It was as blunt as it could have been following a 4-0 FA Cup hammering at the hands of Crystal Palace. But no sooner had Frank Lampard delivered his X-rated verdict on his side’s display, the backlash began.
Plenty on social media questioned whether Lampard was making the right decision by calling out his players, while Chris Sutton went one step further and claimed the Blues boss may live to regret criticising his players.
"The team are in an absolute mess but his language was extremely strong, questioning the side's courage," Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live. "He talked about [how] he doesn't have a magic wand to get inside people's heads and change resilience across the whole squad. Well.. is that not his job?
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"Lampard was chucking things out there and I wonder whether he will regret some of the things he's said because it can be damaging within the dressing room. It's not a good dressing room at this time but when you start questioning player's courage, I think there may be a problem.
"He's come out and slaughtered his players and yet he needs these players to keep him up, so what he said is very, very dangerous in my book. It's a big gamble what he said and let's see whether the players react. He had a difficult job to take on, most of the blame lies with [previous manager Rafa] Benitez on this one, but he hasn't made the impact which I think he expected to - and the Everton fans expected him to."
But the question is what was the Everton boss meant to do? Come out and act as though everything is rosy and Blues supporters have nothing to worry about.
Evertonians know their side are in a relegation fight, they know that many of their players are not good enough, and, more importantly, they know Lampard has been trying to protect many of them since he arrived at the club in January.
But to lose in the manner in which they did on Sunday after Thursday’s morale-boosting win over Newcastle United, was clearly a step too far for Lampard. To put it simply enough was enough. And you can’t blame him for taking that stance.
Since his arrival at the club, Everton’s players have done very little to deserve the protection they have had from their manager. Their performances, in most games, have been disgraceful, and Lampard even admitted ahead of his side's game with Newcastle that he had told his side some 'home truths' while talking about the consequences of relegation.
A failure to do the basics has been a frequent trend and an inability to make the right decisions has been a regular occurrence. The two are a recipe for disaster.
And unfortunately that is what Everton’s campaign has been. A disaster. A total disaster that could yet result in the club being relegated.
Sutton is right when he says that Lampard has to take 'responsibility' and he certainly hasn’t helped himself at times with his constant chopping and changing of personnel and formations doing him little favours.
But his players have done very little to show they are up for the fight. If anything, except for the home games against Leeds United and Newcastle, they have shown they are anything but up for the fight.
And at some point Lampard had to take a stand. While it would have been great if he could have got to the end of the season with his side safe and having not had to call them out publicly, the reality of the current situation is so much different.
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He needed to act and he needed to act now. Everton have 11 games left to secure their Premier League status for next season. Time is not on their side.
To criticise Lampard for publicly questioning his players is just plain wrong. He could no longer sit there and try and pull the wool over Evertonians’ eyes. They can see what is going on and Lampard had to tell them he can too.
But this whole sorry episode is once again the fault of Everton’s players. They have got themselves in this position and they are the ones who rightly deserve being called out.
Their task now is to prove to their manager that they have the b******s to stand up to the fight and keep Everton in the Premier League. Failure to do so and it will be much more than 'home truths' being thrown in their direction.
