Paul Lambert has admitted he was disappointed following today’s showing, but he promises the team will pick themselves up.
Speaking to the Official Site following the 3-1 loss, Lambert did say he was pleased with how we kept going but admitted our efforts came after the horse had bolted.
‘You have to react and pick yourself up. There’s another game on Tuesday so you have to pick yourself up. I was really disappointed. You can’t, in any game of football, give someone a couple of goals start. The only pleasing thing was the second half, we kept going but the horse had bolted.’
Lambert continued to talk about the fans pushing the team on, but it being down to the team to create the running and the tempo especially when at home.
He also said.
‘It’s my responsibility. I take the blame for it, but there’s a chance to rectify it on Tuesday.’
Which makes a refreshing change after last season. However, in many ways he is right. We didn’t create enough against West Ham but we were very solid defensively.
Removing Delph from the team was the wrong decision to take, and he sat defensively very well, albeit not giving us anything up front. And there are no excuses for the performance from the person who lost the ball or ran it out of play every single time it came with 5ft of him. What was it, one cross – to the position Bent was in before he moved into some space.
We can’t keep carrying players and that’s 2 for 2 now for our No 10.
A more balanced midfield has to include Bannan, El Ahmadi, Delph, Herd or Holman, depending on whether we lead with 1 or 2 up front. Leave Bannan to pick out the passes, and leave Delph to sit in front of the defence.
West Ham showed we created more with Bannan on, but we were weaker defensively, and to be honest we don’t have enough movement up front when Bent is alone, so start him with Weimann and give the midfield the chance to pass forward instead of having to go sideways or backwards because there isn’t an option on.
Most will want to know about transfer following today, so Paul ended with.
‘If something comes available and I think it’s worthwhile, then you can look at it. Randy, Paul and I will sit down and see what’s going to happen.’
Now I can’t for the life of me believe Lambert took the job with the plan to only bring in three players before the window shut. Maybe some options haven’t come off, but there has to be other options out there that would improve the squad and give us more depth.
I’m all for the youth being given the chance as everybody knows, but we all equally know where we are weak in the team, and youngsters will make mistakes, so they need quality around them.
Another three in has to be the minimum really. I don’t buy into the relegation worries some have at the moment, because with a better balance – dare I say the right balance – in the team, whilst we won’t suddenly become a surprise package this season, a 12 to 15 place finish is doable. But without another three quality additions it wouldn’t take many suspensions or injuries to totally derail that given how thin we are currently.
Everton Match Thread.
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