Everton first for Gordon
DYCHE ON STINT AS WATFORD MANAGER
WORK HARD: Gordon
EVERTON manager Frank Lampard believes Anthony Gordon’s best chance of making a late run into England’s World Cup squad is for him to concentrate on improving for the club.
After representing his country’s under-21s this week the forward said he was “100 per cent focused” on securing a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad.
Lampard believes the only way to do that is to keep producing in the Premier League and he said any of his players who have expectations or aspirations of going to Qatar in November have to do the same.
“I know there is a lot of competition in that area of the pitch with England, there are a lot of quality players in there,” said Lampard of Gordon’s England ambitions.
Play
“He just has to keep working on all parts of his game, not just the goals, which are a huge part of it, but there is a lot more for his game but it’s good he’s in the conversation, he just has to play.
“He wants to improve and he just needs to focus on that and the rest will naturally come.
“It’s really simple. We have to talk about it but for the players it is ‘play well, look after yourself and you will give yourself the best possible chance’. ”
Lampard will have Jordan Pickford back from a thigh injury for tomorrow’s trip to Southampton.
Dominic CalvertLewin could also finally make his first appearance of the season after a knee problem picked up on the eve of the opening weekend.
However, Nathan Patterson may be out for longer than initially expected after an ankle injury with Scotland.
“I think the four to five week estimate is probably a bit positive from what our first thoughts were so, on that side of it, let’s hope we can get him back quickly,” said Lampard.
“I met him a few times,”he said. “‘My angel, my darling’ was my tag. It would be ‘here’s my angel, my darling’, and then I’d get a big hug.”
Stage
He adds:“Me, Stoney (Steve Stone) and Woany (Ian Woan) took our wives to watch him in Birmingham. “Just walking on stage, he said, ‘my angel, my darling, Sean Dyche is here tonight’.”
The 51-year-old managed Burnley for just short of a decade and was the Premier League’s longest-serving manager. Achieving two promotions to the Premier League and even finishing as high as seventh in 2017-18, his sacking with barely more than a handful of games remaining last season was a big shock to many.
However, Dyche admits he didn’t take the decision personally, despite everything he had done for the club in his time at the helm.
He said:“I think the old board, because of my history there, probably would’ve stayed the course and seen how it went, at least till the summer.
“But the new board come in, they want to bring their thoughts to it, I get that, they want to bring their ideas.
“They want to construct it going forward in their way and that’s life in business, not just football business.
“Yeah I’ve got no problem, they were very respectful to me ... and the situation.
Knocks
“I’ve been in football my whole life.
“You do get a few knocks, you get let down a few times, whether it be by managers, staff, fellow players, fans... it happens.
“But if you start taking it (below left) personally, you eat yourself alive with it.
“I try and be objective, look at the bigger picture and go, ‘what was my part in it?’ My part was to get the team to win and we didn’t win enough games.”
During Dyche’s time with Burnley, the club were commonly perceived as tough and physical on the pitch.
However, he disputes this notion, saying: “Look at our record — every year we’d be mid-table in bookings.
“We had a record of games without a sending off, until Nathan Collins got sent off down at Brentford.”
Burnley did in fact go a record 120 top-flight matches without a red card, with an