Frank Lampard said he learned more about his squad in their dismal display at Bournemouth than he ever could in training.
In a message that should serve as a startling wake up call to those on the fringes of the first team, the Blues boss insisted the side he picked should have fared better on the south coast. Before the game, Lampard had stressed that while he would make changes he wanted to take the Carabao Cup seriously.
After a side that started with 11 changes fell to a 4-1 defeat he spoke of his disappointment at the performance as he admitted he wanted to see more from his players.
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Yerry Mina, Mason Holgate and Nathan Patterson made their first starts since recovering from injuries while Neal Maupay, James Garner, Tom Davies and Abdoulaye Doucoure, all of whom will have first team ambitions, were handed opportunities at the Vitality Stadium. Michael Keane, Ruben Vinagre and Asmir Begovic were also given rare minutes while Anthony Gordon started after being dropped for the defeat at Leicester City.
Everton went behind to an unfortunate, looping, deflected shot and then missed fine chances to get back into the game. But they faded and, unable to rally after a Demarai Gray goal, fell to a 4-1 defeat that had away supporters leaving early.
Following the match Lampard was unable to hide his disappointment. And ahead of a January transfer window in which there will be an emphasis on outgoings, his comments suggested he had been far from impressed by what he had seen. Explaining his changes as a mixture of opportunities for squad players and resting senior figures, he said: "We know we want to stay in the Premier League and we understand we are in a fight to do that. There are issues why you have to play players from the squad and they didn't play well enough tonight."
He then added: "I work daily with the players so there is a lot to it as I say about where we are at as a squad, what level players train at, how much they want to play when they get a chance or come on and show personality and play. Those are the things I consider as much as anything. I will be honest, this season we want to get through this round of the Carabao Cup. But when I look at the squad now I learned more today about the strength of the squad and where we are at than I do by watching training every day so that's really interesting to me. We have to understand this season there will be difficult patches as we go forward to get to where we really want to be because it doesn't just work that you go from where we were at the end of last season, just staying in the league, what I came into, losing the main source of goals in the team, trying to build around that with some signings and some younger players, some loans and free transfers and trying to build a spirit. That road is not a simple road and tonight was a big example of part of that."
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