While the problems at Everton run far deeper than whoever is occupying the manager’s office, Frank Lampard could still have got more from the playing resources at his disposal. Across his time in charge of the club, only Southampton averaged fewer points-per-game among the 17 ever-present sides in the Premier League.
This was no fluke, as the Blues’ underlying numbers told a similar tale. In every single one of their 10 away league matches this season, Everton amassed a lower expected goal total than their hosts, to the tune of 1.2 per game on average. It was little better at Goodison Park, with only Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace having a worse xG figure than the home side by more than 0.1 in their matches there.
As much as the Everton squad is deeply unbalanced, it was not cheap to assemble. In nine of their 15 games against clubs from outside the Premier League’s established ‘big six’, the Blues had the more expensive starting XI (once transfer inflation is taken into account). To only take 13 points from these games asks very serious questions of the manager.
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Lampard certainly experimented tactically, using six different starting formations this season (per FBRef). That none of them delivered an expected goal profit, despite their mostly small sample sizes, speaks of a man grasping for answers and often finding them just out of reach.
And football is more of a squad game than ever before in any case, with this the first campaign in which five substitutions have been permitted in Premier League matches. This is another area in which the latest ex-Everton manager does not measure up well, with Lampard using his full complement of subs on just three occasions (with only Bournemouth, Leicester City and West Ham United doing so less often). In the 1-1 draw at Leeds United in August, he didn’t make a single change from the bench.
This could be where a better, more experienced manager might make a difference. Everton have trailed in 14 of their league matches this season, only taking five points from those games. A mad five minutes at Southampton – behind after 49 minutes, ahead by 54 – saw the only complete turnaround in result, and that occurred before any substitutions had been made.
The Blues’ figures for output from the bench speak for themselves. Lampard brought 67 players on in the league this season and they collectively contributed one goal and no assists. Even then, the one strike (which came from Dwight McNeil against Crystal Palace) occurred six minutes from full-time with Everton already leading 2-0. It sealed the points but didn’t have any value beyond that.
The Blues had the same issue under Lampard last season; the only league goal from the bench proved to be a mere consolation in a final day 5-1 pasting at Arsenal. But in fairness to the Chelsea legend, his subs did provide three key assists: for winners against Newcastle United and Palace, plus an equaliser versus Leicester.
A tally of five goal contributions from non-starting players over the equivalent of a full season at the helm remains an underwhelming total, particularly when compared to some of the managers potentially in line to take over from Lampard.
Take Marcelino, for instance. He got seven goals and six assists from his Athletic Bilbao subs over the course of 2021/22, and 10 goal contributions in 21 games the season before (after he took charge in January 2021).
This is a slightly better record than Marcelo Bielsa had with Leeds, but the Argentine was still streets ahead of Lampard. The former Leeds manager elicited 19 goals or assists from the bench in 64 top-flight games, with Rodrigo the division’s joint-second top-scoring sub in 2020/21.
Whoever takes over next will not be a miracle worker. Everton will inevitably go behind quite a few times between now and the end of the campaign. An ability to change games from the bench could make the difference between them playing Premier League and Championship football next season.
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