FRANK Lampard insists the side he picked for Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup tie should “absolutely” have been capable of beating Cherries, despite making 11 changes.
Lampard named a new-look XI for the contest, from the one which lost 2-0 at Goodison Park against Leicester City in the Premier League at the weekend.
However, it was still a team packed full of experienced and international players, until the final nine minutes when youngsters Stanley Mills and Tom Cannon were introduced off the bench.
Cherries too made changes, nine in all, and ran out comfortable 4-1 winners after a fine second-half display.
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A forgettable first half ended with the hosts ahead of Vitality Stadium thanks to Jamal Lowe’s fortuitous effort, with Toffees pair Tom Davies and Anthony Gordon wasting glorious openings. Junior Stanislas doubled the tally shortly after the restart, after a slip by Mason Holgate.
Substitute Demarai Gray pulled one back with a fine effort, before Emiliano Marcondes responded and Jaidon Anthony completed the victory.
The two sides are set to go head-to-head again on Saturday in the league.
Asked if he felt the XI he picked were good enough to beat Cherries on Tuesday, boss Lampard said: “Absolutely. There’s no doubt about that. Bournemouth also changed their team.
“We can go into details of the game – we should’ve been winning at half-time.
“They had one deflected shot, we had two golden chances that changes the feeling of the game.
“The second goal is just an incredible goal from our point of view. It can’t happen at this level of football, that type of goal.
“There’s no doubt about that. That makes the game difficult. You chase the game and what happened can happen.
“And there was another mistake on the fourth goal.
“So there are individuals that need to look at themselves and go ‘yeah I was absolutely culpable there’ and hold their hands up.”
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