Lambert's progress impresses Everton's Moyes

11:14am Monday 21st January 2013 in Sport

Rickie Lambert Rickie Lambert

David Moyes hopes Rickie Lambert does not register his 11th goal of the season when Everton visit Saints tonight, but the Toffees boss is encouraged to see the striker doing so well.

Lambert has spent most of his career in the lower leagues with the likes of Macclesfield, Stockport, Rochdale and Bristol Rovers, but has had no trouble adjusting to the top level.

The 30-year-old's 10 goals make him the joint leading English goalscorer in the Barclays Premier League along with Tottenham's Jermain Defoe, leading to talk of a possible England call-up.

Moyes said: "Like a lot of the Southampton players who have moved up through the leagues, he's done very well.

"Some of them have gone the distance with them, some of them have joined in as they've gone along but I think they've tended to keep the soul of the club.

"Rickie Lambert's been a great goalscorer through his career and he continues to do so."

Players working their way up to the top flight through the leagues have become increasingly rare, but Lambert is not the only one.

Norwich's Grant Holt and Adam Le Fondre of Reading have both made their mark at Premier League level, and Moyes hopes there will be others following in their footsteps.

He said: "I think it's something we have to try to embrace because if not we're going to be going abroad trying to buy all the players, or maybe clubs such as Everton and Southampton have got them all in their academy systems now.

"I'm now quite sure that's true and I do think it would be great if we were still able to bring in players from the lower leagues.

"We went and got Tim Cahill, Andy Johnson and Joleon Lescott and I think people got the message that we're trying to pick up players from lower down if we can."

Comments(13)

RockinEd says...
11:32am Mon 21 Jan 13

Hope Rickie plays tonight... Cant help but think that he'll be playing for West Ham or Newcastle before long and we'll have some guy that has a role neck shirt with gloves, complicated hair and a penchant for amazing theatrical multi-role diving...

Report this post »

ThatMatthewGuy says...
11:34am Mon 21 Jan 13

Opposition manager is impressed by Rickie's 10 goals. Shock horror. Zzzzz reporting.

Report this post »

St. Case says...
12:15pm Mon 21 Jan 13

ThatMatthewGuy wrote:
Opposition manager is impressed by Rickie's 10 goals. Shock horror. Zzzzz reporting.
Ain'tyou a ray of sunshine. Boring comment to a positive story. Go hide in the corner...

Report this post »

St. Case says...
12:16pm Mon 21 Jan 13

St. Case wrote:
ThatMatthewGuy wrote:
Opposition manager is impressed by Rickie's 10 goals. Shock horror. Zzzzz reporting.
Ain'tyou a ray of sunshine. Boring comment to a positive story. Go hide in the corner...
Space missing *Ain't you*

Report this post »

mbetts says...
12:16pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Wouldn't surprise me if Everton bid for him, a move back home in the top flight might appeal?

Report this post »

RedArmy1 says...
12:28pm Mon 21 Jan 13

COME ON RICKIE !!!

WE GO TONIGHT TO ST MARY'S TO SEE THE MIGHTY SOUTHAMPTON GET THE WIN !!

RED ARRRRRRRRRRRRRMY

Report this post »

olddellsaint says...
12:45pm Mon 21 Jan 13

mbetts wrote:
Wouldn't surprise me if Everton bid for him, a move back home in the top flight might appeal?
I can see this also, me thinks this is going tobe a young side along with a few older players all season and into the next season when we make a bid for a Euro place.

Report this post »

murfmeister says...
1:08pm Mon 21 Jan 13

whoever the manager is, Rickie is key to our survival and must not be allowed to leave under any circumstance!

Report this post »

SO50 Saint says...
1:08pm Mon 21 Jan 13

I think MP will start to build the team around Gaston, I also think that this was one of the reasons for Nigel's sacking. 12 million spent on a player was not spent to play him out wide and not involved or on the bench. Wouldn't be suprised to see it like when Bally came in and built a team around Le Tiss

Report this post »

mbetts says...
1:31pm Mon 21 Jan 13

murfmeister wrote:
whoever the manager is, Rickie is key to our survival and must not be allowed to leave under any circumstance!
Unfortunately as the last few days have proved what Saints fans wish for and believe in means diddly squat!

Report this post »

Dundas20012002@yahoo.co.uk says...
4:31pm Mon 21 Jan 13

We must be careful not to put all of our eggs in one basket. We must not rely on one player such as Rickie or Gaston. I do however not like to see Rickie spending too much time on the bench, He is a natural goalscorer and that is time on the bench should be limited.
Dundas20012002, Dundas Canada.

Report this post »

peachy1 says...
5:12pm Mon 21 Jan 13

RL got a massive LFC tattoo don't think he'd play For Everton

Report this post »

peachy1 says...
5:12pm Mon 21 Jan 13

RL got a massive LFC tattoo don't think he'd play For Everton

Report this post »

click2find

Get Adobe Flash player
About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree