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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Josh O'Brien

Frank Lampard responds to growing Everton pressure after miserable defeat to Brighton

Everton boss Frank Lampard has explained how he is not angry, but disappointed with the way his Toffees side fell apart at home to Brighton on Tuesday evening.

After Kaoru Mitoma continued his fine run of form and opened the scoring for the Seagulls 14 minutes in, the floodgates opened around the 50th minute mark as Brighton bagged another three goals inside seven minutes. The hosts looked completely shellshocked as they tried to come to terms with what had happened.

Demarai Gray tried to restore some pride for Everton late on with his second-half stoppage time penalty, but it served as little more than a feeble consolation as Brighton ran out 4-1 winners at Goodison Park.

Following the full-time whistle, Lampard opened up on the scrutiny surrounding his Toffees tenure and where he feels his side went wrong as they now languish as low as 16th in the table - just a point ahead of their relegation rivals having played a game more than all the teams below them.

Reflecting on the performance, the Everton boss told Sky Sports: "Very disappointing. It was even in the first half I would say. General play it was pretty even, three goals in six minutes, defensive mistakes, finishes the game.

"After that the game becomes a bit inbetween. At 4-0 the game is done. Those six minutes were completely pivotal with individual mistakes and collective defending issues."

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When pressed for comment on whether he could explain the factors behind why his players shipped three goals in such a short space of time, he replied: "Individual mistakes and collective defending issues. It is what it is."

Lampard did remain adamant that there wasn't much between the two sides, suggesting he feels Brighton simply got the rub of the green.

"Possession-wise [the game was] even. They hit the post and scored from our mistake. We had a good chance with Alex I wanted more urgency. I didn't think there was much in it."

He was reluctant to shed light on whether there were any fireworks in the dressing room at full-time, instead revealing: "We all in it together. It is not a question of anger. We are disappointed. We want to win games."

Lampard was keen to stress how the pressure on him at the moment is not unchartered territory for him and that he is well-versed at handling the kind of intensity that comes with elite level management.

"You have to get used to that position," he admitted. "You are not going to win every week. We have to get back to the work. It is as simple as that.

"I am a Premier League football manager. There is pressure in the job whenever you are."

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