Lampard: Iwobi is playing with an incredible consistency

For a long time, Super Eagles playmaker Alex Iwobi was regarded as the embodiment of the Everton malaise, a £34 million waste of money at a club that was feeding £50 notes into the river Mersey.

Not so anymore. With Everton having gone six games without defeat there is a loud silence from the many detractors, not just when it comes to Iwobi, but Frank Lampard, the manager, as well.

Iwobi provided the assist for Everton’s winner, struck home vehemently by another player who was threatening to become an enigma, Dwight McNeil. Apart from the delicate chipped cross, there was industry and invention throughout from Iwobi.

Long considered a luxury player, it turns out that Iwobi’s lactate levels are through the roof, which allows him to run at full tilt for virtually the full 90 minutes, even if he collapses on the ground at the end. 

St Mary’s on Saturday provided another good example of that as Everton responded to a Joe Aribo strike early in the second half with an equaliser from Conor Coady, before McNeil struck the winner.

Lampard has been playing Iwobi centrally, even as a holding midfielder on occasion, a position he plays regularly for his country, Nigeria. It’s not the first time this has been tried in the Premier League — Carlo Ancelotti also tested Iwobi as a defensive midfielder having ascertained that was his favourite position. Ancelotti did the same with Andrea Pirlo, but Iwobi lasted only half an hour before he was moved wide in a game against Burnley at Goodison Park in March 2021 — by which stage the away side were two goals to the good.

Before and since, Iwobi has been shunted around, a frustrating and expensive misfit, at least until Lampard was parachuted in late last season to save Everton from relegation. Now, Lampard is getting the best out of the player, either as a holding midfielder or in the more advanced central position he occupied on Saturday.

“He is playing with incredible consistency,” Lampard told The Times. “He did a lot for us last season, played some games at No 8 and I really liked him. It suited his talent, in terms of strength and quality of pass. He has so many talents. I would not like to have played against him as a midfield player. He can run and run.”

In so doing, Iwobi is removing himself from the shackles of his price tag. Everton’s much-derided former director of football Marcel Brands was primarily responsible for bringing him to the club in August 2019 when Marco Silva was head coach.

Arsenal sold him to finance the £72 million purchase of Nicolas Pépé. However, while Pépé looks a beaten docket at Arsenal — he is now on loan at Nice — at least Iwobi has come good and has more to offer at 26. “Can he get higher up the pitch and be more effective in the final third?” asks Lampard. “I am talking about assists — he got one today — and goals. He has got that in his game.”