2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[BlueToff]

That's a horrifying stat

It is, as is the one that we have not scored a home league goal in the second half in 11 games (since the first derby on October 17).

And I pointed out in November/December time, btw, how crap our performances from an attacking perspective were in the second half of matches.

I'll check the stats again, but I went on the BlueRoom in December and talked about it, because the stats were poor then - literally across the board, far worse attacking stats in the 2nd halves than in the 1st.

That seems like it's only going to have got worse, too.

Said it in the week - every game we play now depends on who scores the first goal, which is really, really poor.

Fortunately for us, Liverpool have been in the same place recently, but all it's going to take for them is one flick of confidence and it'll come back, because they have world class attackers and at least they do create a quantity of opportunities. We don't create, and it's going to do us in unless it changes. Carlo clearly agrees, because he stressed as much in his presser the other day, and okay maybe Dom should score 2 more yesterday and we'd be better off, but Burnley could have had 4 or 5, it was that bad.

 

[JMT]

I'm not expecting some free flowing tiki taka tik tok football here, I've watched West Brom, Southampton and Burnley all play much better football than us in 90 minutes, While we did beat two of them it's just poor that we're being outshot outplayed out passed out energized by these teams who have bang average players at best and this is the annoying part for me. Ancelotti has been here long enough to introduce some sort of system or way of playing and he simply hasn't.

We know the squad is rubbish but how can we build on something with no way of playing, Also having a style of play means you can buy certain players to improve that system and build upon it and it simply doesn't exist at this club.

 

[Quadvod]

Leicester are a fair bit better than us.

Not by far, but they weren't starting from an amazing position either, they just had one stand out attacker.

Since 2018 their recruitment has been spot on and well suited for the Premier League, with quick, energetic players. Since Rodgers came in, they've managed to push themselves on further.

There's a reason they've been outside of the top four for one week in the past two seasons.

Their recruitment has been light years ahead of ours - young,hungry, talented, pacey - i can only think of godfrey and richarlison that come close to their template.

If you look at what we bought in the summer (godfrey aside) it was for the here and now - 28/29 year olds - there’s no three year plan with those - by the time the rest of the team catches up in terms of quality they’ll be on the decline.

Thats before we look at previous windows where we appear to have bought players wholly unsuitable for the english game.

Frustrating as with the money spent since moshiri’s arrival we should be the leicester in this league, picking off a top 4 spot when the moneyed clubs have an off season.

Watching the game yesterday i was just thinking about how many positions we need to upgrade which is really poor given how long brands has been here.

 

[BlueToff]

Their recruitment has been light years ahead of ours - young,hungry, talented, pacey - i can only think of godfrey and richarlison that come close to their template.

If you look at what we bought in the summer (godfrey aside) it was for the here and now - 28/29 year olds - there’s no three year plan with those - by the time the rest of the team catches up in terms of quality they’ll be on the decline.

Thats before we look at previous windows where we appear to have bought players wholly unsuitable for the english game.

Frustrating as with the money spent since moshiri’s arrival we should be the leicester in this league, picking off a top 4 spot when the moneyed clubs have an off season.

Watching the game yesterday i was just thinking about how many positions we need to upgrade which is really poor given how long brands has been here.

Yep, I agree.

But, my general point is that Leicester have used being in the Europa League to their advantage, because it's allowed them to build a squad with depth, and they have good depth - a lot more than we do.

They could bring a player like Under in on loan and, while he's not torn it up, he's much more of a threat than say, Iwobi. And even though he's not a regular starter in the league (believe he might be injured right now?) he was a regular starter in Europe so he was getting those minutes.

That's how you use it to build a squad. It's a vicious circle. It relies on good management - which I'd trust Carlo with - but you have to have a deep squad to challenge for trophies etc. And to have a big squad, you need to be playing more games in a season.

 

[Lanolin]

I’m not raging with him or calling for his head or anything, but some people’s refusal to lay any blame at his door for about 12 months worth of dire home performances is seriously strange.

 

[Toffeelover]

Their recruitment has been light years ahead of ours - young,hungry, talented, pacey - i can only think of godfrey and richarlison that come close to their template.

If you look at what we bought in the summer (godfrey aside) it was for the here and now - 28/29 year olds - there’s no three year plan with those - by the time the rest of the team catches up in terms of quality they’ll be on the decline.

Thats before we look at previous windows where we appear to have bought players wholly unsuitable for the english game.

Frustrating as with the money spent since moshiri’s arrival we should be the leicester in this league, picking off a top 4 spot when the moneyed clubs have an off season.

Watching the game yesterday i was just thinking about how many positions we need to upgrade which is really poor given how long brands has been here.

A very good point, essentially a quick fix to get into Europe but that quick fix has spent too much time in the treatment room.

 

[Thomasc]

I questioned him a while back and was called a bedwetter / knee jerker etc but my worries were based on the really poor performances we were seeing.
It’s happening too often.
We can grind a result out, but I honestly can’t remember the last time we dominated a half of football, was it Fulham away first half?

So are we just saying the tools he has at his disposal are not fit for purpose?
I can buy into that partly, as Iwobi, Gomes, Bernard, King etc all all pretty much garbage.
Richy is hit or Miss and a massive sulk, DCL is great in the air but seriously turd on the deck.
It’s like we need a whole new attacking unit.
Obviously I’d keep DCL and Richy but they need competition as they will play regardless of how they perform.

 

[Toffeelover]

I questioned him a while back and was called a bedwetter / knee jerker etc but my worries were based on the really poor performances we were seeing.
It’s happening too often.
We can grind a result out, but I honestly can’t remember the last time we dominated a half of football, was it Fulham away first half?

So are we just saying the tools he has at his disposal are not fit for purpose?
I can buy into that partly, as Iwobi, Gomes, Bernard, King etc all all pretty much garbage.
Richy is hit or Miss and a massive sulk, DCL is great in the air but seriously turd on the deck.
It’s like we need a whole new attacking unit.
Obviously I’d keep DCL and Richy but they need competition as they will play regardless of how they perform.

Yes the results and play are not saying a lot for his management, one can only blame the tools to an extent, have to look at how the tools are used.

 

[catcherintherye]

I’m not raging with him or calling for his head or anything, but some people’s refusal to lay any blame at his door for about 12 months worth of dire home performances is seriously strange.

As people will have noted I am a big supporter of Ancelotti, and in general he has done very well. We will likely get at least 60 points this season, which is a big uptick and maybe even have our best finish in 7 years. 2 1/4 finals (at least in cups) is a decent effort too.

However all of that can be true, and our home form not be good enough. No fans is a partial explanation, but like I've tried (in vein) to say to Liverpool fans, fans returning isn't going to magically change everything. Players have got used to coming to our ground and winning. Managers will pencil it in as a 3 point game. Some fans returning isn't going to change that.

There is also, a longer term pattern here, that predates this recent poor run. Even if we finish well, and I think we will finish well, it will be legitimate to say that it could have been better. I generally try to avoid saying "Oh if only we had won those 2 games"- as invariably across 19 game home campaign, if you can win 50%, draw 25% and lose 25% there will always be some games that fit into that final 25% campaign that shouldn't. However we seem to be losing 50% of our games currently where I'd imagine we should lose 10-20%. Thats a big problem.

 

[Carloblues]

No we haven't. That's a blatant lie. We lost loads of embarrassing home games under all three of those clowns by scoreline's llike 6-2, 5-1 and 5-2. Ffs if you're going to criticise the mam then at least do it based on facts rather then laughable lies that can easily be disproven with a casual glance at our home results in previous seasons.

Not a blatant lie at all.

Last season

Bournemouth
Villa
Southampton



This season

Leeds
Newcastle
Fulham
West ham
Leicester
Burnley

We have taken 3 points in them games, but every single one of them games the performance was shocking. Just sat back and let teams batter us for the majority of the time, not solely down to Carlo as clearly the players just decide when to turn up, but for it to happen this often something needs to be done about it and that falls down to the manager doesn't it?

Also not a home game, but the fa cup Derby is the worst performance I can probably remember.

 

[kenada_blue]

Given we're sixth with 10 games to go, and Carlo and Brands have both stressed that the target is Europe, it would be a failure.

That list is fine, but Walcott isn't here, and isn't going to be. Sigurdsson - the club love him. Kean isn't here. We know Bernard and Iwobi aren't good enough, we know this version of Gomes isn't offering enough. We've known for two years that we need another right-back. We know Davies' flaws but he's definitely come on this season and Pickford is Pickford and we know we probably need a new goalkeeper.

None of those things are new. The simple fact is that it's too easy to blame the players all the time now and just the players. The state of the squad is down to poor recruitment, imbalanced recruitment. Then, frankly, you have to look at why the manager has overseen a run where we've taken four points from 21 on offer at home.

You can point to no fans, but then that means you can't credit the away form, because realistically we probably don't get as many away wins as we have done if there were fans in those grounds either.

Losses at home to West Ham, Newcastle, Burnley and Fulham - if we'd taken six points from those, we'd be top four. If we'd taken 4 points, we'd be top four, actually. And that is ultimately a failing of the manager as well as the players.

Yes those players aren't here, but I was talking about the whole squad over the number of years and management.

I've always said, the fortune Koeman and Walsh spent would hurt us for years. It's a snowball effect of fixing a mess, then having to have perfect recruitment afterwards. We all know that's impossible, as 1 bad signing after that mess in a season, sets us back.

 

[Gwladysstreetlad]

Not a blatant lie at all.

Last season

Bournemouth
Villa
Southampton



This season

Leeds
Newcastle
Fulham
West ham
Leicester
Burnley

We have taken 3 points in them games, but every single one of them games the performance was shocking. Just sat back and let teams batter us for the majority of the time, not solely down to Carlo as clearly the players just decide when to turn up, but for it to happen this often something needs to be done about it and that falls down to the manager doesn't it?

Also not a home game, but the fa cup Derby is the worst performance I can probably remember.

You didn't say last season in your original post though. You said that we'd suffered more embarrassing home results under Carlo then we had under Sliva, Koeman and BFS combined. Its not true or even close to being true. You got it wrong.

 

[Drico]

People will have to be patient. It's as simple as that. A cold analysis shows we had more points after 27 games than any season bar 2013/14 - and have outperformed the last three seasons by about 10 points. We've won a derby, beaten Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Leicester, made the cup quarters, and stunk the place out at home. Clearly, there is work to be done - but progress is undeniable.

The truth is we will not progress further with many of the players currently at the club. Some Evertonians seem remarkably critical of the manager who has won absolutely everything while simultaneously imagining that Andre Gomes, Tom Davies, Alex Iwobi, and other consistent failures have a place in the future. In reality, if Carlo is to fail here, he will fail on his terms (by buying his own players and underachieving) or he will be allowed to fail by an executive that does not back him and will, therefore, be brought down by players who are demonstrably not good enough. Failure is guaranteed by the latter. We have an obligation to give him the tools that he needs to do his job successfully.

If he signs three or four new players in the summer and we are losing to Burnley, Newcastle, and Fulham this time next year, then he'll have nowhere to hide. But I think that highly unlikely. What I do know is that if he doesn't significantly strengthen in the summer, the evidence suggests the likes of Davies, Iwobi, and Gomes will do as they have always done: flatter to deceive.

That said, if Carlo, for whatever reason, puts too much trust in these players and fails to ruthlessly deal with them this summer, then he deserves the inevitable reputational damage that will ensue - because they will forever hole him under the bow. I expect a cull this summer. If we don't see that - and the arrival of clearly superior players - then we'll all be on the slippery slope that only ever ends with bloodletting and sackings.

 

[kenada_blue]

Not a blatant lie at all.

Last season

Bournemouth
Villa
Southampton



This season

Leeds
Newcastle
Fulham
West ham
Leicester
Burnley

We have taken 3 points in them games, but every single one of them games the performance was shocking. Just sat back and let teams batter us for the majority of the time, not solely down to Carlo as clearly the players just decide when to turn up, but for it to happen this often something needs to be done about it and that falls down to the manager doesn't it?

Also not a home game, but the fa cup Derby is the worst performance I can probably remember.

Personally do feel that were more reserved away than we are at home.

The problem with our squad (threadbare as it is) being more adventurous at home is that it's not good enough.

All those games mentioned, the team has been more of a front foot as we're at home.

They no doubt don't capitalise on any good play, then are sucker punched - Leeds, West Ham, Newcastle, Burnley. Or are completely outplayed - Fulham, Leicester.

You can have off days at home (some of the results have been) but the others is purely down to not having a team that is good enough to be a dominant side at home.

 

[APN_EFC]

Form wise, yes.

But in terms of how we attack, we aren't.

And this is my issue with it at the minute and has been for weeks.

We attack in the same way, every game, and it's bordering on clueless. It relies on one individual piece of skill (ironically from a player we don't have fit atm usually), or a set piece or just a moment like we saw v S'ton. Home or away.

Our away form has been great, but this is where not playing well in any sense other than grinding out results catches up with you.

We have no discernible attacking structure that isn't easily stopped - either home or away. And that's awful.

We've been outshot by the opposition for the last 18 league games.

I don't care about being pragmatic, or defensive. That's fine. But we allow too many efforts on our goal and don't have enough ourselves.

It's true we're not playing well, but we can at least be sure that Ancelotti and the players know it and must be working on it. They have talked about 'technical football', more goals, more control of games, and people like James, Richy, Davies, Godfrey, Digne, Allan, Doucoure are not just sit back defend type of players. We'll get better I'm confident of it.