Everton boss Frank Lampard has defended Dominic Calvert-Lewin as the striker still searches for his first goal of 2022.
The manager is well aware that the striker knows he needs to improve, and the side has a plan to get him back to the levels supporters know he can hit.
Lampard said: "I have to defend Dominic because he was part of a team performance that was not great and he was not at the level he wants to be.
"He knows that. He is an honest lad. He has come back from injury with a real desire to help out.
"There are bits we need to work on to get the level he wants to be. A striker needs sharpness for two reasons; one for what we see when they score the goals, but two for how we want to play.
"We need to be aggressive off the ball, wherever we are on the pitch.
"To give Dominic credit, we know he is a top level player, desperate to come back, But we also know he has not played football for a long time.
"We need to work on that and as soon as we work on his fitness we will see the Dominic we all know who was plundering a lot of goals in the last few seasons.
"Everything is important at the moment - every training session doing little bits with Dominic will help.
"We have three games now until international break. We can have a plan that works him every day to get him back right.
"There is spotlight on a player of his level and I know how much we rely on him, but he is a human lad who needs top level of fitness. We will keep pushing on that."
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