New Everton manager Frank Lampard admits he had a day he will never forget after opening his Goodison Park reign with a 4-1 FA Cup fourth-round victory over Premier League rivals Brentford.
Goals from Yerry Mina, Richarlison, Mason Holgate and Andros Townsend, after Ivan Toney’s penalty had briefly made it 2-1, secured the biggest win on debut by any Toffees boss.
It was the team’s largest victory against top-flight opposition since beating West Ham by the same scoreline in the Carabao Cup in September 2020 and had supporters singing “Super Frankie Lampard” in the second half and at the final whistle.
“I can only thank the fans for their support of me from the moment I walked out and of course at the end, seeing the team perform the way it did,” said the former Chelsea boss.
“It’s a day I’ll never forget, it was very special, and I can’t help but get caught up in the emotion of that for the moment.
“We all hear about the Goodison effect and I’ve felt it on the other side and we wanted to produce that today and the players did.
“But as much as I was proud of the performance and it gets me excited, I have to calm down now and work towards the league games.”
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Frank Lampard received a warm welcome at Goodison Park (Peter Byrne/PA)
The only downside on an otherwise positive day was an injury to Ben Godfrey.
“Hamstring injury to be assessed,” added Lampard.
“Let it settle for two days and then scan it, but he will be missing for a period of time, depending on the severity.”
Brentford boss Thomas Frank did not feel they deserved to lose by the margin they did but bemoaned their poor defending at corners for the defeat.
“I think when you lose 4-1 you can’t argue, it’s a fair defeat. I do think it was never a 4-1 defeat,” he said.
Everton pulled clear in the second half (Peter Byrne/PA)
“They had four chances and scored four goals – very efficient by Everton.
“First half they created nothing, we created nothing and then they scored a goal from a set-piece and we should never concede that one.
“Second half we adjusted things and then they score after three minutes.
“We had a good spell, make it 2-1 and then we concede another set-piece. The big disappointing thing is we conceded two set-piece goals.
“I think today we looked s**t on set-pieces.”
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
