Everton secured a vital win over Manchester United on Saturday to keep them above the bottom three. Temporarily, at least, doubts as to whether Frank Lampard is the right coach to oversee a successful survival fight were extinguished. How will he complete Everton’s escape from danger?

Remaining calm amid the madness

There is no point downplaying the importance of Saturday’s victory over Manchester United for Everton and Frank Lampard. Everton’s Premier League future – and Lampard’s reputation as an emerging young coach – felt like it was on the line pre-match. He will only get the chance to tap into Everton’s full potential, and begin to mould a side along a more distinctive football style, when relegation is avoided.

It is easy to see Lampard as a novice, too inexperienced for a relegation battle, or too much of a football idealist accustomed to elite, Champions League standard football to oversee a dog fight. Lampard has dealt with those questions (they have been put to him in every media briefing) with a steely dignity and passion to prove he is the right appointment. Performances have been improving over the last month, and Lampard’s calmness under pressure is one of best assets. He motivated the perfect reaction to a defeat at Burnley which – at the final whistle – felt like the most damaging at Everton for over 20 years. Do not underestimate how comforting that will be to majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

Maximising the ‘Goodison factor’

Everton have been sinking towards the bottom three, and yet their home form – as many predicted – remains the likely source of salvation. Saturday’s was Everton’s fifth win in seven at Goodison Park, and one of the defeats was the contentious loss to Manchester City. Although the fixture list looks daunting – Leicester come next and Chelsea are yet to travel to Merseyside – as that recent performance against City demonstrated, no team relishes a trip to Goodison when the supporters and players are a collective force.

The problem is creating that sense of unity. After so much disillusionment, Everton fans need to be lifted by the application of their team before they will get behind them. David Moyes used to speak of how vital it was to get on the front foot early in home games to get the crowd onside – getting into the final third and winning a corner as soon as possible. Even at home it has been an extremely challenging environment, but Lampard has managed to tap into that ‘Goodison factor’ in a way some of his predecessors could not. That should keep them up.