Frank Lampard said Everton recording their first Premier League win of the season was a “big deal”.
Neal Maupay’s first goal for the club earned a 1-0 victory over West Ham at Goodison Park as the Toffees signed for the international break in the best way possible.
Lampard’s side had played well in recent weeks without getting the full reward, so the boss was happy to get rid of the monkey.
“It’s really important because – an obvious fact but – when you play well and you don’t get what you think you deserve, it leaves the table less beautiful,” he said.
“For the confidence of the group, seeing the work they do and the mindset they have can bring results in terms of wins.
“We’re starting to fix some things, we’re harder to beat, we’re not conceding so much. It’s great for the group, especially as we approach the break, because it gives confidence to the group and to the club.
“It’s a win that we feel we have earned internally.
“There’s no doubt about it because of the way we played and the feeling in the group. The feeling I have is that the spirit is growing and the application of the group is great but you need a result.
“The thing is, we don’t concede that much and we were unbeaten in four in the league before that, but we all know we want wins. We’re 13th now and there’s real hope we can move up. the top.
“There is so much work to do on this front. Right now it’s huge for us to get a win. I hope we will improve, but winning today was a big problem for us.
West Ham remain stuck in the bottom three after another disappointing afternoon, following Thursday’s Europa Conference League trip to Denmark.
The Hammers have lost 13 of their 26 Premier League games in 2022 and boss David Moyes knows his side need to regain their form.
“If you look back, we felt we were falling and we were aware of that and trying to improve on it,” he said.
“I recognized that it was probably in February that we weren’t as strong. We chose not to bring anyone in January and I could see that.
“But we got to a European semi-final, we challenged until the last 20 minutes of the Premier League season to be sixth. We weren’t going that far, we were tough, but I just felt that we needed new players and a lot of those players played today.
“I need them, I need them to play their best. I’ve seen the performances that a lot of these players can put in. It’s me who takes the responsibility and I have to get them back to that quickly. level.
