Pundit Michael Ball believes the Everton board is a right regular “mess” and has demanded for beleaguered gaffer Frank Lampard to be given a proper striker in the January transfer window.
With just a meager 14 goals from their opening 18 games of the Premier League season, the Toffees are subsequently dropping right smack into the wide open jaws of relegation following their 4-1 defeat to Brighton at Goodison Park.
Lampard has already made an open admission he wants to add attacking options to his depleted forward line in January, and ex-Everton pundit Ball wrote in his Liverpool ECHO column on Tuesday that the club needs to give the manager their vote of confidence by signing a striker.
He wrote: “It baffles me that Everton haven’t brought a forward-thinking player into the football club.
“Frank Lampard wants one, he’s been open and honest about it that he’s been looking. It sounds like a bit like chess in terms of ‘Is Frank staying? Will he go? Is he going to sign a player and have a Rafa Benitez situation where we sack him a few days after making a signing?’
“This is the mess the football club is in. From the outside, it doesn’t look like there’s a plan whatsoever.
“I cannot understand that there is no back-up for Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Yes there is Neal Maupay but he’s not another target man, he’s not 6ft 2in and going to win headers.”
Ball is of course spot on in his assessment of Everton’s transfer fumbles over the past few years despite having splashed the cash for numerous managers and seemingly spending £30 million on various players in an endless search, yet the club are still in a continuous slide into the relegation zone.
It has been frightening considering the lack of attacking alternatives when Calvert-Lewin is injured as Neal Maupay obviously doesn’t fit Lampard’s gameplay at all, while the likes of Demarai Gray and Anthony Gordon don’t have what it takes to play as a false nine when their expertise lies clearly on the wing.
Hence it is no surprise Lampard was compelled to recall Ellis Simms from his successful loan spell at Sunderland, as at least the latter does serve as a partial threat from the bench. However, be that as it may, Everton simply need to sign a proven striker in January.
They just need to get it done and settled on that front, once and for all.
If Farhad Moshiri and the board continue to drag their feet on this one and fail to rectify the flaws in the Toffees squad, they can certainly look forward to being in a relegation dogfight come the end of the season.