Everton suffered another bad day at the office on Sunday as the Blues went down 2-1 against West Ham United in the capital, leaving Frank Lampard's side perilously close to the relegation zone.
The Toffees were given hope when Mason Holgate's deflected shot cancelled out Aaron Cresswell's first half free-kick opener, but self-inflicted wounds handed the initiative back to the Hammers as Jarrod Bowen put David Moyes' side back in front on the counter-attack, before Michael Keane got his marching orders for two bookable offences.
Despite efforts to stay on the front foot, the Blues simply didn't show the quality to break through the West Ham rearguard again, so the points stayed in London. It means Everton must quickly move their attention to a huge clash with relegation-rivals Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday evening, but as the dust settles on yesterday's defeat, here's what the national media is saying.
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As reported by the BBC, Radio 5 Live pundit Jonathan Woodgate was concerned by what he saw from Lampard's side and the qualities that they seemingly lacked for a relegation dog-fight.
He said: "When Everton lose the ball, the five that are forward don't get back in time, they don't bust a gut to get back and start defending. If you look at how easily they are being played through, there's been no real heart, no real fight, no desire to really make the difference. You can't always look at the managers. Sometimes the buck has to stop with the players."
Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian writes: "The good news for Everton is that five of the 10 games they have remaining this season are at home. The bad news is that their buffer over the relegation zone is only three points and away results remain as poor as ever. Five games on the road since Frank Lampard took over have brought five defeats – and what makes this one worse is how unnecessary and self‑inflicted it felt.
"Even in a largely soporific first half this weary West Ham, whose focus has understandably shifted to the Europa League tie against Lyon, cut through Everton pretty much every time they were able to muster the energy to try. The positive for Everton was that this was probably their least bad away performance under Lampard, but they were still beaten easily enough by opponents who rarely seemed to be playing much above half-pace."
Writing for the Mail, former Everton legend Peter Reid has described the Blues forthcoming match against Burnley as the club's biggest in the past 24 years.
He said: "Frank Lampard asked the question last week whether his players had the stomach to play for Everton, well trust me they're going to have to find them for Wednesday. Burnley away is now one of the biggest games Everton have had in 24 years - the last time they stared relegation in the face - and these players have got to understand what they are fighting for.
"They've got to forget pressure, they've got to roll up their sleeves and fight like everything depends on it. They must do justice to the shirt, to the badge and to those fantastic supporters. That should be a pre-requisite for every game not just Wednesday. It's seven defeats in 11 games for Lampard and questions are already being asked whether the players are responding to him and his staff. That's just ridiculous. Have they had a rocket from him? I'm sure they have, and I'm sure they had it from previous managers too.
"So, if you're an Everton player looking at yourself today, you must ask first is it really down to the manager or can you not do better? Come on lads!"
