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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Samuel Meade

Frank Lampard responds to Everton sack threat after showdown talks with board

Frank Lampard maintains he has not gone to the Everton hierarchy looking for "reassurances" over his future.

Pressure on the Toffees boss ramped up this week after they were hammered 4-1 by Brighton at Goodison Park. The defeat saw them drop into the bottom three amid fears that the Merseysiders could be involved in a relegation scrap for the second straight year.

Lampard arrived mid-season last term and was able to keep Everton afloat, but has overseen a run of just one win in 10 matches. The board on the blue half of the city are not renowned for their patience but the former Chelsea midfielder is not looking for future assurances.

He said: "I have never and would never seek reassurances. A part of my job is to absolutely focus on the job at hand, day to day and game to game. That's the absolute reality of it. I actually don't need reassurance. I come to work to try and improve a little bit every day - myself, the team, the squad and everything so I'm not hunting around for any reassurances."

Lampard has already faced the sack once in his relatively short managerial career. He was one of many to be axed by Roman Abramovich at Chelsea and is now out to prove himself at Goodison Park. The 44-year-old spent £85m in the summer on the likes of Dwight McNeil and Neal Maupay.

That has added further pressure but Lampard is not concerned by their current standing in the table. He added: "I'm not silly. We need to get results and we want to stay in this league. That's the first thing this year. We've just slipped into the bottom three but that's not my major concern. But if we win our next league game, we'll be out of the bottom three probably.

"I was very aware of what I came into in this job and I want to be a success at this club. Where the challenges have come, I've taken them head on and I've actually enjoyed them. I enjoy working for this club and it's a real honour for me. I'm a big man who is working for a great club and I'll keep doing it."

The Everton boss cited the rise of Arsenal as proof that steady investment and good work behind the scenes will result in success - and is confident the right blocks are being put in place on Merseyside.

He said: "If you look at Arsenal's journey over the last three years you can see it's not an easy road and it has come with investment. Sometimes you can't see the progress from the outside but in my opinion it has been there."

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