Frank Lampard heaped praise on the fighting spirit of his players as they battled for a crucial point at Manchester City.
The Blues boss said his coaching team had analysed Brentford's pre-World Cup win at the Etihad when constructing their game plan. But he acknowledged tactics are only part of the equation when trying to avoid defeat at the home of the Premier League champions.
He also detailed his delight at the hour of work Dominic Calvert-Lewin was able to put in as he returns from injury ahead of an important January - while joking his half-time message to goalscorer Demarai Gray was for him to 'put one into the top corner'.
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Everton earned a crucial draw on New Year's Eve with a fighting display that saw Lampard's players put their bodies on the line for their manager. Reflecting on their courage, he said of the plan going into the game: "70 percent [of getting a result], particularly at City, is character and personality and fight, because it is 11 against 11 and we know how good their 11 is and every individual has to go up against their man and do his job and there are a lot of jobs to do.
"It wasn't an over-complicated plan defensively. A lot of stuff is zonal and getting across and doing your job and there are some little links between the team - the triangles and the sides defensively - and to consistently do them is a character issue sometimes - you have to keep going no matter what.
"It was one of my big things before the game. I didn’t want to see a performance where a goal goes in or something happens and our head goes down. When I see that I don't like it. I felt a little bit like that after Wolves, I asked for the opposite of that today and they gave me absolutely the opposite of that. And that has to be a blueprint going forward."
Everton trailed through Erling Haaland's goal at half-time, but Lampard said he believed a result was possible if his side could play with more confidence. He told his players at the break: "I thought defensively we had to stick to our jobs. For me, that was simple.
"But I also wanted us to play more. I think there are times when we go long sometimes from Jordan today and we could have been more compact to win the second ball. But in terms of our general play, we had some spells in the first half where you could see a bit of confidence come into the team and they need that - they needed to believe in themselves and to have the ball a bit for a bit of a rest so I wanted more of that from them. And then I told Demarai the next time he gets it he needs to put it in the top corner."
Of Calvert-Lewin's performance, he added it was always the plan for him to play an hour and that his performance was a "big positive" going into upcoming fixtures.
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