Frank Lampard has made an incredible first impression at Goodison Park with a 4-1 victory under his belt, meaning that Everton will now progress into the fifth round of the FA Cup, with a promising performance and a taste of what is yet to come under the new manager.
The 43-year-old set up his team up a 3-4-3 formation which worked wonders for the Everton players who have been struggling throughout the season, setting up the side much more offensively compared to the passive approach taken by his predecessor Rafael Benitez.
It was a real team performance with four goals spread out evenly throughout the team. Yerry Mina opened the scoring when he came on for Ben Godfrey, who sustained an injury in the first 12 minutes of the game. Richarlison, Mason Holgate and Andros Townsend also found the net over the course of the game, with Brentford only scoring from a penalty due to a late challenge from Jordan Pickford.
One player who didn’t score but made a huge impact on the team during his 74-minute performance was local youngster Anthony Gordon, who was clearly keen to impress his new manager with his place in the team perhaps in doubt following a number of signings in the January transfer window.
Lampard was forced to leave his two Deadline Day signings out of the team, with Dele Alli and Donny Van de Beek cup-tied. The starting line-up was full of players who were already at Goodison Park all along, and Gordon in particular will be giving his new manager nightmares about future team selection dilemmas after putting in an outstanding performance.
The £7.2m-rated Liverpudlian, who was dubbed “tidy” by Everton journalist David Prentice, will have to compete with a number of attacking players, including new signing Alli, for a place in the forward line, but he did not make that decision any easier for Lampard.
According to SofaScore, the 20-year-old won 85% of his duels, was successful in all three of his dribble attempts, had more touches than Richarlison and lost possession less than any other player in the forward line. He proved to Lampard that he is more than capable of rising to the occasion and able to provide healthy competition for his place in the team.
The 43-year-old will be delighted with the result and will be hoping that this phenomenal team performance can build the confidence and resilience that Everton need if they are to climb the Premier League table. They return to action in the league on Tuesday night against Newcastle United, and it will be interesting to see if Lampard sticks or twists with the team from today when new signings will be available for selection.
Gordon is one of those who may well have put his hand up for breaking into the starting XI for the trip to St James’ Park.
In other news: One Everton ace proved Lampard wrong with an outstanding performance today