“It’s not my decision,” Farhad Moshiri said when Everton’s majority owner was asked about manager Frank Lampard’s future following the 2-0 defeat at West Ham.
After Saturday’s 2-0 loss against West Ham, Everton majority owner Farhad Moshiri was asked if manager Frank Lampard will be fired. He responded, “It’s not my choice.”
Everton is currently in last place in the table after losing nine times in a row in the Premier League and failing to win in 10 games across all competitions.
Everton supporters held up banners demanding for the board to resign during the defeat at the London Stadium, but the outcome appears to have put Lampard in danger; club chairman Bill Kenwright described it as a “poor run of results for us all and for Frank” when he talked to Sky Sports News.
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A tough and tense game, how do you reflect on that performance?
“We had a lot of the game, a lot of the possession for sure. The way West Ham play, they afford you the ball at times. We moved it pretty well. At times you can prepare to get into the final third and then in-game we have to be more clinical there. And we weren’t. We missed some chances. We were there a lot without being dynamic enough. They had a couple of moments where they were dynamic and that changed the game.”
You say you missed chances, how do you fix that going forward?
“Keep working. It’s the only way I know. It’s the type of player I was, that wanted to take chances, create chances and I only knew from working on the training ground, repetitive, going again and going again. But as a squad we have to do better than that because it changes the whole face of games. If you’ve got control in those periods, which we did today, you have to go and score. Then it gives you a feeling, a good feeling and you’re in the game. If you don’t – which has been our story a fair bit, particularly recently, the feeling is always there for the other team. And with a team like West Ham, who are built to be quick through the lines, vertical, some longer balls, good crosses, counter-attacks, people like [Jarrod] Bowen are well-renowned players in the league because they’re clinical and they’re fast and they’re explosive and they score goals and we need to find our versions of that.”
You heard the boos from the Everton fans at full-time, how difficult was that to hear?
“It’s football. You can’t expect Everton fans to travel down, support their team and be happy with a defeat. It’s not a game where you can, in my opinion, criticise the lads’ effort. When you have a lot of the game you can have a go at that – and that’s the main thing, as an Evertonian, as a player, as a fan, I think that’s what everyone has to want. But when you’re in a tough time sometimes games don’t go for you and you feel like little bits don’t go for you, a possible penalty, a set piece goal, a counter-attack goal that gets deflected into the path… Everyone needs to keep trying to work to get that turn of the corner for us.”
You’ve been in football a long time – do you still feel you’re the right man to turn things around?
“Those things are not my choice, as such. It’s my job to work and focus and keep my head down. I’ve got absolute confidence in how I want to coach. And if they are difficult conditions at the minute, for a lot of different reasons that I’m very aware of, then that’s it. I just have to do my job and it’s not for me to make too many diversions around it rather than talk about what I can affect and that’s the players, trying to get the right results.”
The board and the owner were in attendance today. How significant was that for you?
“Not at all. I think a lot has been made out of that the last week. I know there are issues around it, don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to close my ears to anything. But for me as a coach, it’s never been significant. At Chelsea, the owner didn’t come to many of my games for 18 months. Pretty much zero I think. Maybe a friendly. It’s just about how you work, the actions you do, what you do every day, the support you feel, the communication, those sort of things.”
Talking of support, what support are you getting from them at the moment, especially with all the noise around the fans at the moment?
“They communicate all the time, and I have done since I’ve been here. I don’t always go into those communications, that’s not my job to make public or hang on. You just have to keep working.”
But you feel the support?
“It’s the same answer, I’m going to give you the same answer. I’m going to keep working and try to do the best I can for the club.”
“I’m concerned for them. The concern is that they consistently lose to the teams surrounding them. In three of their last five games, they have suffered defeats to Wolves, Southampton, and West Ham. They must go through individuals to ensure that anyone can enter, and then they have Arsenal at home coming up.
For those two games [against Arsenal and Liverpool], “I don’t see too many guys rushing in [to replace Lampard].
They aren’t attempting to sign Lampard; it has nothing to do with it. When you see players, you could sometimes conclude that they are simply waiting for the manager to go before they resume their sprinting. They put up a lot of effort. But for now, they simply aren’t capable enough.
“Lampard is not being pursued; this has nothing to do with it. When you see players, you could sometimes conclude that they are simply waiting for the manager to go before they resume their sprinting. They put up a lot of effort. But for now, they simply aren’t capable enough.
“West Ham appeared extremely nervous for the opening 15 to 20 minutes as they got off to a strong start. But when West Ham scored, everyone wanted the ball. Eight minutes later, they added another goal, and the game was essentially over. At West Ham, everybody received a lift.
“I stated I worried for him before the show started, and I worry for him now without a doubt.”
source.nsemwokrom.com
