Frank Lampard has explained his decision to play Anthony Gordon through the centre as Everton suffered a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea to begin their 2022/23 Premier League campaign.
A penalty from Jorginho late in the first half after Abdoulaye Doucoure brought down Ben Chilwell was enough to seal all three points for the visitors. The Blues, meanwhile, seemed to be clearly missing a scoring instinct up front - with Dominic Calvert-Lewin out injured and Salomon Rondon unavailable through suspension.
Gordon was the man chosen to lead the line and Lampard thinks that all of the front three, including Demarai Gray and Dwight McNeil performed well. And, the manager explained why he chose the winger to take that position when many might have expected Dele to deputise instead.
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He told his post-match press conference: "I thought he [Gordon] did well. I didn’t have a load of options, Anthony or Demarai or Dele, it was a choice of taking Anthony because his attributes of speed in central areas to drop between lines and turn quickly would be a problem for them. For me the mobility of the front three was good off the ball.
"They were tired at different phases and the penalty was one, we allowed them to play a couple of passes through that we weren't allowing before. The performance was good considering we played without a striker but of course you maybe miss that clinical edge."
Meanwhile, a little further back on the pitch, the midfield two was made up of Abdoulaye Doucoure and Alex Iwobi. With prospective new signing Amadou Onana in the stands, that could change in the near future.
However, Lampard was keen to praise the performances of both after the game, particularly highlighting the versatility of Iwobi and his humility in doing whatever he is asked by the boss.
"The good thing with Alex is I don’t think it [his best position] matters, because of his personality and attitude and humility, he doesn't bat an eyelid on whatever I ask him to do," he added.
"Six, eight, winger, wing back, No.10 he does them all. And he does them without needing instruction. We gave him and Doucs particular instruction today because of the threat of Chelsea playing through the lines and they dealt with it brilliantly.
"Their energy and their quality, they were both really good in there today."
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