Frank Lampard has explained how Everton will look to manage Yerry Mina after another injury setback was confirmed for the Colombia international.
MIna played a crucial role in the victory over Chelsea earlier in the month and was in the starting line-up again when the Blues travelled to play Leicester City on Sunday. However, the centre-back was forced off the pitch in the first half, being replaced by Michael Keane at the heart of defence.
On Tuesday morning Lampard confirmed he is likely to be without Mina for Wednesday's game at Watford - and possibly for the home clashes with Brentford and Crystal Palace. But there remains hope his calf injury could potentially clear up before the final match of the campaign at Arsenal.
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Lampard has now explained how he feels sorry for Mina - as he knows how desperate the defender is to play. And the Everton manager has reiterated the need for the club to manage players such as the 27-year-old in terms of their training levels and playing time.
Lampard said: “I’ve only had Yerry for a small space of time, but to be fair to Yerry, even though he's only played two-three games recently, he’s had a real impact in terms of his persona and personality on and off pitch, and I appreciate that whether he can play these remaining games or not.
"I like to think there are some things you can really affect quickly and it is up to us as a staff and the football side... we are very keen with players like Yerry and Delphy (Fabian Delph) that we, alongside the medical team, manage them, training levels, gym levels... what they need to get them out on the pitch is the most important thing.
"We have done everything we can and we just have to continue that with Yerry to see how we can get him to play more games because he’s a big player, and I feel for him at the moment, he’s desperate to take part in these remaining games. We’ll analyse it from every angle we can, to try get him in the best condition he can be."
The Leicester match saw an incredible atmosphere from the away supporters, with thousands constantly chanting throughout the 90 minutes. Lampard went back out to the fans who were still gathered in their corner of the stand long after the final whistle to show his appreciation for the efforts.
The Blues boss explained why he felt the need to do that - and gave his personal response to seeing support as strong as that over recent weeks.
Lampard added: "You know I’ve watched the game back a couple of time now and they keep singing the whole game, overpowering the whole stadium, and it’s a big deal. On a footballing level I was pleased we could prepare a team to go to Leicester in a really difficult moment and get a result.
"I do get it, I do get it because we all have our own personal moment of desires, whatever you call it, you come in and you want to do as well as you can. It’s been like that throughout my career.
"So when you see a team perform as they did there, and you set up a team and get the the message to the players, simplify it and tell them how you want it to be, and they do it well, you see the personal reaction to that, which is all those fans reacting in such an incredible way. It can be a nice moment for yourself.
"But going over to the fans was more about what it meant to them. I know it sounds a more corny line. But I think you saw that with all the players it was definitely a day when we relied on them to keep us going through that game."
