Everton 0-1 Wolves: Frank Lampard is made to suffer more misery after former Liverpool starlet Conor Coady sinks his free-falling 10-man Toffees at Goodison Park to leave them level on points with 18th-placed Watford

When the latest day of misery reached its inevitable conclusion, the most revealing aspect of Everton’s turmoil came from the Goodison Park crowd.

There was booing as Everton’s players skulked off the pitch while some of those on the Gwladys Street made gestures to show their displeasure. The thing about this stadium usually, however, is that it resembles a hot house in testing times. Normally you would expect venom and wrath.

Not this time. While the noise came from the exultant fans of Wolverhampton Wanderers, who are dreaming of embarking on a European tour, the booing from the locals was quickly muffled, as if they no longer had the energy. Anger had turned to apathy and this was deeply alarming.

If Evertonians have lost their fight and belief, there is no more damning indictment of their ramshackle team. These fans are some of the most loyal and passionate in the business but, above all, they are knowledgeable. They know Everton are in freefall and don’t seem to have a parachute.

Wolves – a proper, honest team for whom Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez excelled – took full advantage of Everton’s plight, bolstering their hopes of reaching Europe thanks to a header from captain Conor Coady early in the second half.

The scoreline was slender but, for all that Frank Lampard argued otherwise, there was a gulf in class between these clubs. Wolves aren’t the best team in the Premier League but they have been well coached all season, have determined players and were far too savvy for their hosts.

This was a fourth straight defeat for Everton – Lampard has taken just three points from a possible 18 – and you wonder when and where they will find the results to get them towards safety. Devoid of confidence and lacking quality, everything about them, screams relegation.

‘I played for 20 years and I have seen plenty of reactions from crowds,’ said Lampard, a man who is an open book in terms of emotions and it was plain to see he was hurting. ‘I can’t not expect the fans that want the team to do well will not have reactions.’ 

With so much riding on the outcome, the atmosphere was going to go one of two ways: either the home fans were going to stoke a furnace and inspire the team or fear was going to slowly take hold and leave the old stadium silent. Quickly it became obvious it was going to be the latter.

Lampard, understandably on the back of Monday’s shellacking at Tottenham, had set his team up to be difficult to break down but pragmatism quickly morphed into nervousness and other than a sixth-minute shot from Richarlison that Jose Sa comfortably dealt with, Everton showed nothing.

Wolves, their confidence restored after beating Watford 4-0 last Thursday, were tight and compact and, above all, patient. They had dispatched Everton in November at Molineux with a slick first half display but here Lage’s men gave the impression they were content to bide their time.

When Everton had the ball, they sat back and allowed their hosts to pass it around as, other than Antony Gordon and Demarai Gray, they were powderpuff. So Wolves waited and waited and were even able to withstand the early blow of losing the injured Hwang Hee-Chan. 

The only attempt they mustered was a 41st minute overhead kick from Jiminez, which comfortably cleared the crossbar, but that seemed to be the point that Wolves let and in the second half they went through the gears.

‘We prepared well the game, we put many players in the midfield to have more players in the middle, to have more ball possession,’ said Bruno Lage. ‘To do that, we needed to keep the rhythm we want to play. After 15-20 minutes it was calm and we had the players to make the spaces.

‘In the second half it was so good. My players did everything they were asked. We adapted, we changed and we continue in possession and I said this is the thing we need to do every game. We need to have that belief.’

They had it here. Coady, a boyhood Liverpool fan, provided the decisive action when rising high to convert a pinpoint cross from Neves in the 48th minute and from there, Wolves never seriously had a moment’s anxiety as Everton couldn’t keep the ball to build any pressure.

Really, they should have put more gloss on the score. Jimenez, such a powerful and imposing presence, flashed a volley from a Joao Moutinho free-kick wide; Trincao, on as late substitute, whipped a terrific opportunity over the bar, while Daniel Podence wasted openings.

No matter. Everton, save for a shot from Richarlison that ended up in the side-netting and another from Jonjo Kenny that looped into the Gwladys Street, never once gave the impression that they would build up a head of steam to get a goal to change the narrative.

A bad day for Lampard was compounded by Kenny’s sending off, for two bookings in the 75th and 78th minute – there were no complaints about the decision – and a substitute performance from Dele Alli that suggested he has forgotten how to play football at this level.

Those long familiar with this club were startled by what they had seen so it was little wonder Lampard – only 42 days in charge – looked like he had seen a ghost. This was a haunting experience. Thing is, in this form, it may become even scarier.