‘He made a mistake’ – Everton star criticises Frank Lampard’s treatment of him

Abdoulaye Doucoure has criticised Frank Lampard's treatment of him during his time as Everton manager.

The midfielder believes the former Toffees boss 'made a mistake' by dropping him at the end of his tenure.

Lampard spent just under a year in charge at Goodison Park before he was dismissed in January 2023.

Doucoure did not feature in either of his final two matches and was even told to either train with the under-21s or on his own after being banished from the first-team.

Reflecting on his relationship with Lampard, the 32-year-old told The Overlap: "Frank Lampard was the only one that didn’t trust me a lot and I think he made a mistake with me to be honest because you know I’m a hard working guy.

"I’m a very humble person. I work hard in training. Obviously he can make a choice.

"I never like, you know, contest the choice a manager makes. But obviously sometimes you have to be fair. And I think he was not fair with me.

"Because leaving me on the bench for so many games and don’t give me really my chance. And that’s why just upset me with him."

Asked if his problem with Lampard was the communication, Doucoure added: "Yeah, he didn’t talk. It was no communication between me and him.

"I never go to see him to ask him any kind of, ‘why am I not playing? Why this? Why that?' And they said you need to train with the under-21s or train alone.

"I said, ‘look, I’m going to train alone because you know I know how to look after myself’.

"Luckily it was not long because after that he was sacked I think a week after so I just trained like alone for two or three days.

"And the week after I was back in the team and we were winning against Arsenal and I was almost player of the match. So you know imagine how football is, you know."

Since joining Everton in 2020, Doucoure has made 154 appearances, scoring 19 goals.

Of those matches, 28 were under Lampard prior to his sacking after a run of one win in 12 Premier League matches.

After missing the former England international's final two fixtures in charge, Doucoure was recalled by Sean Dyche for his first match against Arsenal.

The Toffees ran out 1-0 winners, with Doucoure going on to play 15 of the final 18 matches of the season and scoring the goal which secured top flight survival on the final day.

As for Lampard's spell as boss, he admitted: "For him obviously he was a great player. He was a fantastic player. Everyone knows that.

"But as a manager I think at Everton it was a big lesson for him. And I think he learnt from that."

During his time on Merseyside, Lampard won 12 of his 44 matches across all competitions.

The 46-year-old later returned to Chelsea as caretaker manager later in the same campaign.

He is now in charge of Coventry, having replaced Mark Robins as boss of the Championship side in November on a deal until 2027.