Everton endured a day to forget after losing 2-1 on home soil to Southampton, raising fears of relegation.
Amadou Onana opened the scoring during the first half at Goodison Park. But the Blues were left stunned after Nathan Jones' side rallied after the break to take all three points courtesy of a James Ward-Prowse brace.
Supporters gathered after the full-time whistle to stage a sit-in protest targeted at the board, who were advised not to attend the match due to safety fears, raising banners aloft and chanting songs as a collective.
ANALYSIS: Blame game points to two targets as damning signal sent by Frank Lampard
VERDICT: Everton crisis hits new low as even most potent weapon cannot help Frank Lampard
Summing up the club's current situation has become a frustrating task for many fans who are becoming more disillusioned with each passing week. Attempting to make sense of the crisis, the national media pulled no punches with their assessment of Everton's plight.
'A once proud club on its knees' - Chris Bascombe of the Telegraph
"The supporters promised a sit-down protest against Everton's hierarchy. What materialised on another catastrophic afternoon at Goodison Park was the sight of a once proud club on its knees. Where Everton’s last Premier League survival bid succeeded amid unity - or at least truce - with long-held grievances buried to save the club from the indignity of relegation, mutiny reigns now.
"The most dire consequences are looking increasingly inevitable. Everton’s last hope - that there might be three worse teams in the top division - may have been extinguished by the Nathan Jones Southampton renaissance.
"Southampton’s victory - Jones first in the Premier League achieved largely because their midfielder and double goalscorer James Ward-Prowse was several classes above anyone else on the pitch - means Everton must contemplate the genuine prospect of life in the Championship.
"The single, slim consolation in the closing stages was that the fans’ desire to stay-behind to vent their fury meant the stadium did not empty early as it had in previous home defeats. You can be sure those fans will be back. But if trust is not restored to ensure a club hierarchy can join them, the ship may already be sunk."
'This felt like Everton's nadir' - Paul Joyce of The Times
"The division, the rancour and the recrimination which lies at the heart of a once proud institution stems from anger at the majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri’s running of a club embroiled in a fraught fight for survival for the second successive campaign. He has not been at a home game since October 2021, yet to see four blue seats on the front row of the directors’ box empty alongside the director of football, Kevin Thelwell, when Amadou Onana opened the scoring before half-time was an indictment of modern times.
"Lampard’s last match as Chelsea manager two years ago this month was against Jones, who was in charge of Luton Town at the time. He must hope Moshiri now proves true to his word after his public backing in midweek. While Lampard has attempted to focus solely on what he can control, separating off-field and on-field issues, the toxic backdrop does not help him in any respect.
"Whereas Jones and his team have found fresh momentum with three wins in as many competitions inside a week, this felt like Everton’s nadir."
'Disconnect between fans and the club's owners appears bigger than ever'
Gary Rose of the BBC wrote:
"Saturday had the chance to be a turning point in Everton and Frank Lampard's season but ultimately it delivered arguably their lowest point in another dismal campaign. Just nine months on from jubilant scenes at Goodison Park after Lampard had guided the Toffees to Premier League survival, the disconnect between fans and the club's owners appears bigger than ever.
"Such was the concern for the safety of board members for the visit of bottom-of-the-table Southampton, they were told to stay away from the ground over fears for their safety in what the club described as "a profoundly sad day". Protests had long been planned around the game, with banners displayed before kick-off, while thousands of Everton fans remained long after full-time to stage a sit-in."
'Inexorable slide towards the Championship'
Andy Hunter of the Guardian wrote:
"There is hope for Southampton. For Frank Lampard and Everton – broken, toxic, despairing Everton – there is not even a glimmer. There was mutiny in the stands and monotony on the pitch as a 10th defeat in 13 matches, the latest against a team propping up the Premier League table, continued Everton’s inexorable slide towards the Championship and weakened their manager’s precarious grip on his job.
"A few thousand Everton fans stayed behind after the final whistle to demand much-needed and overdue change at boardroom level. None is on the horizon, according to the club’s absent owner, Farhad Moshiri. But relegation is. James Ward-Prowse condemned Everton to a fourth successive home league defeat – the club’s worst run since 1958 – with two polished second-half strikes that delivered the first league win of Nathan Jones’s reign."
'A moment of brilliance in a game of little magic' - Joe Thomas of the ECHO
"This club faces a fight for its top-flight status for the second year in a row and the very real prospect that the final full season at Goodison Park will be in the second tier. Scrutiny will remain on Lampard, but so will some sympathy that, 14 days into a transfer window the club had months to prepare for, he could only look to two academy graduates for support from the bench - albeit one of those being Anthony Gordon. Southampton, on the other hand, brought on Carlos Alcaraz for his league debut and had another January signing, Mislav Orsic, to turn to if they needed him. In the end, they did not.
"On a day of so many headlines, with the board of directors absent due to safety concerns and a protest against the running of the club attracting the attention of several thousand supporters after the final whistle, it was James Ward-Prowse who proved the difference on the pitch. It was his stunning free-kick with 12 minutes to go that sealed Everton's fate. It was a moment of brilliance in a game of little magic but huge importance."
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