Frank Lampard must use the unpopular timing of World Cup to his and Everton’s advantage

Hard to see how the World Cup break including a jolly to Australia will suddenly equip Frank with the wherewithal to pull us comfortably clear of the relegation zone.

I mean if he has the solution would he not have applied it by now?

I'm putting my faith in there being three worse teams again this year as last.

A fair analysis of the situation Kevin.
I don't profess to have the expert knowledge of formations and tactics as some of our ToffeeWeb contributors but Lampards eccentric selections in midfield baffle me,particularly when he seems to have hit on the right formula in the Palace game.
It makes me wonder if he knows what his best team is.The old terrace jibe of “you don't know what you're doing” springs to mind.
You're right about the lack of quality in the squad, and hopefully some of those deficiencies can be addressed in January,because if they are not I think his days will be numbered.
If I'm right about his managerial failings,( and I've not seen anything to convince me otherwise so far ),the World Cup break and a jaunt to Australia are not going to change things.
We will find ourselves in another relegation dog fight and more outbreaks of dissatisfaction amongst the faithful and chaos in the club.
I know this is a pretty depressing scenario,but I think we are going to need a Christmas miracle to turn things around!
What I need is Danny to come on and give me the optimistic view!

Thank you Kevin.

Frank has been hesitant of moving Iwobi to the "wing", a la the role that Arteta & Peanuts used to play for us (they weren't speed-burning, fleet-footed wingers, were they? But they were ultra effective operating out of the wings), probably because Iwobi had been too influential in the centre of the pitch.

But the sample size so far this season should be big enough to show that, as of this moment, both Gordon & Gray don't have the necessary Champions-League level Football IQ & Decision-Making to play what Frank wants in a free-flowing attack (Gordon still has room to grow but Gray might have already plateaued and would not improve any further).

Moving Iwobi to be the "Arteta" or "Peanuts" (in place of Gray: we need Gordon's youthful exuberance), and getting Garner into the Starting XI might have compromised a bit on the Pace department, but that would improve dramatically on the Football IQ, Vision, Passing & ball-keeping ability in the Final Third.

Fingers crossed that Garner can fight his way into the Starting XI soon.

Since the departure of the one who cannot be spoken of, and latterly the Colombian, we have not seen anything or anybody of a creative natuer in midfield. Even Iwobi – in my eyes, a make-do creative player – is far short of the quality of James despite his engine.

Gana and Onana can only work with a creative player in front of them; neither has the legs nor the creativity or quality to drive forward as a threat.

To me, Lampard had one immediate objective in the pairing: stop the rot and prevent goals. To a great extent, it has worked… but neither of them has an engine to go box-to-box. The only current midfielder who has is Iwobi. Not sure Garner can fill the creative hole we have… because – until it is adequately filled – we will be playing in our own half all season long.

Then there is the matter of Gray and Gordon. Neither at the moment deserve their place. And before anyone sounds off about Gordon, I watched again his appalling performance against Fulham where Antonee Robinson had a field day because Gordon never tracked back, not once. He just let him go.. and ambled back. Utterly unforgivable.

This season, he has been poor; I said it before: Is his heart or head still in Everton? Because it doesn't look like it.

Gray…flashes of incontinence. His consistency, disappeared with whatever confidence he had. His dead-balls are so poor, I despair everytime he goes to take a corner. His one trick appears to be to cut inside and shoot. Everyone in the team and opposition know it.

Maupay… he is only viable playing off a target man, not as a lone striker.

So.. now that I have character assassinated of half the team, what can be made of them? Replace with Mills, Cannon, Price et al?

The time has come for new tactics with new faces, our first team has too many players just not good enough or not performing. Half a squad, yes, better than last season? Yes, but the results don't show it; the style of play when we go high-energy is far better than when we sit back.

Is that a tactic or is that because players are not good enough?

Watching against Celtic was the same story with different individuals. We gave the ball away everywhere on the field. No structure other than get behind the ball and park the bus.

Back to my original point… no matter what the tactics are, a lack of quality and creativity in midfield is killing us, the ball comes back faster than an Indian curry and a pint of lager!

Phase 2 of the plan: Buy a creative midfielder and another target man.

“Most would agree this Everton squad, although still short of quality, is collectively much stronger than last season”

It's this nonsense that will take us down.

We have less points than at this stage last season, have created significantly less chances, and have regularly conceded 20+ shots each game. We are leaking goals and scoring none.

I just don't get why people think we have improved?? Is it just the hatred of Keane, Holgate and Davies that gives the impression?

We've built Tarkowski and Coady up into the next Degsy and the Rat somehow. Neither would get in a Top 8 team. I just don't get this view.

I'd agree with a lot of that Christine. Priority was the defence.

We still need better players; I don't think anyone is doubting that. Ancelotti needed better players. Lampard does. I feel slightly dirty saying it but maybe Benitez could have done a job with better players.

It's not about one person, but the revolving door of managers is hiding from the obvious. The running, governance and mismanagement of the club over decades. But we keep blaming the manager.

Onana is going to need time and we need to find creativity and have forward runners.

Gray needs to find consistency and stop trying to win the game on his own. Gordon similarly although he has scored 3 goals with intelligent central runs onto a direct ball.

Gary, I don't recall anyone comparing Tarkowski and Coady to Ratcliffe and Mountfield, but buy and large we are a lot more solid and difficult to beat and have 2 very promising young full backs. Even though only a friendly, I thought Holgate showed how could he can be. Just find consistency. And we still have Godfrey to come back. Even though I like him, I've given up on Mina.

Next step, hopefully in January, is to continue to address other areas of the pitch.

Perfect? Far from it. But until those Bournemouth matches we had to endure, it has been better at the back.

Season ends in May. Hopefully the club will act in January.

Christine (4),

That midfield area is certainly where we are missing the key to closing the big gap in our play You don't need a genius to lead the other players, midfield and the rest of the team.

Everton certainly played better and didn't look as open to the opposition attacks, IMO, when Delph was running the midfield and most players were looking to give him the ball and letting him dictate the play. Unfortunately he never played a lot nor was he able to last most games.

What we can all agree on is that Delph wasn't a genius of a player but he had plenty of football nous and knew how to use it, Allan did too but his legs had gone a couple of years before he arrived at Everton.

So, if Mr Thelwell can find a player similar to Delph, then he might help us through this very tough time until Garner is ready and Onana comes out of that trance he seems to be in most of the time. Then, we will get on with this season without too much worry... Mind you, Mr Thelwell, keep your eye out for a reliable manager as well!!

I think Kevin has it in a nutshell in his last paragraph. With due respect to all posters, I just don't think we can buy our way out of our current situation – certainly not in January.

Yes, a midfield general and a top target man will make a huge difference to this squad because I believe we have some good players. But, until such time as we can acquire both, we have to play the cards we hold. That for me means changing tactics.

Apart from our complete inability to match Celtic in midfield there was one moment in the first half that said it all for me. Someone launched it to Maupay who was standing about 5 metres inside their half. The Celtic centre-half lent (as opposed to jumped) over Maupay and headed it to a team mate. Absolutely exasperating!

That was compounded by the fact that he subbed Maupay for Cannon on 75 minutes – instead of putting Cannon on with Maupay. That is exactly what he did at Newcastle when we were chasing the game – he subbed Maupay for Calvert-Lewin instead of putting him on to support Maupay.

If this was, as someone put it, “a meaningless friendly”, why, oh why, didn't he go two up top? If ever he had a chance to try it, this was the game. I just don't get it.

Laurie- that is what is so exasperating about Lampard. Apart from his dogmatic set-up, he never changes the shape during the game, it is almost always like-for-like.
I was informed by a club insider a few weeks ago, that the buzzword at Finch Farm was "triangles" "everything is about triangles". There is an agenda, a theory from the great think-tank of Lampard, Cole, Clement et al and it is. triangles.
I wish the whole coaching team would go on a jolly to Bermuda.

Strewth! What hope can we hang on to when a one paragraph description of a player contains the words incontinence and dead balls and then intimates that we have little up front.

Laurie & Eddie,

You successfully put into words my concerns about Lampard's deficiencies as a manager.

Put this together with Christine's comments about the seeming inability of professional footballers to take an effective corner or complete simple passes, then something is seriously wrong.

Christine also points out we are much more effective as a team when we play with pace and energy than we are when we sit back. We all know she is right… why can't the manager see that?

Similarly with Laurie's point about playing two up top, and Eddie's like-for-like changes and seeming reluctance to change the shape when Plan A is struggling.

It's very worrying when we can all see it but the manager seemingly cannot, Let's hope it's because he knows something we don't.

I agree that midfield needs more structure and both McNeil and Gray being skilled players are short of the capable consistent competence necessary for their positions. They are not strong players.

As for Gordon, I think the negotiations of his new contract have had an adverse effect on application and play.

Alan J #10, nicely played. Such a young player shouldn't yet be suffering from any of those problems.