2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[catcherintherye]

Disproportionately harder fixtures? I think our harder fixtures are still ahead, we still have to play Villa twice, City again, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea. Weve lost 3 games to 2 of the bottom 4 teams!

Most of the teams you mention are poor mate. We will beat Villa twice I think. Spurs and Arsenal are terrible.

After the weekend, we will have played Leicester, Liverpool, United twice. They, along with City are the best teams. City on the final day of the season, hopefully when its wrapped up.

After Saturday, I dont fear anyone until City on that final day.

 

[catcherintherye]

I don't see the attack being fixed by playing more defensive. That's really all I've got.

I think this is over simplistic.

The attack would have been better, as pretty much any combination of players would have done better, to have registered some threat, against 2 woeful teams. I'm not sure you're registering just how bad those performances were to be honest.

I'd also add, football isnt always as simple as play more or less offensive/defensive. If you have better defenders, you repel more attacks and everyone can attack with more confidence.

 

[Osamabindiesel]

Well, I’m glad we went for the Mickey Mouse cup so we could come into Fullham utterly dead, lose to City a week before they knock us out of the cup again. Word

 

[Fansince1988]

Pickford ( like him or not)
Digne
Mina
Allan
James
Calvert Lewin
Thats over half of the 1st choice 11over the last few weeks add suspensions to Richarlison and Doucoure ,we are dipping into our bench.
Thats not an excuse thats fact.
Our squad drops off massively.

A line up of Pickford, Coleman, Mina,Keane,Digne,(Gomes or Davies) Doucoure, Allan, James,Richy and DCL will I’m sure get us back on track, un till we need to use our bench again. Strength in depth seems to be our big problem, on paper the back up players don’t look to bad but they just don’t perform when played.

 

[BlueToff]

Pickford ( like him or not)
Digne
Mina
Allan
James
Calvert Lewin
Thats over half of the 1st choice 11over the last few weeks add suspensions to Richarlison and Doucoure ,we are dipping into our bench.
Thats not an excuse thats fact.
Our squad drops off massively.

But all that that tells me is we're overly reliant on a select few players (Digne and James) to create chances from open play.

That shouldn't be the case. Even with injuries, even with a lack of quality depth, we should have worked on systems and ways of playing that can get us to goal in a variety of ways.

A typical Everton goal is James finding Digne, who hits the six-yard box and Dom is there. That's pretty much the only way we score goals bar the odd moment of brilliance from James.

That has to improve and ultimately, that is on the manager. We know we need better players, but it's on the manager to find a way of playing that is both creative and solid, mate.

He needs to do better in that regard. There's no two ways about it. We should not be creating less than Steve Bruce's Newcastle. No chance. Not halfway. through the season with only one game in hand. Villa are fifth in the table for chances created, and they've played the same amount of games as us.

Now they're a point below us because they don't have many players who are better than what we have. So just imagine if we were actually more incisive and creative? That doesn't mean we have to play daft Martinez-type footy. But we have to have more purpose, mate. Imagine where we are with wins over Fulham and Newcastle - games that we hardly tested their goalkeepers in.

 

[Brennan]

It’s on Carlo that somehow Siggy played 120+ minutes v Spurs and has now finished 90+ minutes against both Fulham & City.

He was completely ineffective in both games but still managed to be a ghost in the middle of the park whilst being overrun

141 appearances in 3.5 seasons.

All these different managers who keep playing him must be clueless.

 

[quasi modo]

Some bad divvys on here, if anyone has the audacity to question the manager and his tactics you are a kopite or a bad blue.

Give your heads a wobble and see some blues are generally worried about the results and the performances.

 

[Fansince1988]

141 appearances in 3.5 seasons.

All these different managers who keep playing him must be clueless.

He must be a super star in training, we see nothing 3 managers play him regularly.

 

[BlueToff]

I said at the time the derby was the worst game I've seen us play this year and I don't think the performances since in the league even matched that game

Dunno, Leicester away was excellent. First half v Arsenal very good. Chelsea extremely resolute, same with Wolves and the first half at Elland Road was brilliant.

We need to be more consistent, but we have had good games/half-games or whatever.

But our attack has fallen off a cliff. Injuries haven't helped, but we're so one-dimensional.

 

[ForeverEverton]

Most of the teams you mention are poor mate. We will beat Villa twice I think. Spurs and Arsenal are terrible.

After the weekend, we will have played Leicester, Liverpool, United twice. They, along with City are the best teams. City on the final day of the season, hopefully when its wrapped up.

After Saturday, I dont fear anyone until City on that final day.

I wish I had your confidence, I am not so sure we can beat Villa with how they play.

 

[Furey1878]

Team looks very stretched now

 

[Fansince1988]

A team can’t be reliant on one player, I think we are with Allan it’s shown since his injury in the main we have been poor. Look at them lot, Pickford tackle on VVD ended there defence of the title from that moment, I know you cant have back ups as good but some one has to take it up on themselves to fill the gap and do a decent job. That’s what a squad is for but beyond our best 11 the squad seems to be a shambles.

 

[BlueToff]

141 appearances in 3.5 seasons.

All these different managers who keep playing him must be clueless.

Thing is, he does a very specific role pretty well and, occasionally, very well - for all the grief he gets.

There's a reason he scored 13 goals or whatever it was in Silva's first season. There's a reason he has 5 goals and 7 assists this year and is statistically our second-most creative player.

But, played anywhere but that position, he's a liability.

I get that we're chasing the game, but this is a worry for me with Carlo. Earlier in the season, when Tosun first came back, his go-to when chasing a game was the 4-2-4 that Silva used to do, and like under Silva, it never worked.

Now, it seems to be to drop Gylfi back, and then push everyone else on. But issue is he has no passing range, no legs and doesn't receive the ball on the turn from the defence like even Davies manages.

I don't mind him playing at 10. I'd rather James in a free role but in games where we need some discipline in that role, fine.

But other than that, just take him off or leave him out. Because it's a genuine detriment to the side.

 

[BlueToff]

A team can’t be reliant on one player, I think we are with Allan it’s shown since his injury in the main we have been poor. Look at them lot, Pickford tackle on VVD ended there defence of the title from that moment, I know you cant have back ups as good but some one has to take it up on themselves to fill the gap and do a decent job. That’s what a squad is for but beyond our best 11 the squad seems to be a shambles.

I mean we lost Allan and went on to win the next 4/5 league games.

Our issues don't stem from just losing Allan. They stem from not having more than one or two ways of getting to goal, and one of those ways is set-pieces, which we don't win enough of (4 corners in last 5 league games).

 

[Fansince1988]

Team looks very stretched now

If Ancelotti can get the starting lineup back to the same as he started the season with I’m sure we will be better, Allan coming back could well improve things, some players you don’t realise how much you will miss in till they are out. Allan could well be out most important players and we didn't really realise that un till he got injured.