with Villa losing to Palace we have now secured a top half finish, which, granted, was the very least of our expectations this season
Top 8 is the bare minimum expectation. Finishing below that is not at all good enough.
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with Villa losing to Palace we have now secured a top half finish, which, granted, was the very least of our expectations this season
Ancelotti is not a manager who favors ball possession, but who likes his teams to be more direct. Of course there are nuances here, but even in Real Madrid he favored a more direct style. They played counter-football, which he was eventually criticized for. So I can hardly imagine him starting to implement it at Everton.
I will not criticize Ancelotti for the results. Considering the injury situation, we have taken a lot of points, which I agree with you. But I think we have also been extremely lucky with the results. What I am more skeptical of, and here I hope I am wrong, is that with this type of football we have reached the ceiling. With this type of football, we have not laid any foundation that we can develop further next season. In many ways, we have sacrificed long-term success for short-term "success". The same can be said about player logistics.
This is where I think Leicester have done a lot right. They have acknowledged that they can not compete with the big clubs financially, and must therefore have a completely different model. They have a clear football philosophy, and allow players to develop within this framework. They have a clear and distinct player logistics, and buy players who are mostly in the right age group, develop them, and sell them expensively.
Since they have a manger with a clear football philosophy, they also know what types of players they want and how they can use them and develop them. If, for example, we had brought a similar player like Tielemans (who was not such a good football player in Monaco) to today's Everton, do you think he would have been a success?
Ancelotti is not a manager who favors ball possession, but who likes his teams to be more direct. Of course there are nuances here, but even in Real Madrid he favored a more direct style. They played counter-football, which he was eventually criticized for. So I can hardly imagine him starting to implement it at Everton.
I will not criticize Ancelotti for the results. Considering the injury situation, we have taken a lot of points, which I agree with you. But I think we have also been extremely lucky with the results. What I am more skeptical of, and here I hope I am wrong, is that with this type of football we have reached the ceiling. With this type of football, we have not laid any foundation that we can develop further next season. In many ways, we have sacrificed long-term success for short-term "success". The same can be said about player logistics.
This is where I think Leicester have done a lot right. They have acknowledged that they can not compete with the big clubs financially, and must therefore have a completely different model. They have a clear football philosophy, and allow players to develop within this framework. They have a clear and distinct player logistics, and buy players who are mostly in the right age group, develop them, and sell them expensively.
Since they have a manger with a clear football philosophy, they also know what types of players they want and how they can use them and develop them. If, for example, we had brought a similar player like Tielemans (who was not such a good football player in Monaco) to today's Everton, do you think he would have been a success?
Tielemans was always a hot prospect in Europe, hence why he cost them 40 mill to buy (which would be up there with our record signing). I think he’d be miles above anything we have in midfield regardless of how we were playing.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on the Carlo philosophy bit. I think we could have played absolute safety first percentage football (like we did under Silva and Koeman) and we wouldn’t have seen errors like Davies v Burnley or Holgate v Villa, players giving the ball away whilst trying to build from the back. Siggurdson could have done what he did under Silva and just float forward hoping for a knock down or a cross. That football gets you nowhere but covers limitations. Even if it’s on the. Punter attack, Carlo’s football on the deck is riskier and harder to do. I think when we get some better players in we’ll see the value of the work this season.
Tielemans has always been an enormous talent, but he needed the right environment to reach his potential. He got that in Leiecester. At the same time, he has had less good periods here as well. He has during the period been referred to the bench by Rodgers.Tielemans was always a hot prospect in Europe, hence why he cost them 40 mill to buy (which would be up there with our record signing). I think he’d be miles above anything we have in midfield regardless of how we were playing.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on the Carlo philosophy bit. I think we could have played absolute safety first percentage football (like we did under Silva and Koeman) and we wouldn’t have seen errors like Davies v Burnley or Holgate v Villa, players giving the ball away whilst trying to build from the back. Siggurdson could have done what he did under Silva and just float forward hoping for a knock down or a cross. That football gets you nowhere but covers limitations. Even if it’s on the. Punter attack, Carlo’s football on the deck is riskier and harder to do. I think when we get some better players in we’ll see the value of the work this season.
Tielemans is a fantastic player, no doubt. As you say though, they paid what would be a record fee for him. I'd have to check, but I don't think Brands has spent that sort of money, on a single player we have signed.
Up until Ancelotti arriving Leicester were miles ahead of us, but since he arrived we are very close to them. We have massively closed the gap. The 3 games we have played against Leicester have seen 2 comfortable Everton win's and a draw for Leicester with us missing 3 clear chanes at the end to win it.
I mean full props to Leicester, but the way it is reported it's as if they are miles head of us, and I'm not sure the evidence supports it since Ancelotti has arrived.
They’ve done well to win the FA Cup no doubt. Had we played United with our best players fit rather than City then the outcome may have been different and we might have gone a step further. Could we have then edged Chelsea in the final? Perhaps.
The key for me is though that Carlo got us to those two quarter finals and had us competitive in both. We failed because we had players missing and were up agaisnt better teams at full strength. Over the 90 mins that told. If we keep doing that though, then eventually we will either get a fortuitous draw or we will arrive in better form and win one. That is how trophies are won, you keep putting yourself in those positions. Prior to this season we hadn’t been in decent positions since Martinez’s last season.
Leicester are miles ahead of us, not just the 5 league places but they have just won a major trophy, something that isnt in living memory for a lot of Evertons fanbase.Tielemans is a fantastic player, no doubt. As you say though, they paid what would be a record fee for him. I'd have to check, but I don't think Brands has spent that sort of money, on a single player we have signed.
Up until Ancelotti arriving Leicester were miles ahead of us, but since he arrived we are very close to them. We have massively closed the gap. The 3 games we have played against Leicester have seen 2 comfortable Everton win's and a draw for Leicester with us missing 3 clear chanes at the end to win it.
I mean full props to Leicester, but the way it is reported it's as if they are miles head of us, and I'm not sure the evidence supports it since Ancelotti has arrived.
They will be around 5-8 points ahead of us. Yes they are ahead but it's not miles ahead. It was a couple of year ago.Leicester are miles ahead of us, not just the 5 league places but they have just won a major trophy, something that isnt in living memory for a lot of Evertons fanbase.
Besides they have made real progress this season, moving into the CL spots, while were just not as bad as we were last season.
They're pretty far ahead for me. Without some serious signings this summer I have a hard time making a case for us finishing ahead of them next season.They will be around 5-8 points ahead of us. Yes they are ahead but it's not miles ahead. It was a couple of year ago.
They're pretty far ahead for me. Without some serious signings this summer I have a hard time making a case for us finishing ahead of them next season.
We've overachieved yesHow do we explain being between 7-10 points behind them with 2 to go this season then? Have we overachieved and they under achieved this season?
Leicester are miles ahead of us, not just the 5 league places but they have just won a major trophy, something that isnt in living memory for a lot of Evertons fanbase.
Besides they have made real progress this season, moving into the CL spots, while were just not as bad as we were last season.
We've overachieved yes