FRANK LAMPARD is not only fighting for Premier League survival, he is battling to save his top-flight managerial career.
A little over a month since taking over, the new Everton boss is already feeling the heat after a 5-0 trouncing at Tottenham on Monday.
Frank Lampard’s Everton are at serious risk of falling into the drop zone and are one point above Burnley
And that loss left his Toffees firmly entrenched in relegation danger.
Of course, their precarious predicament is not solely Lampard’s fault.
The spectre of the drop was hovering over Goodison Park long before he was appointed as Rafael Benitez’s successor at the end of January.
And Everton’s problems run far deeper – or higher – than the dugout.
But make no mistake, if Everton do go down, fingers and blame will understandably be directed at Lampard.
And the consequences for a football-obsessed fella determined to follow his glittering Prem playing career with a similar, if not even more, successful one as a gaffer, would be catastrophic.
Lampard, despite his Championship credentials with Derby, would almost certainly be sacked.
This would make him persona non grata for any top tier vacancy in the foreseeable future, forcing Lampard, 43, to the EFL or Europe to rebuild his tattered reputation.
Not the pathway to managerial glory he planned.
The former England midfielder, as you would expect, is confident he can lead Everton to safety.
Their spanking at Spurs suggested otherwise.
The blue half of Merseyside remain in 17th, just one point ahead of third-bottom Burnley, albeit with a game in hand.
But their heavy defeat wiped out the single goal difference advantage they had over the Clarets.
Lampard’s Toffees have picked up just three points from 15 in their last five games
Lampard’s tactics and the Toffees’ technique left them alarmingly exposed.
Few regulars at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could recall a more abject performance from a visiting team.
Lampard’s tactics and the Toffees technique left them alarmingly exposed.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin again looked far from match-fit as the heartless visitors failed to register a shot on target for the second away game.
They instilled confidence in a Spurs side who had lost their previous two home matches and were reeling after their shock FA Cup exit at Middlesbrough.
Lampard has lost four and won just one of his five league matches in charge of Everton.
They have the worst away record in the division, mustering just six points on the road this term.
And their haul of 22 points after 25 games is their lowest total at this stage of a top-flight season ever.
Lampard, who had galvanised Goodison with emphatic wins over Leeds in the league and Brentford and Boreham Wood in the FA Cup, is confident their home form will see Everton safe.
But they were so bad at Tottenham you cannot help but speculate their atrocious away form could soon translate to their own turf.
The suffered a nightmare loss to Tottenham and face Wolves and Newcastle in their next two games
Especially if they follow it up with equally poor results in the upcoming back-to-back visits of Wolves on Sunday and Newcastle the following Thursday.
That would crank up the pressure on Lampard and his players even further and have all those at the School of Science turning to geography by digging out their maps to discover the best routes to places like Preston, Coventry and Luton.
Despite Everton’s pedigree, many questioned his decision to inherit the mess Benitez left.
There is now a real danger he could end up carrying the can for it.
