2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[Saint Domingo]

Said the same above. Every point counts .
I think that we will finish between 7th and 4th.
City, United, rs, spurs , Leicester, Chelsea and us will be in the top 7. We can now grind out results. I don't see West ham , villa or arsenal ahead of us. Europe would be a decent season

It’s odd because you look on paper and we are definitely the weakest squad in that top 7 by a long way (as exhibited by the shambles of a midfield we had out tonight). Yet results like United and Liverpool losing at home to bottom 5 teams make you think that we can actually mix it in with the top 7 because no one apart from City seem capable of putting a run together any more than we are. Europe would be a great result for us, and hopefully European distractions for these teams might see us make some hay in Feb and March. Spurs and United have been extremely fortunate with injuries too whilst we’ve been in a constant crisis for about two months now. If we can start putting out Docuoure Allan in front of that solid defence and behind the first choice front four most weeks whilst some of our rivals take a turn to lose key players then we could really have a run at breaking up the top 6.

 

[Curtis]

I have no qualms about Carlo being defensively minded with the tactical approach. Especially with the shambolic options at midfield. Excluding the initial ten minutes the first half was solid. But I really thought carlo didn't react to the situation in second half properly. Leceister had 80% of possession for over 20 minutes and were becoming increasingly dangerous, yet he was indifferent. Even if Pickford didn't bungle things , I feel a goal was inevitable without subs. But that's just my take. Decent result against a quality side , can't wait see Decoure back In the squad.

 

[arbok]

I'm a massive Carlo supporter, but he got it slightly wrong tonight. I think he didn't want to give up Leicester on the counter which was the way they score most of their goals. But I don't think he anticipated Leicester's high press to be as good as it was tonight. At some point you have to say, Leicester were great out of possession and in possession. To break the press you have to play through it and Everton didn't have the players to do it.

4 points against Leicester is a good return this season.

 

[Groucho]

I'm a massive Carlo supporter, but he got it slightly wrong tonight. I think he didn't want to give up Leicester on the counter which was the way they score most of their goals. But I don't think he anticipated Leicester's high press to be as good as it was tonight. At some point you have to say, Leicester were great out of possession and in possession. To break the press you have to play through it and Everton didn't have the players to do it.

4 points against Leicester is a good return this season.

I think he got it right.

But for Pickford, that’s a 1-0 win.

 

[JMT]

End of the day we've took 4 points off a team in the top 4 and it was due to our own keeper error, we're improving big time here.

 

[Thomasc]

I’ve been very critical of some of the performances this season, but if we win Saturday we will be in 4th or 5th depending on how the game tonight goes, so with these players you have to agree it’s a pretty mean feat.

Being Everton I still tend to look glass half empty, so I’m going to try and adjust my way of thinking for the second half of the season.

I’m sure he knows Gomes / Davies / Gylfi need booting ASAP but at the moment his hands are tied so he has no choice.

Godfrey, Rodriguez, Allan and Dacoure are all brilliant signings so let’s hope him and Brands pull a few more of that calibre out.
He really needs to call it a day with Pickford though now, because if he is setting up defensively to nick games, then having a keeper with such a catalogue of blunders is going to blow that way of winning games.

 

[kenada_blue]

Sorry, that's just crazy to say that. There seems to be this mentality if ANY player is injured of not available "well, what ELSE is he supposed to do??". Almost no teams have a fully fit first 11 throughout the season. Carlo needs to stop with this "don't do ANYTHING if we are ahead". We're really not that bad in terms of injuries and, yet, we just finished a match with 35% possession at home.

Well, provide an alternative to our midfield?

Leicester lost Ndidi, replaced him with Mendy...pretty much like for like in terms of type of player. We lose Doucoure and replace him with Tom Davies. The two are so different they almost play different sports.

Leicester struggled to convert last night and scored from our mistake. They've no Vardy replacement and it showed. Gnashers could've played Iheanacho but didn't, he played a midfielder there but decided not to cos it would effect the team shape.

Carlos doing the same. It's not an excuse, it's working with what you have.

 

[hallamblue]

I’ve been very critical of some of the performances this season, but if we win Saturday we will be in 4th or 5th depending on how the game tonight goes, so with these players you have to agree it’s a pretty mean feat.

Being Everton I still tend to look glass half empty, so I’m going to try and adjust my way of thinking for the second half of the season.

I’m sure he knows Gomes / Davies / Gylfi need booting ASAP but at the moment his hands are tied so he has no choice.

Godfrey, Rodriguez, Allan and Dacoure are all brilliant signings so let’s hope him and Brands pull a few more of that calibre out.
He really needs to call it a day with Pickford though now, because if he is setting up defensively to nick games, then having a keeper with such a catalogue of blunders is going to blow that way of winning games.

To be fair to Carlo we have won a number of games that way this season even with a liability in goal.

 

[arbok]

I think he got it right.

But for Pickford, that’s a 1-0 win.

If Pickford saves that - they would have kept piling on the pressure like the 20 minutes before that. Only when we went direct after the goal did we at least get up the pitch somewhat. We were better after the goal.

 

[Richard Alex]

We paid Leicester too much respect and the way we approached the game was an opportunity missed.
For all their brilliant play they created nothing
Last 10 minutes or so we could have scored 3 goals when we attacked them.
Leicester are a good side but not as good as we made them out to be

 

[ToffeeTim]

We paid Leicester too much respect and the way we approached the game was an opportunity missed.
For all their brilliant play they created nothing
Last 10 minutes or so we could have scored 3 goals when we attacked them.
Leicester are a good side but not as good as we made them out to be

Two evenly matched teams I thought. We are better than them in some areas and they are better than us in some areas.

 

[Lanolin]

Not really sure you can say ‘without pickfords mistake we win’ any more than you can say ‘without fofana’s mistake we lose’. It’s part of the game, the mistake came in no small part from the fact we were massively under the cosh for about 20 minutes and couldn’t get out of our own half. A point was a good result, the set up was justified, it’s fine. Let’s not make out like it was some sort of masterclass though, it was straight out of the ‘relegation battler against decent side’ playbook, we’ve seen it a thousand times before.

 

[Mkjjones]

If Pickford saves that - they would have kept piling on the pressure like the 20 minutes before that. Only when we went direct after the goal did we at least get up the pitch somewhat. We were better after the goal.

The first 20 mins of the first half they did the same and then we grew into it, same would've happened if Pickford didn't clown around, they weren't threatening whatsoever.

 

[Stephenlloyd]

Will be really interesting to see how ancelotti builds this team going forward. I understand the defensive tactics at the moment. With the injuries we’ve had and the midfield we’ve had to play recently.

but he talks about counter attacking and I don’t think we have the front 3 that suits counter attacking. James is not quick. And while people will tell us Richarlison & DCL are. How often do they run away from defenders over 30/40 yards in a foot race.

If that’s our first choice front 3 next season. Then we have to become a better possession based team.

so we can get higher up the pitch and you have James on the ball in dangerous areas, more crosses into box for DCL and Richarlison in and around the box a lot more, instead of him Getting the ball on half way line and trying to beat 3 players .

 

[collymcd]

I'm a massive Carlo supporter, but he got it slightly wrong tonight. I think he didn't want to give up Leicester on the counter which was the way they score most of their goals. But I don't think he anticipated Leicester's high press to be as good as it was tonight. At some point you have to say, Leicester were great out of possession and in possession. To break the press you have to play through it and Everton didn't have the players to do it.

4 points against Leicester is a good return this season.

I think he nailed it. It was a great tactical performance. I can't remember them having even one clear chance. Yes, they had plenty of the ball but that's not the same as being dangerous. We, on the other hand, had 2-3 clear cut chances.

This makes Pickford's mistakes all the more frustrating. Carlo will be acutely aware that he can't depend on him. I'm almost certain that would have spelled his last chance at an Everton career. He'll be gone in the Summer.