Insistent Frank Lampard claims Everton didn't have much of a choice but to sit back and play counter-puncher against a Celtic side swinging haymakers in Sydney.
The Toffees had their moments during the entertaining 0-0 draw but onlookers were left miffed by the low block Lampard's side operated in for much of the 90 minutes. But the Chelsea icon insists it was a necessity to combat the sizzling Sydney heat and to deal with Ange Postecoglou 's pass masters in the ACCOR Stadium. And it worked out in the end as Everton survived Celtic missing sitters through Kyogo and Liel Abada in the second half before spot kicks decided the winners.
Speaking after the match, Lampard said: "I think with the back five against possession teams like Celtic it means you are going to have to sit back. It wasn’t the worst thing to do because of the jet lag, the travel and all those things that can affect you if you try to play a high press.
"It is a difficult ask of the players in dry, hot conditions so we made the game plan pretty clear and we created some of the best chances in the game. We created two of the best chances in the first half and then in the second half we had some really good moments. Typically, at the minute it is just the last pass or last shot that isn’t going our way."
And Lampard is adamant their trip Down Under comes without a weight of expectation after a rotten of results in the English Premier League before the World Cup break.
He added: I don’t want to answer that with a no but the sessions we have had so far are just to get the legs going. We don’t want to over-analyse certain areas of our game - this week isn’t for that. It is to play and get minutes into players and, of course, we know we need improve in front of goal in terms of our clinical nature. Some of that comes down to improving and some of it comes down to what we can do in January."
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