Frank Lampard insists he has no regrets over his midweek team selection after he changed the entire Everton starting 11 for the Carabao Cup tie at Bournemouth and saw his makeshift side dumped out of the competition with an embarrassing 4-1 thrashing.
Opposite number Gary O’Neil made nine changes himself but after losing their four previous matches, the Cherries were able to give themselves a boost ahead of Saturday’s second part of a double header as the sides meet again at the Vitality Stadium for the second time in four days, for a crunch Premier League clash.
Everton go into the game one place and one point above their hosts and asked in his pre-match press conference if he had any regrets, Lampard said: “We lost the game, in terms of selection, no because we have to use the squad and we haven’t got, probably at this point, a squad to compete.
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“I think we showed that, through league, through cup, when you’ve got three games in a week, what the Carabao Cup would have meant to us. We wanted to win the game and the onus was on the players who played to win the game, and it didn’t happen, it’s done now, we move on to tomorrow.”
Lampard was asked if he understood fans’ frustration with his selection after declaring that he wanted to win but then making 11 changes for a League Cup tie for the first time in Everton’s history in a competition that also saw Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Leeds United and West Ham United all go out this week. He said: “I understand that, every fan should have an opinion, it might be what Arsenal fans are saying, what Tottenham fans are saying, what West Ham fans are saying or Liverpool fans nearly might have said.
“So this is the job that we do and when we work with 20 plus players that are playing for Everton, representing Everton, training every day, some training well, knocking on your door, and you might have to rely on them in the season, or they state a case to become a regular in the team, you have to have a moment to show that. Tuesday was a moment to show that, and on the night, to be honest, not enough showed that and that’s for me to take stock and for those players to know next time they get their opportunity, whenever that is, they better be of the level.
“So it was an exercise in those terms, not that I used it as an exercise. It’s a game that, in my opinion, we should go there and get a result. Of course we made mistakes, we had chances, clear chances, that we missed and those things are always going to affect a game.”
Everton make another 500-mile round trip to Bournemouth this weekend but as they look to avoid being in or around the relegation zone when the Premier League stops for a six-week break due to the World Cup finals, Lampard does not believe the midweek setback places any extra pressure on the second part of their double header. He said: “It makes no difference. It might give us more desire, determination, I don’t know.
“Bournemouth, I guess, will make a similar amount of changes again back to what you would perceive as being their team that have been playing pretty regularly in the league and of course we’ll make some changes, it will be a completely different game.
“Every game is pressure. It’s a different competition.”
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