Everton will be hoping to use their trip to Australia this week as a break from turmoil in England, but matters surely wouldn’t be helped should Celtic manage to capitalise on their misery.
Furious supporters tried to confront Frank Lampard and his squad after a second successive heavy defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend, with the Toffees now sitting in 17th position, just one point clear of the relegation places. [Sky Sports]
Questions have surrounded Lampard’s future in the media and amongst pundits. The World Cup period will come as a welcome reprieve in that context but the Sydney Super Cup could well be an unwelcome distraction.
Lampard will be missing at least six senior players for the trip to Australia, with a raft of U21 talents on the plane today, reports The Liverpool Echo.
Celtic, we know, will be motivated and fully up for the weekend occasion. Ange Postecoglou will be demanding his players make a statement against a team in a top league on his home turf.
A demoralised, weakened outfit going up against such a focused and confident side could be a bad recipe for them and potentially a pleasing one for us.
A quick look at their social media pages suggests the Sydney trip isn’t exactly a popular proposition as it stands, with plenty of ‘just stay there’ snark from their own fans.
I doubt it’ll be an easy game, of course. Lampard will be stressing that these few weeks can be used as a reset button for the Toffees, but it would be interesting to see the reaction to a defeat to Celtic with their supporters already up in arms at the competitive form and the former England international already fielding questions about his job.
In other news, Celtic set for open training session.
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