Pundit Michael Ball believes the Everton board is a right regular \u201cmess\u201d and has demanded for beleaguered gaffer Frank Lampard to be given a proper striker in the January transfer window.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Lampard has already made an open admission\u00a0he wants to add attacking options to his depleted forward line in January, and ex-Everton pundit Ball wrote in his Liverpool ECHO column\u00a0on Tuesday that the club needs to give the manager their vote of confidence by signing a striker.<\/p>\n
He wrote: \u201cIt baffles me that Everton haven\u2019t brought a forward-thinking player into the football club.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank Lampard wants one, he\u2019s been open and honest about it that he\u2019s been looking. It sounds like a bit like chess in terms of \u2018Is\u00a0Frank\u00a0staying? Will he go? Is he going to sign a player and have a\u00a0Rafa Benitez\u00a0situation where we sack him a few days after making a signing?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the mess the football club is in. From the outside, it doesn\u2019t look like there\u2019s a plan whatsoever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot understand that there is no back-up for\u00a0Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Yes there is\u00a0Neal Maupay\u00a0but he\u2019s not another target man, he\u2019s not 6ft 2in and going to win headers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ball is of course spot on in his assessment of Everton\u2019s transfer fumbles over the past few years despite having splashed the cash for numerous managers and seemingly spending \u00a330 million on various players in an endless search, yet the club are still in a continuous slide into the relegation zone.<\/p>\n
It has been frightening considering the lack of attacking alternatives when Calvert-Lewin is injured as Neal Maupay obviously doesn\u2019t fit Lampard\u2019s gameplay at all, while the likes of Demarai Gray and Anthony Gordon don\u2019t have what it takes to play as a false nine when their expertise lies clearly on the wing.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
They just need to get it done and settled on that front, once and for all.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"