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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Phil Kirkbride

What Everton fans did speaks volumes as Frank Lampard left wanting more

This was one of those occasions when Goodison was at its most addictive.

And Frank Lampard may already be hooked on it.

His first game in charge of Everton had all of the ingredients needed to create that kind of heady cocktail that only this ground can produce.

Lampard enjoyed, simply, getting off to a winning start, but there was so much more for the new boss to savour about his opening match.

And without question, he will want more and more of it. Who wouldn't?

Managing Everton amid this backdrop, creating a team that provokes a reaction and atmosphere like the one felt here today, has to be a rush.

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Lampard has it within his power to experience that surge of adrenaline time and time again. That's the challenge of managing this club. It's all there, it's all within reach and it can be done. It's difficult, incredibly so at times, but Everton have all of the elements required.

And Lampard will not be naive enough to think it's always like this but, here today, he has been reminded of how good it can be.

We all believe that there is nowhere better when Goodison stirs and then shouts and then sings and then roars. Lampard knows about it as an opponent but felt the force of a devoted, passionate fan-base as one of them today.

Great, isn't it Frank?

It was a first day in the job that was fuelled by the renewed hope that his appointment has brought, the energy he gave the team, the quicker passing, the greater possession, the pressing and the intent.

There remains so much to work on, and Everton's plight remains as perilous in the league as it was before he took over, but this felt so much better than what has gone before, in recent weeks.

Hey, Everton even scored the opening goal of a game for the first time since October.

It came from the head of Yerry Mina and was backed up by efforts from Richarlison, Mason Holgate and Andros Townsend which helped build and build the momentum - but so much more went into the new manager getting off to a near-perfect start.

Lampard must be thrilled to have inherited a player of the enormous potential of Anthony Gordon and his electric display was another, important, element of what created an uplifting afternoon, at a time when one was so badly required.

But there was Lampard himself, too. He needs to deliver more than just being animated on the touchline, but it feels like Goodison needs to see that from the man in the top job. They need to feed off his celebrations, his praise for the players, his encouragement and his anger with the officials.

It's a small part of what is needed, but it counts, for sure.

Even before kick-off, there was a tangible fizz of energy about what he and his backroom staff were doing with the players that would have been picked up by the fans as they filtered into Goodison.

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He was out there, overseeing the preparations, but his team were the ones setting the pace. It was a pace that Everton took into the game.

At the end there were the fist-pumps towards those in the Park End and the Gwladys Street. They mean nothing in the grand scheme of things but they also mean a lot.

It's the earliest of days but the tone, the tactics, the mood, the way the players responded, was as good as we could have hoped for.

It's not always like this - and has been a world away in recent times - but the message Lampard has to take from this is that it can be like this. Oh, it can be. And when it is, make no mistake, talk of relegation goes away very quickly and Everton are looking up and, not, nervously over their shoulders.

Many before Lampard have tried, and failed, to find the formula to sustain and repeat these moments, to bottle that feeling and atmosphere and bring it back time after time.

Lampard now has a taste and he will have loved it. It took only 50 minutes for the Gwladys Street, so often the thumping pulse of the Everton fan-base, to sing his name. The rest of Goodison joined in before the tie was over and then, again, after it was done and dusted.

At 4-1, and into time added on, Lampard allowed himself to acknowledge the support with applause.

Lampard has managed to establish a connection with those supporters very quickly and he must do all he can to keep it intact. It's precious and it can make all the difference, but it's something that must be worked at.

The eruption of joy after Holgate had nodded home the third goal spoke volumes of how badly these fans, and their club, is craving a return to successful times and how much they desire a team they can identify with.

If he didn't already fully appreciate that, Lampard will now.

It wouldn't be an Everton home performance without a wobble, without a moment of panic, and Ivan Toney's penalty, to make it 2-1, was a valuable lesson for Lampard that this can be par for the course here, but his side responded by scoring twice more.

The additional goals meant Lampard finished his managerial debut with the biggest win of any Everton boss on day one.

As we say, he could not have hoped for much better. And when it's like this, when Goodison is like this and the players are as they were today, there is nothing like it and nowhere better.

In football, there is nothing more addictive.

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