‘Won’t name names’ - Frank Lampard’s Everton verdict as he singles out one positive from Tottenham loss

Frank Lampard rued Everton's woeful defending as they suffered a chastening 5-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur.

The Toffees were abysmal in the capital and Premier League relegation fears intensified markedly after their latest defeat.

What’s been said

Everton went into half-time 3-0 down courtesy of a Michael Keane own goal and strikes from Son Heung-min and Harry Kane.

Then Sergio Reguilon bagged just 41 seconds after the interval before Kane notched his second to compound the Blues' misery.

Everton sit just one point and one place above the drop zone with 13 matches remaining.

Lampard admits some of his players' performances have given him 'food for thought'.

The Everton boss told Sky Sports: “Well beaten. Started already for 15 minutes or so, controlled a bit of possession.

“We had spoken about counter-attack, which is big strength of Tottenham. They play very compact and counter-attack with speed and top-quality players.

“We didn't deal with it well enough. Simple as that. At 2-0 or 3-0 is horrible for any team to get back into the game because the momentum is completely gone.

“Individual moments of bad mistakes of defending - clear on that point.

“I've got no more to say other than that (the first two goals were preventable).

“I know it's my job to review them and go back but sometimes you do review them, you go: "They leave their area."

“We don't tell people to leave their area and go into midfield and leave spaces around. Some of those are mistakes.

“We have to think of the bigger picture and there are 13 games to go - eight of those are at home.

We have to understand, before I came in, there were issues and they're becoming more clear to me every day.

“The important thing is I lead it and positivity stay - not the stupid positivity, there is nothing positive about tonight other than Anthony Gordon and a couple of performances of credit, people didn't give up.

“That should be the bare minimum. It gives me a lot of food for thought going forward.”

Mental side will come into it very quickly

Everton have won just once away from home all season.

Lampard believes that the Toffees have problems mentally when they go behind on the road - and they stem from making errors.

He added: “There is (a mental problem) but there's a football side to it. If you give away goals and find yourself two goals down in 25 minutes then that mental side will come into it very quickly

“Football always starts it and if we're not good enough to deal with situations, that can happen no matter how you set up.

“You set up to play a strong back four. I haven't got enough centre-backs to play a back three, two of my centre-halves got injured in my first two games.

“We have to play a back four, we want to try to stay compact in midfield. It's clear if you make errors, they're going to score goals with that level of players.”

Speaking to reporters, Lampard added: “Anthony Gordon was our standout player because of his attitude and quality.

“Other performances not up to scratch. I won’t name names. The reaction was not good enough. It was the reaction of a team used to losing away from home. We need to sort it out.”