Everton have been a soft touch for far too long.
I therefore thought it was brilliant and very refreshing to see Frank Lampard articulate the issues that the fans have been seeing for many years.
He’s probably going to get called in by the Football Association to explain his comments but I don’t care.
How many times have we seen other managers – especially Alex Ferguson – question these decisions and put a doubt in the referees’ minds.
He used to get fined but it was worth every penny because the officials would think ‘am I wrong?’ It would benefit his team.
I thought Frank’s comments were spot-on.
Because this incident involved Manchester City, everybody is talking about it but we, as Evertonians, know these kind of decisions are happening week in, week out, year after year.
The referee can’t see it, fair enough, but that’s why we’ve brought VAR in, to look again.
For me, to look at that footage and say it wasn’t a penalty is absolutely scandalous.
It’s outrageous, laughable even, but Everton won’t be seeing the funny side.
READ MORE: Pep Guardiola makes admission over Everton penalty claim against Man City
READ MORE: Everton make formal complaint over VAR and referees after Man City decision
We’ve called ourselves ‘The People’s Club’ but it hasn’t worked for us.
We’re too nice and we need to start questioning these decisions.
It’s really good to see the club have come out and questioned these decisions too.
For years and years, decisions have gone against us and nothing has really been said about it.
It gets spoken about for a day or so but then forgotten again.
As a club we’ve never called out the referees.
We’ve had so many over the years, my column could be six pages long!
It’s not just the pivotal decisions like the penalty.
Allan and Donny van de Beek were both booked for their first tackle against Manchester City yet their players would put in three or four fouls and no cards were shown.
It makes a massive difference if you’re that type of player who is in midfield and needs to be tight and gamble a little bit and you’re on a yellow card. Like at Southampton, it changes the whole set-up.
We knew we were playing against a world-class side with world-class players and it was a huge opportunity for our boys to showcase their ability.
You’ve got to show that will and desire but I thought the way we were set out was spot-on.
It was a huge confidence-booster for Frank and the players that they can compete.
To come away with nothing is hard to take and it was really disappointing that all the work came to nought but Frank and the players can take a lot from that game.
I thought having three in midfield really helped us. We’ve been crying out for that for a while but with injuries and the available personal, we haven’t really had that as an option.
Hopefully we can have that now going forward.
If the players display that will and desire, that determination and obviously the skill set that was shown against Manchester City, we’ll be fine.
Frank is asking for time and for people to be patient but I think the fans are really on board with him and his coaching staff.
I think the message from Frank to Evertonians would be ‘let’s not look at the league table for a couple of weeks.’
He understands where we are as a club and what could happen but we’ve got to remain calm.
The performances under Frank, at Goodison Park at least, have been on a totally different level than what we’ve seen all season.
Nobody is too good or too big to go down but we seem to be more of a team now with more of a connection and unity between the fans, the players and the club that wasn’t there a month ago.
Everton must put Boreham Wood to bed early as the whole country will want them to win
The whole country is going to be against Everton on Thursday night.
They’ll want the Boreham Wood fairytale to continue and it’s up to us to put the game to bed as early as possible, show them why we’re Premier League players and make it a nightmare for them.
At the end of the day, we couldn’t have asked for a better draw at this stage of the competition.
I don’t like shuffling the pack too much for these cup ties – we want silverware and want to take every competition seriously.
It is an opportunity though to see some of the new boys who we haven’t seen much of so far.
Obviously there’s Vitalii Mykolenko – I thought it was a great touch what they did for himself and Oleksandr Zinchenko – we don’t know hard is must be for them but football can come together and do the right things in these times.
We also want to see Nathan Patterson on the pitch.
We brought him to the club for big money and he’s going to be the full-back for the future so it’s a chance for him to show the Everton fans what he’s all about.
I’ve been there as a player, as a favourite in the FA Cup, where you’ve got to go out and win football games, and I’ve been embarrassed because we haven’t matched our opponents’ will to win.
It’s a great occasion for Boreham Wood and their fans to come up to Goodison Park and have their moment, the old magic of the FA Cup.
But at the end of the day, television are there and we don’t want to be the fall guys and we’ve got to be professional as a club.
