“Disappointed,” Lampard said. “We deserved at least one point in the overall game. It was an afternoon that many things went against us. There are things we can be happy about. “If we continue in this way, things will go our way.” And maybe he’s right. It certainly was not a capitulation like Everton at Tottenham or Crystal Palace. But it was probably not just the “circumstances”, as Lampard put it, Richardson missed two fouls, Aaron Creswell scored a foul, Michael Keane was sent off and Donny van de Beek was injured. in the warm-up. If football stopped happening in Everton, things would be much easier. Again, it is true that Everton, having entered a decent position, threw it with two stupid mistakes. There was a time when Lampard appeared in West Ham and was greeted with relentless hostility. Not anymore. There was disapproval before the start, but it came mainly from the visiting fans and was addressed to Kurt Zouma. There was nothing for Lampard. At one point he wandered to the edge of the court to kick a ball back into the warm-up and seemed to stop as if waiting for the abuse. But he never came. If indifference is the true opposite of love, of course, it made sense. What West Ham fan has not looked at Lampard’s appearances for Chelsea and wishes he could score those goals in clear and blue? But what West Ham fan would see Lampard’s time as a coach and wish he and not David Moyes were in their technical position? They are the ones who are waiting for a European quarterfinal. is the one who is in the battle for demotion. For years, West Ham fans welcomed Frank Lampard with hostility, but indifference is now the dominant emotion. Photo: Jed Leicester // Shutterstock Everton always seemed like a brutal hard job. Coaches from Sam Allardyce to Carlo Ancelotti, Marco Silva to Rafa Benítez have struggled with this. No one has really done well since Moyes left in 2013. And Lampard’s previous record as a coach is, at best, mixed. To say that his problem at Chelsea was the inability to organize his defense is not true. The issue was rather the organization of a team that had the balance and to attack. There was no sign of bowing here on the occasion. Everton may have conceded 14 goals in four previous away games under Lampard, but there has been no safety-priority approach and the acceptance that keeping things tight can be the best part of bravery. Lampard probably went with a 4-1-4-1 that would have looked even more aggressive than if Van de Beek did not need to be replaced by Mason Holgate. The result was that even in a highly drowsy first half, this tired West Ham, whose focus has shifted to the Europa League draw against Lyon, cut Everton almost every time they were able to concentrate. to try. “It was hard work,” admitted David Moyes, who made no attempt to hide the enormous importance of Thursday’s match. “It could have been a little cleaner, but overall at this stage of the season I’m happy I got the points and I’m moving on.” The opening goal came after 31 minutes, a foul passed to the top corner by former Liverpool youngster Aaron Cresswell, who may finally begin to regain his form after suffering a back injury in the autumn. West Ham’s laxity called Everton into the game, culminating in Holgate’s leveling with an attempt to deflect after a corner. Assuming the goal is credited to him, he becomes the first Everton player to score away from home under Lampard (his own goal in Newcastle meant he was already the first player to score against Lampard Everton away from Goodison). But sloppiness caught on and, just six minutes after Everton equalized, Alex Iwobi’s mismanagement allowed West Ham to regain their lead, with Jaron Bowen cutting the rebound after Jordan Picnoff’s Mihan. That was pretty bad, but Michael Keane, who had already made a reservation, fell to Antonio to get a second yellow card. And with that came the game. The good thing about Everton was that this was perhaps the least bad away performance under Lampard, but they were still defeated quite easily by opponents who rarely seemed to play well over half the pace.
