On this day in 2022, the then Everton manager called out his players for a lack of "bollocks" following the 4-0 loss to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup quarter-finals
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Gordon and Lampard at full time (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
As Evertonians made their way down to south London on Sunday, March 20 in 2022, there was a feeling that maybe everything was going to be alright.
Days before, Alex Iwobi's 99th-minute winner for the 10-man Blues against Newcastle United given the team a huge boost in their bid to avoid relegation. They were now three points clear of the drop zone.
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Coming up was a welcome break from the Premier League concerns - an FA Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace. The ridiculous midday kick-off time saw the Blues put on free coach travel for the fixture and the Blues obviously sold out their away allocation in the hope of a return to the capital the following month for a Wembley semi-final.
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So could the season end in some joy? A steady push away from the bottom three and a long overdue trip to Wembley? Maybe even a trophy?
Well, no.
Supporters who made the journey - coaches picked up some from Liverpool city centre at 5 a.m. that morning - would've been regretting their decision quickly.
Andros Townsend suffered a serious injury for the Blues that ruled him out for 18 months - it would prove to be his last Everton appearance. Then Everton melted down in the midday spring sun, with goals from Marc Guehi, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Wilfried Zaha and Will Hughes condemning them to a miserable 4-0 defeat.
"A goal from a corner, another average goal, a fluke goal then another average goal" the Everton manager described them as afterwards in what has become a favourite social media meme.
At full time the away end let the players and manager have it. Anthony Gordon was noticeably distraught and Lampard did what he could to cajole the players and supporters with a relegation battle still to fight.
But in his media duties afterwards, Lampard let some anger out and his squad: "You're playing at the cut-throat end of football; this is the FA Cup quarter-finals. If you haven't got the confidence to play, you can flip it and say: 'Have you got the bollocks to play?' Apologies but that's the football term.
"I don't have a magic wand to get inside people's heads and change the resilience across a whole squad. That's a work in progress. So we just have to work on that, as frustrating as it is for me and for the 4,000 fans who travelled down."
The loss did seem to dent the confidence of what was already a brittle squad, as losses to West Ham United and then crucially to Burnley followed.
However, Lampard and the team rallied late in the season and were eventually able to secure safety. It was against Palace which they did so of course, as the Blues came from behind to win 3-2 at Goodison Park on a dramatic evening.