Toffees must kick on after crucial victory, says Lampard
EVERTON manager Frank Lampard says his side have to build on their morale-boosting win over Newcastle if they are to save their season.
Today’s FA Cup quarter-final at Crystal Palace may be something of a distraction with a Premier League relegation battle still to be won but Lampard hopes gaining some momentum can be beneficial.
Thursday’s victory was just the club’s fifth in all competitions since September but Lampard said the boost it had given the squad could not be wasted.
“When you have a night like we had on Thursday, it’s important you take the benefits from it, which is an understanding of what winning feels like,” he said.
“Here this season, we haven’t won enough games. There has been a losing feeling too much.
“The winning feeling and the togetherness and effort that goes into that is an important thing to move forward with.
“I don’t want to lean on that too much, though, because since I’ve been here, we’ve had some good wins and good performances that we haven’t backed up.
“We’ve got three points but that doesn’t mean we’re fine. We’re not. Hopefully the Newcastle win can be a change for us, but we have to make it work.
“One night like that is nothing on its own. Now the challenge is to back it up. To find that consistency in performance is the next step for us.”
Meanwhile, Lampard admitted it was good to have a ferocious home crowd on as the Toffees got payback for their defeat at St James’ Park earlier this year.
Newcastle came from behind to win 3-1 on Tyneside with the Toon Army playing a big role, the former England midfielder said.
It was a night where even Kieran Trippier admitted the atmosphere was something he ‘never experienced in his career’ while Ryan Fraser hailed the fans for ‘getting us through that’ under the lights.
That was Lampard’s first game in charge of the Merseyside club and while there have been some feisty moments during his time at Goodison Park, Thursday’s win was one where the home support was fully behind his side.
“We went to Newcastle, my first league game, and we had it the other way around,” Lampard said. “Their crowd were amazing and it affected the team.
“Our crowd were brilliant. First half was hard. Big spaces. There were some tactical things that were hard for us to deal with and, at halftime, I just wanted to be so positive with the team and use the atmosphere and use the side of the game that this club needs to have.
“Everton fans want to see passion. They want to see what they feel and there’s been a lot of negativity around the players, the fans and all this stuff this week. It proved what we can be.”