MATCH CENTRE

Lampard: Heads Up And Move Forward

Frank Lampard says Everton must show calm and move forward with positivity following a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United.

In a bizarre 108 seconds, the Blues took a first-half lead at St James' Park when Jamaal Lascelles put into his own net before the hosts hit back immediately via Mason Holgate's own goal.

Second-half strikes from Ryan Fraser and Kieran Trippier sealed the win for the hosts, with the Toffees unable to follow up on an eye-catching 4-1 FA Cup victory over Bournemouth just three days earlier.

"It was a difficult game," said Lampard after the match. "From a good performance on Saturday, this wasn’t the performance we want. 

"We got in front but then conceded quickly which invites the pressure. 

"But we have to be very balanced about it. I’ve been here a week. We’ve come into a very difficult match against Newcastle, who are very effective in some of their direct play, second balls - they have a player on the pitch in Saint-Maximin who when he plays like that is pretty unplayable to be fair. 

"There were elements again that were good, and some that were not so good but we must keep our heads up, for sure. 

"There’s a long way to go in this. People made a lot of this game. I was very aware of the difficulties of this game, [Newcastle] coming in fresh, and I learnt some bits about the team as well."

To compound woes, Everton were dealt a double injury blow on their visit to the north east.

Demarai Gray was forced off with a hip problem after 25 minutes, before Yerry Mina was struck down with a muscular injury and withdrawn 10 minutes later.

And Lampard admits those enforced changes in the opening period restricted his ability to chase the game after falling behind.

"[They disrupted us] a lot because they’re big players for us," added Lampard. "Demarai’s had a fantastic season so far and I thought that we were causing them some problems with Anthony, Demarai and Richarlison as we wanted to. 

"Then, Yerry is obviously a big player for us as well, so when you lose two big players you also restrict yourself on subs in the second half. 

"I would have made more changes to try and affect the game, but it was impossible to other than to bring on Donny who came on at a difficult time. 

"They were big circumstances that happened that made it difficult tonight.

"We’re integrating [the new players] and that’s not easy, but they’re good players.

"We’ve been here one week and you look at Newcastle - they’ve had time to work, they’ve had good and toughened times.

"This is the Premier League and we’re both clubs that know the direction we want to go.

"As much as we want everything right now, we have to give a bit of time to those boys that have come in and made their debuts.

"As a team and as a club, we just have to stay strong. This was never going to be a simple ride and it won’t be. Going forward, there’ll be games like this and we just need to get to work and have a really sharp focus on what we’re doing."