick up the ball. This gave us more of an out-ball and allowed us the opportunity to get up the pitch. Once we started doing this, the pendulum swung more in our favour, and we were soon ahead via a pretty routine corner kick. Demarai swung it into the mixer powerfully, and Yerry rose highest to quite easily head into the goal. This was met with jubilant scenes throughout Goodison Park. Yerry the man to christen our new era with a goal.

This settled our players and we seemed to have more of a calmness to our play. Brentford weren't without opportunities though. Jordan Pickford made a relatively straightforward save from Sergi Canos following a somewhat defensive lapse. And just as the resultant corner was about to be taken the wind really picked up quite suddenly, and Jordan had to be alert to keep the ball out just under his own crossbar. Though we got to the break a goal to the good.

At half time, one of the lads around us travels down from Middlesbrough every game, and was saying how Middlesbrough away would suit him fine in the next round. It was nice to welcome Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli to the club at the interval also.

The second half was vastly enjoyable. It certainly helped that we doubled our advantage early in the half when Allan dinked a lovely ball through for his compatriot Richarlison, who finished very well past the onrushing David Raya. He reeled away in celebration before the ball had crossed the line which to us looked slightly premature but he obviously knew it was a goal. Brilliant work by both.

Everton flirted with the idea of ruining the day when Ivan Toney found himself away in the penalty area and was felled as he attempted to round Jordan Pickford. With no real complaints from any Everton players, it didn't take long for Ivan to step up and put the ball into the corner kick, and at 2-1 you couldn't help but get a little nervous.

These nerves were settled only eight minutes later when Mason Holgate nodded the ball in at the back post from another Demarai Gray corner kick. With the two goal cushion now restored, the supporters regained confidence, and Goodison Park became its raucous best. Everyone singing with a smile. Its been a long time since we've felt so positive about Everton. The players by this point were beginning to play with an arrogance and a swagger, and were popping the ball around smartly, a lot of the good work coming through Andre Gomes.

Frank Lampard used up his full quota of five substitutes (it's five in the FA Cup rather than three), and three of them combined stylishly to add some gloss to the scoreline. Cenk Tosun had an easy ball to Seamus Coleman available, but instead picked up an intelligent run inside by Alex Iwobi who flicked smartly inside for Andros Townsend. With Brentford long since given up by this point and no pressure on the ball, Andros didn't hesitate and pelted the ball into the net at pace. Goodison Park jubilant. Desperate for the toilet by this point I darted off with a minute or so to spare and so missed the applause for Frank at full time. We then all convened at the statue and headed back home.

Doesn't it make such a difference when you give players the freedom to express themselves? We'd never have seen Allan for example dink a ball through for RIcharlison like that a few weeks back, and the way Anthony Gordon ghosted around the field was nothing short of remarkable. The players seemed to have a freedom to go and do what they do best. Obviously I haven't been privy to the coaching of Rafa Benitez at Everton, though he has been well-known for giving players so many instructions and I wonder if this has stifled many of their abilities. They certainly seemed more expressive, and wasn't it enjoyable to watch? Hopefully Frank can continue to instil this, and as he has spoken about, continue to raise their confidence levels. And with Bournemouth or Boreham Wood at home in the next round of the FA Cup, there's a real opportunity to make the quarter finals. The FA Cup could become a great opportunity for Frank.

False dawns…we've had many. But there is a real excitement about having Frank on board which I don't think has really been there with any Everton manager since David Moyes departed. Let's hope this is the beginning of something special as Lord knows Evertonians deserve it.

Player ratings:

Jordan Pickford: He was very vocal out there. He didn't have loads to do but he didn't overcomplicate anything. If you remember back to the first few months of last season, Jordan was all over the place and made several costly mistakes. Since Carlo took him out of the firing line for a while and have him see a sports psychologist, he's been excellent for club and country. He's now never an issue. It's not something you have to worry about or talk about, which really highlights how remarkable a turnaround its been for Jordan. 6

Vitalii Mykolenko: He didn't do anything wrong as such and had a steady enough game. He doesn't strike me as the most confident of players. It's very early days of course and hopefully that will improve as he settles. He's going to be in for quite the examination from opponents these next few months I imagine, as its surely an area they will target. With Jonjo Kenny now the only back-up full back, he's going to have to stand up to the task. 6

Ben Godfrey: It's unfortunate for Ben that he limped off early and will likely be out for at least six weeks. I can't really give him a rating.

Michael Keane: He did pretty well at the back and brought the ball out of defence quite well. 6

Mason Holgate: Had a very good game and it was nice to see him cap it off with a goal. I've been listening to a few of them Twitter Spaces with some Everton fan groups over the last few weeks, and I've found some of the comments on there about Mason to be a bit unfair. Some were saying they would drive him to Brighton for free if it meant he was leaving, for example. I can understand if people are frustrated with his performance levels, but Mason always tries his best and doesn't deserve that. He's been with us across all our managers now since David Moyes and from Ronald Koeman right through to now Frank Lampard they have all used him, and he's actually captained the team on a number of occasions. The point I'm trying to make is that he must show a lot of character and commitment to the cause at training and in and around the club, because our managers all feel they can count on him. This tells me that he tries and cares. There's others who consistently haven't tried their best, so I don't think its fair to go after Mason. 7

Seamus Coleman: Did quite well. Got up and down the pitch. Seamus can still do a job, just his body won't allow him to do it every single game. He needs to be intelligently rotated. 6

Allan: He grew into the game and made a very good contribution with his assist. 7

Andre Gomes: Well done to Andre, who really made the most of his opportunity in the middle to give Frank some foods for thought in that position. Like Allan, he grew into the game, and by the end was playing with a real nonchalance. 7

Demarai Gray: He put in two corner kicks which resulted in goals and made a good contribution throughout. 7

Anthony Gordon: Anthony was excellent and is really beginning to look the part. He's full of confidence. I didn't realise what a brilliant ball carrier he was until yesterday. He's an excellent dribbler and is full of commitment. He needs to improve his end product but is surely on the right track. I didn't think we did, but it looks like we've got a real talent there. And I suppose if I have to give Rafa Benitez credit for anything, it would be for how he has given Anthony games and improved his output. My man of the match. 8

Richarlison: A constant thorn in Brentford's defence. He took his goal very well and kept them busy throughout. 7

Substitutes:

Yerry Mina (for Ben Godfrey): I wanted Jarrad Branthwaite to come on instead of Yerry, as I felt Jarrad would slot seamlessly into that left side centre back position, as this meant Mason had to shuffle across. However, fair play, the reorganisation wasn't a problem and Yerry had a good game, and scored of course. 7

Andros Townsend (for Anthony Gordon): He's a very good professional to have and has made a very good contribution in his short time at Everton, also scoring twice in the FA Cup. He took his goal well and had good involvement throughout his 20-odd minutes. 7

Jonjo Kenny (For Vitalii Mykolenko): With Ben Godfrey now injured it is even more likely that Vitalii will be playing games. This makes Jonjo potentially our only recognised full back cover for Vitalii, so Frank probably wanted to keep Vitalii fresh and give Jonjo a bit of game time. Jonjo did quite well and didn't let anyone down. 6

Cenk Tosun (for Richarlison): He also got involved and had a good impact on the game with a few neat touches, and then had a big hand in our fourth goal. Well done Cenk. 7

Alex Iwobi (for Demarai Gray): Also got involved and it was a very nice assist for Andros's goal. 7

Paul Traill

Match Preview

Frank Lampard takes charge of his first match since being appointed as the new Everton manager, an FA Cup Fourth Round tie against Premier League opposition in the form of Brentford.

Just five days after officially being unveiled as Rafael Benitez's successor, the former Derby and Chelsea boss will lead his new team out at Goodison Park which he hopes will herald the start of a productive run of games that not only progresses the club in the competition but pushes the Blues away from the lower reaches of the League table.

He will be without both of his two deadline-day signings as well as the last acquisition under Benitez as Dele Alli, Donny van de Beek and Anwar El Ghazi are all cup-tied and Dominic Calvert-Lewin will also be absent after he sustained a minor knee injury.

The England striker is already a doubt for the crucial Premier League fixture against Newcastle United on Tuesday evening as well. Calvert-Lewin made a long-awaited return last month from a four-month lay-off with a serious thigh injury and has been working his way back to match fitness but was rested for the trip to Hull City in the last round and misses out again this weekend.

He will join Abdoulaye Doucouré, Tom Davies and Fabian Delph on the injury absentee list.

”Dominic Calvert-Lewin picked up a small knock in the last game so he won't be available this weekend,” Lampard said in his first press conference as the Blues' boss at USM Finch Farm this afternoon.

“We know Doucoure is out and Fabian Delph is out for slightly longer but we hope Dominic will be back out [training] in the next few days.“

As well as needing to fashion a line-up from his available players while also keeping an eye on the trip to St James's Park, Lampard's short-term challenge will be to lift a demoralised group of players and instill some confidence into the ranks.

"Sometimes when you lose games or are having a bad period of form, it can affect the confidence of players so my first job is to bring a positive attitude and messaging. The past three days, I think we've worked very well but that work has to continue every day."

The feeling — not to mention the hope — is that Lampard will immediately move to address Everton's problems in midfield where Benitez's insistence on playing only two in central midfield saw the Blues frequently overrun in that area of the field.

However, with those three central midfielders out injured, Lampard only has Allan and André Gomes as fit starting regulars so if he is to go 4-3-3 or some version thereof, he will either need to get creative with the deployment of certain players — i.e. bringing Andros Townsend into a more central role — or putting some faith in youngster Tyler Onyango or the largely overlooked Jean-Philippe Gbamin.

Then there is the question of whether or not to blood Nathan Patterson for the first time at right-back and give Vitalii Mykolenko his home debut on the other side or persist with Seamus Coleman and Ben Godfrey in the name of continuity and experience.

Like Everton, Brentford probably have League matters on their minds and they face a trip to Manchester City on Wednesday. The Bees currently sit in 14th in the Premier League, four points above the Toffees but they've lost four on the bounce and are in the kind of form that could see them get sucked into a battle against relegation themselves.

New signing Christian Eriksen likely won't be linking up with his new team-mates until Monday at the earliest so he won't be involved and both Joshua Dasilva, Julian Jeanvier and Tarique Fosu are all ruled out but Thomas Frank should be able to welcome Mathias Jensen and Rico Henry back while Ivan Toney is expected to be involved after he was forced to apologise for a disparaging video that was posted online a few days ago.

If they had to choose one, most Evertonians would naturally take a win at Newcastle and sacrifice the FA Cup but there is no reason why the Blues can't have both. A continued run in the cup could be just the tonic to improve the team's League form and a win over Brentford would be the ideal way for Lampard to start his tenure at Goodison Park.

Kick-off: 3pm, Saturday 5 February, 2022
Last Time: Everton 6 - 1 Brentford (League Division 2, February 1954)

Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Coleman, Mina, Godfrey, Mykolenko, Allan, Gomes, Townsend, Gordon, Gray, Richarlison

Lyndon Lloyd

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