Everton boss Frank Lampard admits he took aspects of Brentford's winning performance at Manchester City in November to inspire his side's game plan in their Etihad draw on Saturday.
City have now dropped points in successive Premier League home games to slip seven points behind leaders Arsenal, and they were held by a stubborn Everton side on New Year's Eve, who took a point back to Merseyside following Demarai Gray's stunner.
Everton were resolute defensively, and got in City's faces from the first minute to disrupt them, while looking to counter on the break - just like Brentford were in the final game before the World Cup in November. Speaking at full time, Lampard accepted that Brentford inspired some parts of their approach, while luck also played a part in their performance.
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"We watched that performance. It’d be great to come here and open up against City and try to go toe-to-toe but they are at such a level and the position we’re in at the moment that’s not for us," Lampard said.
"We played this system against Tottenham earlier in the season and lost but we had two big chances on the counter and followed through on the defensive side of it pretty well for the majority of the game. So the idea here was to give spaces between a back four, to have an extra man at the back and then be able to be a bit more aggressive from having five at the back, rather than running backwards because you have a four.
"The Brentford one showed it could be done to a degree but we definitely didn't follow that blueprint. I wouldn't want to pull the players into a pre-team meeting and say ‘Let’s just copy what Brentford do’. But as a coach sometimes you have to see things and think if they would work for your team and I thought it worked for us. You have to ride luck at times, that’s the reality of playing here, but I think we can be very proud of how we played."
Lampard also praised the character of his side, who showed they were up for a battle throughout in a feisty encounter.
He continued: "I think 70 per cent at City is character and fight. There are a load of jobs to do. It wasn’t an overly complicated game plan defensively. A lot of stuff is zonal and getting across and doing your job and there are some little links and triangles and to consistently do them is a character issue sometimes.
"To keep going no matter what. I didn’t want to see a performance where a goal goes in or something happens and our heads go down. I don’t like that when I see that. They gave me everything today and that has to be a blueprint going forward."
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