Everton manager Frank Lampard accepts fans are well within their rights to express their anger at another defeat after the 1-0 loss to Wolves edged the Toffees further into relegation trouble.
Former Liverpool academy graduate and boyhood Reds fan Conor Coady’s glancing header four minutes after half-time was enough to inflict an eighth defeat in nine league matches on Everton and left Lampard’s side outside the bottom three on goal difference only.
Jonjoe Kenny’s sending off for a second booking three minutes after his first compounded the hosts’ misery on an increasingly toxic afternoon at Goodison Park which ended in boos at the final whistle.
Everton’s 22-point haul from 26 matches is the lowest tally in their history at this stage of the season.
“I’ve played for 20 years and I have seen plenty of reactions from crowds,” said Lampard.
“I can’t stand there and say ‘Thanks very much for helping us play so well against Brentford and Leeds and Manchester City’ – and deserve more in that game – and not expect that the fans that want the team to do well, want the team to stay up and get wins, will not have reactions.”
Lampard is trying to look at the bigger picture as his side have 12 matches left and at least a couple of games in hand on most of their relegation rivals.
But following on from a 5-0 thrashing at Tottenham on Monday, losing at home was another blow to morale.
“I don’t put an emphasis on Goodison Park, I want to get points everywhere,” added the Toffees boss.
“It wasn’t more worrying as Tottenham. Tottenham wasn’t a good performance. Today in the first half we were the stronger team.
“The goal changed the whole feeling of the game and in the stadium, that is understandable the position the club is in. That’s been coming a long time.
“We have 12 games to go now so we can’t get stuck in the rut of looking at this game alone.
“We lost against a good team in a tight match with 10 men for the last period when you really want to push.”
Victory for Wolves moved them up to seventh and since the turn of the year only second-placed Liverpool have won more points in the Premier League.
“Very good, especially the performance: the players did everything we planned,” said boss Bruno Lage.
“It’s a tough place to play, a big experience, but I think we came with a good plan. When a team loses 5-0 you know they will come at you in the beginning.
“The first 20 minutes we were compact, solid, and after that we controlled the game. Second half was one of the best second halves we did.
“We controlled the game with and without the ball. We scored one goal, could have scored more, and deserved the points.”
