Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers has cited Everton’s Premier League plight as evidence that money alone cannot bring success.
The Foxes head for Goodison Park on Wednesday evening to face a club engaged in a desperate fight for top-flight survival despite investing in excess of £560 million (€674 million)in new players over the last six years or so.
Asked what had gone wrong on the blue half of Merseyside, former Liverpool boss Rodgers said: “It’s well-documented there’s a lot of money been spent – a lot of money – but if it doesn’t all join up, then it doesn’t really matter.
“They’ve got good players who go out and work hard and make it difficult, and they’ve got players with quality, so it’s probably frustrating for the supporters, I’m sure, because it’s a huge club and the investment’s been huge, and they probably wanted better.
“There was obviously a spell on Merseyside at the time I was there when Roberto Martinez was doing really well with them, so it’s tough.
“I think Frank Lampard will do really well as a manager. He’s gone in there with a really good team of coaches, but of course that overall vision of the club is so, so important.”
The Toffees sit just three points clear of the drop zone – although with games in hand on the teams below them – despite a priceless 1-0 victory over Manchester United last time out.
By contrast, Leicester lie ninth, 12 points adrift of seventh-placed West Ham, but having played three games fewer, and are through to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League.
However, they suffered a setback on Sunday when, after dominating for long periods despite making eight changes to the side which had beaten PSV Eindhoven in Holland three days earlier, they were beaten 2-1 at Newcastle thanks to Bruno Guimaraes’ 95th-minute winner.
A philosophical Rodgers said: “Of course when you lose, there is that disappointment. But for me it’s clear, the analysis of the game. For large periods, we were in control, we were very good.
“You’ve just got to manage the game to see it out, and that’s cost us a few times this season. It’s a case of reinforcing a lot of our good moments and reflecting and learning and hopefully go on to win the next game.
“It’s a credit to the players that this is the first game we’ve lost coming off a European match, so it shows the mentality and resilience in the squad. We’ll take that on to the Everton match on Wednesday.”