Paul Robinson has told Football Insider that Everton manager Frank Lampard must address 'the centre-half area' given Michael Keane's tendency to suffer 'lapses in concentration'.

The lowdown

Keane made his second error leading to an opposition goal this season against Manchester City on Saturday evening. No Toffees player has made more, with team-mate Seamus Coleman joining him at the top of that undesirable ranking.

The £22.5m-rated Englishman miskicked as he tried to clear Bernardo Silva's deflected cross, allowing Phil Foden to sneak in and score what proved to be the winning goal.

Everton, who sit just one place above the relegation zone, were close to securing a valuable point against the Premier League leaders before Keane's costly error.

The latest

Former England goalkeeper Robinson said that the defender's fateful mistake against City was no 'isolated incident', bemoaning a 'severe lack of leadership' in the backline which Lampard simply must remedy.

The ex-Tottenham 'keeper told Football Insider: "Keane suffers from lapses in concentration. It happens far too often. This is not an isolated incident. This is not a one-off.

"The centre-half area needs to be addressed at Everton. Lampard must have known he would have to look at it when he came in.

"There is a severe lack of leadership back there. There is too many errors leading to goals for them. It is costing Everton dearly. These are errors that could be and need to be stopped."

The verdict

Journalist Pete O'Rourke told GiveMeSport in December that signing another centre-back was a priority for Everton in January. However, Rafael Benitez was sacked midway through the month and Lampard's appointment was not finalised until transfer deadline day, so perhaps that left the club somewhat hamstrung in the market.

Alas, with Ben Godfrey sidelined for at least another fortnight and Yerry Mina not due to be back until April (Premier Injuries), Everton are looking very light in the heart of defence at the moment. As they scrap for survival, they may be ruing a missed opportunity to add reinforcements.

In the meantime, Lampard may not have all that much scope to take Keane out of the firing line, so the 29-year-old will simply need to do better in terms of cutting out costly errors from his game.

In other news, this Everton ace could face an 'uncertain' future amid FFP issues