Frank Lampard called on Premier League managers to be given more time to implement their styles and philosophies after former England teammate Steven Gerrard was sacked by Aston Villa.
Gerrard took over from Dean Smith last year but a poor start this season – the Villans sit 17th in the table with only two wins so far – saw him sacked after their latest defeat at Fulham.
Lampard has been under pressure himself at Everton since being appointed as Rafa Benitez’s successor earlier this year, but his side ended a run of three consecutive league defeats with a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
In his pre-match press conference before that win, Lampard said: “I know Stevie, I get on well with him, and have a huge amount of respect for him as a player, as a person and a manager and coach, that’s the first thing. It’s not nice for somebody to lose their job and when it’s in the public eye, I know that from my experience, it also can be difficult in many ways.
“He’s a very tough lad with good family around him and all those things but I won’t comment much more as having been in that situation, I know there are a lot of things beneath that with situations he’s worked with and he’ll have his views on that, but he’s a great, great football person and that’s all I’ve got to say really.”
He added: “This is the thing, we all understand the jeopardy of the job we work in and there a lot of plusses to it, huge plusses and we’re proud to represent the clubs we work for but as a coach in the modern day, you need time to work, circumstances to work, and we’ve all got our responsibilities to try and get results but sometimes time isn’t afforded in the modern day.
“I think when you’re working at that level, you see really good examples in the modern day of when you give coaches time to go through the patches to try and get growth and try and get to where you want to, there’s always something in the road that catches you in moments and periods and you have to give people time to do that.
“We’ve got great examples in the Premier League, the coach who is at the top of the Premier League [Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta], rightly lauded as an amazing coach. There have been many a time that people have questioned whether he should be in his job and could lose his job.
“There are other coaches that have been promoted, or not promoted, stay in the league and struggling and then people start to appreciate the work they do over time. So, as a general thing, I think that would be what I’d look at and that’s unfortunately become part of the modern game.”
Lampard and Gerrard met on the touchline earlier this season in August when Villa beat Everton 2-1.
Credit: 90min.com
