After the thrill of an injury-time winner against Newcastle United, it was a return to form for Everton on Sunday in what has become a miserable season.
Hopes of an FA Cup semi-final Wembley appearance were dashed in ruthless fashion by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, with the Eagles firing four goals without reply.
Manager Frank Lampard was in no mood to sugar coat his side's display, but with the Blues needing to ramp up their performance levels in order to secure their Premier League safety, has the Blues boss taken the right steer to motivate his players?
READ MORE: Frank Lampard must make instant training change to weed out Everton let-downs
READ MORE: Richarlison makes Rafael Benitez admission with Everton form claim
Chris Sutton believes not. And the thoughts of the former Blackburn Rovers and Celtic striker kick-off our round-up of what is happening Everton-wise in the national media today.
Lampard out of order?
Chris Sutton believes that Frank Lampard may live to regret criticising his players after their morale-sapping defeat to Crystal Palace, reports the BBC. Lampard pulled no punches in his post-match press conference, questioning his team.
The former forward turned pundit has been speaking about the plight of the Blues on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Sutton said: "He has to take responsibility, he's the manager. The team are in an absolute mess but his language was extremely strong, questioning the side's courage. He talked about [how] he doesn't have a magic wand to get inside people's heads and change resilience across the whole squad. Well.. is that not his job?
"Lampard was chucking things out there and I wonder whether he will regret some of the things he's said because it can be damaging within the dressing room. It's not a good dressing room at this time but when you start questioning player's courage, I think there may be a problem.
"He's come out and slaughtered his players and yet he needs these players to keep him up, so what he said is very, very dangerous in my book. It's a big gamble what he said and let's see whether the players react. He had a difficult job to take on, most of the blame lies with [previous manager Rafa] Benitez on this one, but he hasn't made the impact which I think he expected to - and the Everton fans expected him to."
United chasing Richarlison
Raisa Simplicio at Goal says that Manchester United have turned their attentions to luring Everton forward Richarlison to Old Trafford this summer.
Huge uncertainty is surrounding the Red Devils at present with speculation that Christiano Ronaldo could leave at the end of the season, along with fellow veteran striker Edinson Cavani, while Marcus Rashford has cut a dejected figure in recent weeks and Anthony Martial is already out on loan.
Despite only managing to score four Premier League goals this season, Goal claims that Richarlison is also a target for Real Madrid and Barcelona, having previously been of interest to Arsenal.
Speaking about why United could be in for Richarlison, Simplicio writes: "Following a fifth consecutive season without silverware at Old Trafford, and one which saw their much-vaunted reset under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fall short, the Red Devils are looking to rebuild once more - and could favour a younger face up front.
"With Ronaldo's future in doubt after just one season back and Edinson Cavani expected to leave, the Brazilian would fill a major void up front for whoever succeeds interim boss Rangnick. However, even if Everton were to be relegated, United would likely still need to pay a hefty price for his services."
Pickford slammed by Warnock
Stephen Warnock has claimed that he would not want to play in front of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, as reported by Charlotte Daly for the Mail Online.
Speaking after the game, former Liverpool defender Warnock said that Pickford was too 'animated' and spent too much time criticising his team-mates than doing 'his job'.
Talking on Sky Sports, Warnock said: "I wouldn't want to play in front of Jordan Pickford, because I'd be thinking please be quiet. The way he's acting, the way he goes about things, it would drive me insane!
"'There is a way of doing it (jeeing people up). He saves a shot and has a go at people for letting the shot come in at goal. You're a goalkeeper, do your job and save the ball. Don't moan at people for getting shots away. There's a way of telling people you've go to be tighter, you've got to be more organised. His is aggressive every time that he comes out, he's shouting at things.
"He's just so animated, that for me, every time I see him I think there's a mistake coming or he's out of control in what he's doing constantly."
