Rafa Benitez and what he describes as supposed ‘facts’ have long been a source of contention, it seems that new Everton manager Frank Lampard is at odds with his predecessor when it comes to whether the Blues can effectively pass a football.
Breezing into Goodison Park with a 4-1 victory over Brentford, Lampard has spoken of his desire to make Everton a team who are not only comfortable in possession but, in time, able to boss the play.
It’s a message that is in stark contrast to the Spaniard’s claims.
Back in December, following the sorry 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace, Benitez declared: “We are not amazing in possession. It’s a fact we have to realise.”
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Lampard is taking a more positive approach though and having already stated aims of wanting the Blues to ‘enjoy the football’, he elaborated on his intentions ahead of his first Premier League game in charge of the club at Newcastle United.
He said: “Enjoy the ball one doesn’t make me a master tactician does it? But we do try and cut some of the strategy and the tactical stuff we work on.
“In terms of possession, I think it was a priority of mine.
“I know I haven’t come in mid-season before as a manager but from my experience I have very much analysed where the performances were and why I felt the results weren’t going in the right way.
“I believed in the squad from the outside but when I worked with them last week and I felt them not just enjoying the ball but understanding the sessions we put on in terms of ball possession and try and overload areas and play through teams as well as around or over them, I felt buy-in from the players.
“Then the stats are great because they back that up. Stats can be sometimes be a red herring but with these ones it was pretty clear to see.
“I spoke to players after the game in terms of passes and final third passes. We didn’t play to win a possession game in the middle of the park, we played to try and create chances so I am pleased the players saw that and reacted to the week’s work.
“We will continue to work on that and hopefully we can be consistent in terms of getting more control of games.”
Despite only having a week with Everton’s players so far, Lampard believes that he is already getting his message across.
He said: “Hopefully it was important. It will pan out in the games ahead, different games bring different challenges.
“If you work and your messaging is quite simple, because you don’t want to come in and try and throw too much at the players, you want to get across the things that are important better straight away.
“You want them to see the results of that so from my point of view I take confidence from that.
“We worked hard, we approached it in the right way and we saw a result. So of course that is good for us.
“Now it is, ‘what is the next step?’ Can we get even better and watching the game back we can.
“There are lots of areas we can improve. Not just in possession but our overall play.
“It was a nice step and some big steps in terms of the structure of the team and our idea.
“There is a long way to go on working on them, but it was a good start.”
