Everton's much-vaunted strategic review could be set for its biggest test yet.
Launched 12 months ago, as the club began an astonishing descent towards a relegation battle it only just overcame, it has been heralded as the answer to the question: How is this prevented from happening again? Its findings, collated over the following weeks, placed value on unity, strategic thinking and patience.
Everton enter 2023 in a similar fashion to the way the club began 2022 - on a poor run of results and with an important but financially challenging month ahead. But behind the scenes at Finch Farm, much has changed under the leadership of Frank Lampard and director of football Kevin Thelwell - two key appointments said to have been inspired by the review's findings. Much of the work linked to that project makes sense. However, it would feel largely superficial if this January end up as chaotic as the last. Everything, within reason, surely needs to be done to avoid that.
READ MORE: Everton weigh up Ellis Simms decision as Anthony Elanga and transfer latest emerges
READ MORE: Pep Guardiola admits Everton tactics leave him perplexed ahead of Man City clash
The programme for the home match against Wolverhampton Wanderers contained the notes of Everton chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale. Her thoughts on 2022, including on the strategic review, pointed towards the past 12 months as being tough but ultimately positive. It included this extract: "Without doubt, 2022 brought unprecedented challenges for this football club. However, I strongly believe it was also a year of resilience and progression. On and off the pitch, vital groundwork has been laid through hard work, collaboration, and unity to set us on a more positive path driving forward. The rewards for some of that work will take time to materialise, but we are confident we have put in place building blocks for a more stable, robust future."
Many who may have taken comfort from those words when they arrived at Goodison Park on Boxing Day would have left the Grand Old Lady gripped with anxiety and frustration after Rayan Ait-Nouri's stoppage time winner left them fearing another season wracked with nerves and fears of a catastrophic relegation. Everton are now one point above the bottom three and, with Manchester City next, the situation may get worse before it gets better.
Lampard is one of the bookmakers' favourites to become the next Premier League managerial casualty and for the first time perhaps since the loss at Burnley last March, his future is becoming a topic of conversation among Blues. Lampard cannot be given a completely free hand - there is a series of results that would make his position untenable. He has several issues to address and this is not an essay that seeks to argue he should be free from scrutiny, nor that supporters should blindly follow him. But it is difficult to see Everton ending this month in a stronger position without him being in charge.
Last year, January saw one manager start the month and a different one finish it. The chaos of a transfer window that unfolded around those changes was predictable and it left the club in a mess it was lucky to get out of. There are still reasons not to panic. Everton may be constrained financially but all the noises from the club suggest everyone from Finch Farm to the Royal Liver Building offices is aware of the need to find firepower in the transfer window.
It may be difficult to view the performance against Wolves in as positive a manner as Lampard but Everton were the better side for chunks of the game. After so many halves of football without a single chance created, the four shots on target, including several guilt-edged opportunities, of the opening 45 minutes represented some progress even if the finishing left much to be desired. As the round of fixtures went on there was also solace to be taken by the reminder other teams are struggling too - Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Bournemouth, Leeds - as well as Wolves - all have problems to solve if they are to avoid a relegation fight.
Whether Everton can find more effective solutions remains to be seen - but the main issue is obvious, there appears to be unity in how to address it, and the club is not alone in its turmoil. Meanwhile, Dominic Calvert-Lewin is close to a return and the transfer window offers a chance for the club to have a say in its own destiny - though on that front it must be proactive and not end up picking on leftovers come the final days of the month.
Lampard is likely to get as much time as is feasible from the board. The strategic review was their bluprint for long term progress and he has been heralded as a key part of it. Their reputations are tied to it. The key themes of the plan would all be severely undermined if Everton were to lose faith in him at this stage, particularly as there are few attractive alternatives.
Much has been made of the strategic review-inspired unity and collegiate approach to the big decisions. Majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri ultimately calls the shots and the ability of those around him to influence his decisions if things get worse could be tested to the limit. But unless there is a truly disastrous run of results, it is hard to see how change would benefit a club already living on the edge of peril - one where, after last season's scare, there should be no complacency towards the drop.
Those in power need to be united in their focus on delivering the improvements Lampard needs on the pitch, not split over whether he is the right man for his job. He helped - with the fans who backed him so wholeheartedly and whose support he must do everything to keep - to save Everton last season. He is swimming against a tide of bad decisions that came before him and, as a consequence, one hand tied behind his back due to the limits on what can be spent. All of that needs to be acknowledged during this difficult period, as does the pain and confusion replacing him would bring.
The strategic review is supposed to have led to a cultural reset that promotes patience and logic over emotion. If, 12 months ago, the question was ‘how do we avoid this from happening again’ then the answer cannot have been another chaotic January in which this brilliant, historic club is hunting for a manager as well as players. That would represent no progress whatsoever.
READ NEXT:
Frank Lampard opens up on Everton talks with Farhad Moshiri and Bill Kenwright
Yerry Mina fitness update as Everton deal with sickness in squad ahead of Man City clash
- 'Not a chance' - Everton sent blunt transfer message over Viktor Gyokeres
'We are desperate' - Dwight McNeil makes major Dominic Calvert-Lewin Everton transfer admission
