Andros Townsend has claimed Everton’s players let former manager Frank Lampard down and believes they could have done more to help him stay in the job.
Lampard was sacked by Everton in January after less than a year in charge at Goodison Park. The Blues, at the time, were in the midst of a poor run of form and were second from bottom in the Premier League.
The former England midfielder took the job midway through the previous campaign, succeeding Rafa Benitez with the club hovering four points above the drop zone in 16th place. That was where they ultimately finished, avoiding the drop by four points after a strong end to the season in which they beat the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United.
And Townsend, who was on Everton's books last year but missed the majority of the season due to injury and was released at the start of the off-season when his contract ran out, believes his former team-mates at the club should look at themselves for Lampard's failures.
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Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: "When Frank first arrived, he was ambitious; he had dreams.
"You look at his first transfer window; he brought in Dele Alli, he brought in Donny van de Beek from Manchester United, and it was sort of, 'Right, we're Everton, we should be dining at the top table'.
"And then obviously, what happened, happened. Relegation battle, and you look at his second window compared to his first window; his first window was Hollywood signings.
"His second window, first signing, James Tarkowski; second signing, Conor Coady; [Amadou] Onana. He got in leaders, he got in quality, he got in senior figures, which we were missing in the dressing room, to sort of be that experience, be that example.
"So for me, he did everything right; we went into last season... well, I definitely went into last season, I was injured, but I thought, 'We've got a good squad here; we're going to make a real go; we're going to get back into the top half'.
"But it didn't work out that way. Obviously, from the outside of it, you can say, 'Bad manager, bad coach, bad owner'.
"But as players, we've got to look at ourselves; we definitely didn't do well enough under Frank last season, and this season just gone as well. I feel a bit sorry for Frank."
Asked whether Lampard may have to drop down into the Championship or move abroad for his next job, Townsend replied: "It's a difficult one.
"He had that Chelsea stint where he was probably hoping, let me get a few wins under my belt, everyone will forget about the Everton situation.
"But it didn't work out that way, so maybe he will have to drop down back down in the Championship.
"But what people forget about Frank is, his first Chelsea spell [2019/20 season], under an embargo, brought through Mason Mount, had Tammy Abraham up front scoring goals left, right and centre.
"Got them into the Champions League, he did an amazing job in that first spell at Chelsea, so I hope people don't forget about his success for Derby, and then in his first season for Chelsea."
