2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[TheBigIguana]

A diamond only works if you have 2 competent attacking full backs ( we have 1 ) , a solid defensive pivot who understands the role ( we dont ) , 2 athletic central midfielders who are able to get about the pitch ( ok maybe Allan and Doucoure if they were fit ) and a creative player at the tip ( James is great in that role but only fit for 1/2 a season , Sigurdsson who is meh and Iwobi who only you think is any good).

It's not like it is so complicated that you can't run it without the perfect players for the set up.

 

[blue1948]

I am so upset I have posted this twice on purpose. I confess I did watch the entire Burnley game. I did not switch off as has been my habit in recent months. Next season there will not be this option. I am dreading sitting at Goodison and watching this frankly appalling standard of football. I met two Evertonians separately earlier today, and both said how awful our football style is to watch, so it is not just me then. Would just a couple of decent signings change this terrible style of playing into an entertaining one? I fear not. I believe Carlo is in for a load of barracking next season if we continue to lump high balls in the general direction of a lone striker, and pass backwards and sideways at every opportunity. The name of Everton is historically associated with class and stylish football not this mockery of the game.

My god you have a wonderful memory . I agree though that the style is not easy on the eye ,I
suspect this passing across the back ,which I hate ,is more to do with the players available .

 

[BrendanGOT]

I'm not sure it is.

It seemed very off the cuff - all of our attacks are like that, because we rely so much on individual moments.

But yes, I do also see Carlo demanding that the players are more positive. But clearly, it's not been worked on enough

We'll agree to disagree I think it is worked on but the players lack the mentality and quality to pull it off consistently. Perhaps its a mix of both, I don't know but I guess we'll never really know.

I do think once we've better players and players Ancelloti wants we'll see these issues fade away. For now we just have to take these bad ones on the chin. We should still get top 6 and that's a big improvement imo.

 

[riddick]

Agree with sub decision. I think ultimately its a mix of issues and I think we need better players before we really see what Carlo can do. He's not absolved of blame when he's in charge but he's also the best manager we're going to get at our current stage and it'd depress me seeing him get sacked due to fan frustration as for the first time in years I've actual genuine hope for us that he will get us silverware with 2 or 3 seasons under his belt. So patience is required. However we should be beating Burnley with this sqaud even with injuries a draw minimum. Newcastle also.

Again, I don't think anyone is saying that he needs to be sacked. I don't care if we are 10th or whatever, even if Carlo "fails" here I still won't be calling for him to be sacked. He's the best manager we have had in 35 years or so. But he is not and should not be immune for ballsing it up when it does invariably happen.

 

[Joey66]

Carlo has inherited a poor said added some great gallant who are now injure, but imo he has no plan B of playing with the squad he has trying the same brand of his football with the players he has been left with .....
If we have a poor first half he never changed the system with any uninforced substitutions.,...
He has only had one season he has pedigree to attract players, but we don't need former over the hill players like Delph etc - we need promising youth players.....

 

[Zatara]

A quality RB wouid make a huge difference to this team. As In reality we can only attack down one side of the pitch. Opposition teams, will be like we can give Holgate & Coleman a bit more room if we have to. As they are very unlikely to hurt us.

The problem moving forward is if we have 2 full backs who want to push on. It puts more pressure on the CB’s Amd
You’ve got a Keane & Mina, who mentally want to sit deep. It will leave huge caps between the lines.

I think going to a back 5 may be the answer for a couple of years. Buy a young quality attacking RB. It would help him settle in. I think Digne is better going forward than defending. Get a Left footed CB who’s similar mould to Godfrey. And With Keane/Mina central and Holgate. That wouid be enough.

Sell, delph and Gomes. And buy another midfielder. Who at least can keep the ball. As we wouid only play 2 in that system. Allan, Doucoure, Gbamin. And a new one should be enough. With Davies as well.

Then you have James & siggurdsson in the playmaking role, I’d try and sell siggurdsson, but the rumours are he will get a new deal. Then bring in a striker. That’s 4 players.

If Bernard goes and maybe iwobi as well. We would need another forward player. Not king,
But someone who could play a few positions and is maybe on a free. Or loan.

I think for the players we have it’s probably the best system. Godfrey has had a great first season, but has also looked a bit in experienced. With another pacey defender the other side. We could push up as a 3. Making the pitch wide and getting our full backs into dangerous area, hopefully getting quality crosses in. Wouid be huge for DCL and Richarlison who’s good in the air. Again Richarlison is better up front. James better behind them. In the 10 role.

Yes, totally agree. I think Ancelotti has to come up with a system where we are focused centrally with the full/wing backs occupying the flanks.

The 'given' is that we sign a RB. Then looking at the 'quality' players:

433: 2CM + 2 WF = 5 players.
442: 1CM + 2WF + 1 CF = 5 players
352: 1CB + 1CM = 3 players
Diamond: 2CM = 3 players
Etc etc

Of course if Kean is sold/King isnt kept on or another player is 'surprisingly' sold then we'd need to add more. Not to mention another keeper if Virginia doesnt stake a claim.

Thats the key for me really. Ancelotti comes up with a system where we can see major improvement with just a RB + 2 new signings.

Logically we can spend more on those 3 players and should have a far greater choice than if were after 5 players and needing to spread the budget around.

 

[BrendanGOT]

 

[HumbleWedbetters]

There are too many people in the club who if they were pushed for an answer would say football is a job and as long as they aren't getting relegated then they are doing ok.

These people need to be jettisoned.

Gylfi, Gomes, Holgate, Iwobi, arent winners....they dont care.

There's probably a few more I could throw in there.

Allan and Godfrey and maybe Richarlison and DCL have the winners mentality.

 

[BlueStevie35]

There are too many people in the club who if they were pushed for an answer would say football is a job and as long as they aren't getting relegated then they are doing ok.

These people need to be jettisoned.

Gylfi, Gomes, Holgate, Iwobi, arent winners....they dont care.

There's probably a few more I could throw in there.

Allan and Godfrey and maybe Richarlison and DCL have the winners mentality.

Again I ask, without speaking day to day with each player, how are you able to judge what their feelings are?

 

[lungo]

Some of them have better faster fitter midfielders than we do. Davies Siggurdson Gomes are some of the worst in the league. Fulham have Ruben Loftus Cheek on their bench, he’d walk into our team. Shelvey and Longstaff would walk into our midfield. We massively overrate our own players and underrate other teams. These teams aren’t rubbish by any long shot, they are marginally worse than some of the other teams in this league. Most teams can match their pace and effort and then the quality tells. We can’t match any team’s pace as we are the slowest in the league so sometimes are quality isn’t enough sometimes it is.

Yep no athletes in midfield. Brandts only buys slow midgets and divas. How do you want to play premier league football with that crap. Nobody right in his mind would buy Bernard and Iwobi. Both are unable to run in a straight line without falling over there own feet. Rodriguez is a fair weather footballer. Take him out of sunny Monaco or Madrid and he is completely useless. Play him against Newcastle, Burnley and they rough him up once or twice and he runs crying to Mama Carlo. Never seen a team of girls like that. Davies is unable to play facing his own goal. Every team has noticed that, he gets pressed and loses the ball. Most of the time it results in clear goal opportunity. Bambi a good athlete, a very poor footballer. Unable to control a ball on a consistent basis. His shooting ability is ....

 

[Saint Domingo]

Yep no athletes in midfield. Brandts only buys slow midgets and divas. How do you want to play premier league football with that crap. Nobody right in his mind would buy Bernard and Iwobi. Both are unable to run in a straight line without falling over there own feet. Rodriguez is a fair weather footballer. Take him out of sunny Monaco or Madrid and he is completely useless. Play him against Newcastle, Burnley and they rough him up once or twice and he runs crying to Mama Carlo. Never seen a team of girls like that. Davies is unable to play facing his own goal. Every team has noticed that, he gets pressed and loses the ball. Most of the time it results in clear goal opportunity. Bambi a good athlete, a very poor footballer. Unable to control a ball on a consistent basis. His shooting ability is ....

The lack of pace is by far and away our biggest problem. 13/14 we had pace almost everywhere across the team except for Barry. Barkley McCarthy Lukaku Mirallas Deulofeu Stones Distin Coleman Baines. We could get on top of teams and really stretch them all over the park. It gave Barry the pace to pick passes. Over time we’ve replaced these players with very slow ones Davies Siggurdson Gomes Bernard Keane Mina and James (even though he is very good). Coleman has declined and lost a yard as well.

It’s just not enough to consistently beat teams home and away in this league, especially the top ones who just do not carry slow players. We have to build around Godfrey Digne Docuoure Allan DCL Richalrison going forward and keep adding pace and power in every single window. James should be the only slow player we carry in the 11.

 

[Drico]

Allan was out for 2 months, he’s been back for 1 month. If he isn’t fully fit by now then he clearly has an underlying fitness issue and so was a very questionable signing.

I’m not being funny but ‘if we have better players than everyone else then we’ll win more’ isn’t really a great argument. The manager has to work with what he’s got and get performances out of them. I simply cannot accept that our squad is so poor that we haven’t been able to outshoot a single opponent for 18 games and get completely overrun in midfield by people like kalvin Phillips, Harrison Reed and josh brownhill.

The manager IS working with that he's got. We are sixth. But people want Champions League with "what he's got". That's not possible, sadly. Time for reality to dawn.

People say "we should be beating Burnley and Fulham and Newcastle." They never say "We shouldn't be beating Liverpool, Spurs, and Chelsea." Yet we've beaten those sides - and Leicester and Arsenal and Spurs again in the Cup. Funny, that.

Truth is, if we were beating the "teams we should beat" and losing to the teams "we shouldn't be beating", people would probably be more likely to say he needs better players to progress - but still moaning (because that's what people like to do).

I am not saying we should have "better players than everyone else". I am saying we need better players THAN WE CURRENTLY HAVE. Then we are indeed far more likely to have a realistic shot at the currently unrealistic ambitions of many.

 

[BlueToff]

It's not like it is so complicated that you can't run it without the perfect players for the set up.

But we can't.

It's a crap way of playing, the way we play it, and it is easily exposed by a team who are more than happy to soak up anything narrow.

 

[Lanolin]

The manager IS working with that he's got. We are sixth. But people want Champions League with "what he's got". That's not possible, sadly. Time for reality to dawn.

People say "we should be beating Burnley and Fulham and Newcastle." They never say "We shouldn't be beating Liverpool, Spurs, and Chelsea." Yet we've beaten those sides - and Leicester and Arsenal and Spurs again in the Cup. Funny, that.

Truth is, if we were beating the "teams we should beat" and losing to the teams "we shouldn't be beating", people would probably be more likely to say he needs better players to progress - but still moaning (because that's what people like to do).

I am not saying we should have "better players than everyone else". I am saying we need better players THAN WE CURRENTLY HAVE. Then we are indeed far more likely to have a realistic shot at the currently unrealistic ambitions of many.

I’ve said repeatedly, throughout the season, that I don’t expect us to finish top 4. The way we’re playing, I honestly struggle to see us holding on to top 7. We’re just playing really badly, and have been for some time. Not finishing top 6 is a failure as far as I’m concerned. Not a terrible, sackable, one but a failure nonetheless. If we were to slip lower than 8th, which is certainly possible, I’d say it’s a pretty serious failure.

 

[moyeslovechild]

I’ve said repeatedly, throughout the season, that I don’t expect us to finish top 4. The way we’re playing, I honestly struggle to see us holding on to top 7. We’re just playing really badly, and have been for some time. Not finishing top 6 is a failure as far as I’m concerned. Not a terrible, sackable, one but a failure nonetheless. If we were to slip lower than 8th, which is certainly possible, I’d say it’s a pretty serious failure.

I honestly don't agree given the standard of players he's working with.

We've been playing badly and Carlo has still had us winning points. I think that's the sign of a good manager working with a poor set of players

Maybe that's an exaggeration, but there are some players that should be nowhere near the starting 11 for a team going for top 6, and Carlo hasn't had any choice but to play them