Everton's 2021/22 season suffered another crushing blow as they were dumped out of the FA Cup in humiliating style against Crystal Palace.While securing Premier League survival is ultimately the priority at Goodison Park, there's no denying that reaching Wembley Stadium in world football's oldest competition would have been a welcome boost.However, Frank Lampard instead had to swallow the latest bump in the road of what has already been a tumultuous few months on Merseyside, watching his team slump to a 4-0 thrashing at Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace 4-0 Everton
Marc Guéhi headed the Eagles into the lead, Jean-Philippe Mateta capped off a slick team move, Wilfried Zaha bagged a fortuitous third and Will Hughes completed the rout by sweeping home a rebound.
On paper, you'd think that the Toffees had capitulated for the umpteenth time this season, suffering an unexpected hangover from the Newcastle United defeat in spectacular fashion.
However, while Everton were by no means top quality in south London, they didn't play as poorly as the scoreline would have you believe and actually started much the better team.
Lampard gives frustrated interview
As such, you could really sense in Lampard's post-match interview what could only be described as a cocktail of frustration, dismay, disappointment and just about every emotion on that spectrum.
You can never fault the Chelsea legend for his passion, but one particular section of his chat with Everton's press team caught the eye on social media with the accusations of saltiness raining in.
That's because the 43-year-old gave a rather eye-opening breakdown of Palace's goals, slamming some of them as 'average' or 'a fluke', while also taking aim at the performance of his own players.
According to Everton's official website, Lampard reflected: “The players performed at 70 per cent today and it’s not good enough.We started really well and controlled the game.
"Then we allowed a goal from a corner, then another average goal, a fluke goal and another average goal.Frank Lampard
“We came here to try to get to Wembley and we gave Palace a pass to get into the semi-final. Palace didn’t play that well and they won 4-0. The players have got to take responsibility.
“We’ve told the players to be tough, resilient, strong, and to trust in themselves – and we back them to be confident. The players have to do that in games.
“Since I’ve come in, we’ve had some good and bad moments and, a lot of the time, I’ll defend the idea of the players. When I came in, I knew we were on a losing run and what the mentality may be. But now it’s the end of that story and we have 11 games left to show character.
“If anyone doesn’t want to show character and doesn’t want to fight, they won’t be part of it.â€
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Lampard's frustration with Everton squad
Look, Lampard is one of the greatest midfielders in football history and a legend of the English game, so you can bet your bottom dollar that he expects high standards from his Everton squad.
You can see just how much it means to the Toffees boss when he essentially bemoans the fact that his team could have achieved so much more because, well, Palace weren't particularly special.
While we're not too sure about the 'average' accusations against Palace's second goal, there's an element of truth about the first, third and fourth to the point where Everton can feel a little unlucky.
Soccer Football - FA Cup Quarter Final - Crystal Palace v Everton - Selhurst Park, London, Britain - March 20, 2022 Everton manager Frank Lampard walks off the pitch at the end of the first half REUTERS/Tony Obrien
However, just as Lampard said himself, you have to up your game and push harder to make that luck and Everton were arguably most frustrating for neither being brilliant nor horrendous.
But who knows, perhaps the defeat will prove to be a blessing in disguise as the Merseyside giants gear up for a tough battle to maintain their Premier League status. Nerve-wracking times.