Everton sack Frank Lampard with Toffees in relegation zone

After falling to West Ham on Saturday, Everton relieved manager Frank Lampard of his post. The Toffees are in 19th place, level on points with bottom-of-the-table Southampton. Everton’s three wins are the lowest in the Premier League this campaign. The sacking of Frank Lampard is not necessarily a surprise. Everton narrowly escaped the drop last […]

After falling to West Ham on Saturday, Everton relieved manager Frank Lampard of his post. The Toffees are in 19th place, level on points with bottom-of-the-table Southampton. Everton’s three wins are the lowest in the Premier League this campaign.

The sacking of Frank Lampard is not necessarily a surprise. Everton narrowly escaped the drop last season. Frank Lampard, a midseason signing as manager, kept Goodison Park afloat in the top flight. Everton won three of its last six games to escape plummeting to the Championship.

However, Everton failed to adopt any sort of form in the first half of the 2022/23 campaign. Everton has just two points from its last eight games. Inexplicably, those draws came on the road against Fulham and Manchester City, two of the more in-form teams in the league this season.

As of now, there is no replacement in store for Lampard, even in the interim. However, once the club releases a statement on Lampard, it will name a caretaker in his stead.

Frank Lampard has been sacked by Everton, as expected — official club statement to follow 🚨🔵 #EFC pic.twitter.com/TzPqLqs6Gb

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 23, 2023

Replacements for Frank Lampard at Everton

The Everton job is not exactly an appetizing one at the moment. While history and passion are certainly strengths of the Merseyside club, there is no recent success to build off. Like it was for Frank Lampard a season ago, it is a major challenge to keep Everton in the Premier League next season.

Regardless, there are a number of interesting candidates rumored to be on the list for owner Farhad Moshiri.

Among those is Sean Dyche, something of an expert at Premier League survival. Dyche managed Burnley for nine and a half years. The club sacked him while it was in the relegation zone. It suffered the drop. However, Dyche’s time at Burnley included some narrow survivals, as well as some decent success, such as a seventh-place finish in 2017/18.

Another name to keep an eye on is Marcelo Bielsa. The former Leeds manager has also been out of a job since 2022. Leeds sacked Bielsa with the club in the relegation zone, much like Dyche at Burnley. However, new arrival Jesse Marsch did enough to keep Leeds out of the Championship.

Finally, the last rumor is Wayne Rooney. The former Everton youth product was among the names in line before Frank Lampard arrived at Goodison. Now, with his English teammate sacked, the current DC United manager could return to England, where he previously coached Derby County.

Everton has some time off, with its next game on Feb. 4. However, it takes on league leaders Arsenal before traveling across town to face Liverpool.

PHOTO: IMAGO / PA Images