Frank Lampard has said Everton have no divine right to their Premier League status and must improve in the summer to avoid a repeat of this season’s relegation struggle.

Lampard achieved his immediate task of securing Everton’s survival with Thursday’s dramatic comeback defeat of Crystal Palace. After the raucous celebrations, however, he turned his attention to the rebuilding work required and admitted Everton could not take for granted their 68-year residence in the top flight.

‘One of the greatest moments of my life’: Lampard revels in Everton survivalRead more

The Everton manager, asked whether the club were too big to be fighting relegation, said: “Yes, but is it? What right does Everton have to be P…

As Johan Cruyff pioneered the use of the sweeper keeper with Stanley Menzo at Ajax, he argued that he didn’t care if his side conceded a couple of goals a season from lobs into an empty net with his goalkeeper caught upfield; far more important were the gains made by being able to play a higher offside line, squeezing the play, in the knowledge that Menzo was there to mop up behind. It made it harder for opponents to attack, and meant that Ajax more regularly won the ball back higher up the pitch in dangerous areas.

The problem, said Cruyff, was that football culture was too obsessed with the obvious and with apportioning blame. A goalkeeper being caught out of his goal looked bad and so drew criticism, whereas the incremental gains, which…

When the green flag drops on NBA free agency on Sunday, the queue of general managers ready to spend will depend on which players actually reach the open market. Changes in the Collective Bargaining Agreement permitted players to re-sign with their current teams and a number of coveted potential free agents are already off the board. Pascal Siakam ($189.5 million) returned to the Indiana Pacers, OG Anunoby ($212.5 million) is back with the Knicks, Immanuel Quickley ($175 million) agreed to stick with the Raptors, Nic Claxton (four years, $100 million) grabbed a bag in Brooklyn and Malik Monk ($78 million) re-upped with the Kings after his runner-up Sixth Man of the Year award finish. Several other would-be free agents in line for significant paydays also signed new contracts during la…

Terry Watson, an ex-NFL agent who represented Cortland Finnegan and a handful of other players, agreed to a plea deal in a North Carolina court this afternoon and was sentenced to a suspended jail sentence of six-to-eight months for providing three NFL-bound UNC players with money in 2010. Because his sentence is suspended, it will kick in if he doesn’t pay a $5,000 fine or complete 30 months probation. Watson agreed to plead guilty to 13 charges of athlete-agent inducement in exchange for prosecutors dropping a felony obstruction of justice charge. The state of North Carolina began to investigate UNC’s athletic program in 2010, shortly after the NCCA started the investigation which led to the school’s ongoing academic fraud scandal. Charges against Watson and four others were an…

Some people are fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This 2019 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here. Your team: Pittsburgh Steelers. Your 2018 record: 9-6-1. You thought they made the playoffs last year, right? So did they, amigo, so did they. Last year I wondered out loud if the Steelers were ever on the same page. 2018 proved that they were not. In fact, 2018 proved that the Steelers all hate each other FAR more than they hate any given opponent. They let Le’Veon Bell hold out for the entire season, just to teach him a lesson. They looted his locker. Their chosen union reps, who in theory would offer support for Bell, did the precise opposite and openly dumped…

At the end of the third quarter of last night’s Celtics-Warriors game, Steph Curry did some very rude things to Celtics rookie Jaylen Brown. After shaking and faking Brown out of his airspace, Curry rose up for a buzzer-beating three that put the Warriors up 74-71. And then he got sassy, turning toward Brown, pointing, and talking some shit. So what was all that about? Based on Curry’s reaction, it looked like he was rubbing Brown’s nose in some ill-advised yapping that perhaps took place before the shot, but after the game Brown insisted that he didn’t say a word to Curry. From Masslive: “I didn’t say a word to him,” Brown said after Boston’s 99-86 win. “I promise I didn’t say a word to him. I was just out there playing D, doing my job. He looked at me and starting…

This remarkable photograph of a frog's ascension into the heavens was captured during the September launch of NASA's LADEE-laden Minotaur V Rocket. We'd like to think that, instead of succumbing to fiery death and returning to Earth as fried grenouille a la NASA, Rocket Frog slipped the surly bonds of Earth and made it into orbit, where he remains today, hopping from star to star for all eternity. If nothing else, our brave little friend certainly made for some fantastic photoshop submissions that will live forever. But is Rocket Frog a Deadspin Hall of Famer? That's for you to help decide by voting below. Polls will remain open until 11:59 p.m. (EST) Sunday. Just remember the threshold for induction is 75 percent of the yes votes. Other nominees: "Go fuck …

Some people are fans of the Minnesota Vikings. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Minnesota Vikings. This 2012 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read the other Why Your Team Sucks 2012 previews here. For a rebuttal, see Vikings punter Chris Kluwe's "Why Your Website Sucks." 1. Nice Minnesota people are the worst kind of people. I grew up in Minnesota and I can tell you that the single greatest myth about Minnesotans—a myth STARTED by Minnesotans—is that Minnesotans are extraordinarily nice. It's complete bullshit. Minnesotans are some of the fakest people ever to grace the surface of the Earth. Passive aggression is the default setting of virtually everyone living there. There's nothing genuine about these people. Their…

UFC 92 left Forrest Griffin looking for answers, Frank Mir looking for ways to slip "interim" off his new title, and Wanderlei Silva looking for hints about who the President is. Forrest Griffin dominated the first two rounds of the light heavyweight bout last night in Vegas, but Rashad Evans finally got Griffin to the ground in the third and pounded Griffin into submission, taking the light heavyweight belt and "most successful The Ultimate Fighter contestant" title in the waning days of 2008. This loosens up the light heavyweight division more than Griffin's guard in the third, making any number of fight combinations possible in 2009. One of those potential opponents is Quinton Jackson, who showed Wanderlei Silva Mr. Happy Sleepy Time Fist in the first round.…

data-mm-id=”_g1iex0iyj”>One thing the media must grapple with when anybody dies is the extent to which journalists mention or omit blemishes in their lives. Kobe Bryant's tragic, sudden passing was a case study in this, as he had immeasurable impact as a basketball performer and by all indications was an immensely loving father to his four daughters. He was also the subject of a high-profile investigation into an allegation of rape in Colorado, in a case that was ultimately dropped by the criminal justice system but after which he reached a settlement with the accuser. Felicia Somnez, a national political reporter for the Washington Post, has been suspended by the newspaper while they look into the content of her tweets about Bryant's rape case. They have since been deleted, …