2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[kenada_blue]

That's a terrible take. You don't have just 1-2 chances to finish in the top 4 mate, you have 38 games to go through. A loss to Fulham at home won't be attributed as the reason we didn't make top 4.

Problem is we punched above our weight at the start of the season and nicked some big results, expectation has gone through the roof since then. Leicester have been consistently solid and chasing the pack for the past few years now, no shock they're ahead of us. I suspect by the end of the season we'll be comfortably behind the top 4 - just hope we can cling onto a European spot and that would represent a success for me.

Just last year to be fair when they finished 5th.

We've finished above them every season bar the time they won the league.

Huge misconception about them

 

[Egil Olsen]

a tactical review of what he’s done the last few seasons, which somebody did at some point last year, would change your mind and bring you back to what I think is the more logical conclusion.....he will be able to do more with a few more of his own players.

Of course. I do not have time to sit in the analysis room and analyze every Everton match. I'm open to the possibility that my opinion may be wrong.

At the same time, I think many of the analyzes tend to overcomplicate the subject, and it has become a bit of a hipster thing. Where something completely ordinary is blown up to become something sensational.

Then it is of course difficult to free yourself from your own football philosophy, and the glasses you see football through. But so far I think we have done well in terms of points, even though the curve is declining, but overall I am not impressed with the way we play football.

The problem comes if we do not reverse the trend and continue to play this type of football. I can accept this type of football as long as we win, but if we end up in 8.9, 10th place and worse with this way of playing football, it takes away all the joy for me. Then I rather take an 11, 12 place, and where we actually try to score goals.

 

[davek]

We had no real pace for years, started with Koeman and since then we added non.
We don’t even play like a team that has any pace, when do we ever slip a ball through for a forward to run on to? It’s always loft
Midfield is a serious problem still, With Allan and James we have much better control but take them out and your left with sideway passing slugs.

what really winds me up with Everton and has forever is the fact our players get the ball and seem to have no space or time yet the oppo can stop make a coffee and then pass. We never seem to get overloads yet seem to be constantly overloaded.

Yep, it's a feature of our play. The sloth-like nature of our closing down and the fact we seem to be swamped every time we get the ball.

Our play relies too much on crosses swung in by Digne, in particular. I think DCL can play off the shoulder of a striker now too. So it's not as if we have a limited striker up front. James looks wide when he gets it and maybe that's to instruction but we are a team that plays far too much in the channels.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

Well, here we have to disagree. Liverpool can play with the reserve team and get about the same result. Walcott masters this well in Southampton, etc. Many teams master this well without star players.

Egil Olsen's teams were always very good in the pressure game, and in the defensive game Norway was superb in defending themselves in zones. The pressure varied depending on situations and opponents. Long balls were used as a tool when the opponent was in balance, and the intention was to move up the team to win second balls (create an advantage around the duel). In order to create an imbalance in the opponent.

Olsen was very concerned with winning the ball in favorable areas, and then the ball should go vertically and on as few touches as possible going forward. He is probably not very impressed with our defensive game, and probably thinks we are too cumbersome when we attack. However, he is probably impressed with our set pieces.

1.16

Aye, like the Leicester team I mentioned. Pacey breaks

 

[MikeH72]

Bielsa, Alpine Klopp....

Forward thinking managers that they think can get Davies, Gomes, and Siggy to press for 90mins.

Weird to lump him in with the other two.

 

[davek]

I see this a lot, but I disagree.

'Overhauls' rarely work, certainly short to medium term. There are obviously deficiencies in the squad, but for a new manager to be successful he needs time to properly assess the squad over a season in different systems playing different teams to be able to clearly identify where the improvements need to be made and the order they need to be made in.

If we moved on another half a dozen senior squad players (at most) and replaced them with more quality in the summer then that's the main objective in terms of playing staff turnover. The positions on the pitch that they represent will be based on what Brands, Ancelotti & his staff deem to be priority based on their conclusions from this season.

Obviously bringing loads of new players in which, on paper, would be improvements on the current crop would help in so much that the overall quality would move up at a minimum.. but you still need to form chemistry. We've seen over the last couple of years just how much 'familiarity' in a team factors into their performances and, subsequently, results. The reds for instance haven't had the best squad (on paper) compared to City but they walked the title last year and won a Champions League primarily based on how Klopp was given the time to develop them as a team and not once did he need to 'overhaul' the squad - he just added pieces over time where he needed to.

The hope is that, over time, Brands & Ancelotti will achieve similar with Everton. That's ultimately where we stand.

That's ok keeping faith with players and allowing the manager to work more with them. However, the quality is not there. It's not like we have any surprises left with these players. We've seen what they're capable of and they're limited.

I think we need to decide what we're about as a club. Stay comfortably in the division until thr stadium is built is one option; get shut of a lot and rebuild the team prior to the move is another.

 

[MikeH72]

Would like us to play a little better than an expensively assembled Burnley.

SHUT UP MATE YOU WANT MOYES BACK THE STATE OF YOU LAD

 

[davek]

That's a fair enough comment, which leads to the next part...if not Ancelotti, then who, is the magical silver bullet out there?
I'm not sure it is, he may be hiding in plain sight, but its a pure lottery, if you spin the wheel.
You can name plenty lf managers who've done well but there is no magic formula that lets them do it again...
See Kendall II & III
At the moment, the known, known of Ancelotti is a better bet than the known unknown, of the spin on the managerial wheel of fortune.

How long for is up to results and Moshiri's good will

I dont know either, tbh. I'm happy with Ancelotti on the whole, but I doubt he'll do much better than where he's taken us thus far.

Bottom line: I think we're boring and predictable. I'm not enthused by our football. We get the odd big result but so what?

 

[nsno-chris]

No we won't and its not an argument, it's a debate and a discussion between people with different opinions. He has bought players that's true but he's also improved some players that he already had.

And yet he hasn’t, those that weren’t up his standard he binned off. With the exception of 1 or 2 everyone in that starting 11 of his was performing at a very good individual level.

Granted if he turns that Preston lad into Maldini then maybe you’re onto something. But claiming he’s turned a bunch of has-beens into champions is a HUGE stretch

 

[Thomasc]

So as I wrote earlier...Mina, Keane, Godfrey, Digne, Dacoure, Allan, Rodriguez, DCL, Richarlison

that’s 9 players of good quality.

Yes we’ve had injuries, but so has everyone

Are we still going to peddle a lack of quality if we fail to get a European spot? Doesn’t work for me.

Leicester won a league with Wes Morgan and Danny Simpson in the back 4. Marc Albrighton and Danny Drinkwater in midfield.
It’s all about mentality and how you approach your job.
If you set out to be cautious and boring, then expect the obvious results I suppose.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

exactly, weakness identified and blow your full transfer budget. It worked for him

I think @Sharpies volley thinks that those purchases didn’t happen and klopp found them in the reserves and turned them in to world class players

There's even bum kissing articles on the internet which demonstrate this point: https://talksport.com/football/5514...iverpool-everton-alisson-van-dijk-mane-salah/

 

[ToffeeTim]

So as I wrote earlier...Mina, Keane, Godfrey, Digne, Dacoure, Allan, Rodriguez, DCL, Richarlison

that’s 9 players of good quality.

Yes we’ve had injuries, but so has everyone

Are we still going to peddle a lack of quality if we fail to get a European spot? Doesn’t work for me.

Leicester won a league with Wes Morgan and Danny Simpson in the back 4. Marc Albrighton and Danny Drinkwater in midfield.
It’s all about mentality and how you approach your job.
If you set out to be cautious and boring, then expect the obvious results I suppose.

If we don't qualify for europe this season then the season is a failure, regardless of how people want to spin things.

A poor league finish this year should have zero effect on the manager's position, but we are in danger of letting the season unravel. 9th or 10th is below par with this squad and Ancelotti would agree with that himself.

 

[TheBigIguana]

We

We are in the European places with a game in hand and in your eyes we have been atrocious.

That's brilliant. So we just have to improve by a few percent and we are in contention.

Right well we better get on it then. Because we are not improving at the moment.

 

[LocalNative]

I disagree mate.
We are constantly banging out the line that we have some top players, Keane, Mina, Digne, Godfrey, Dacoure, Rodriguez, Allan, DCL, Richarlison...yet we are ok with that collective group finishing 7th to 10th?
Do Leicester have much better players or are they just organised better? Or are they just more positive and actually go out and try and win football matches.
Genuine question.

They have a better GK, RB and arguably CB. Their CM is better than ours plus they have pace in abundance in attack, something we sorely lack. Overall they've got a better, more balanced team.

I think one more window of 3-4 new faces for the starting XI and we'll then be in a better position to challenge.

 

[MikeH72]

It takes time to turn around a massively mismanaged football club. Hell it even took Man City and Mansour a few years to start competing at the level they are at, spending millions along the way, and numerous managers, Chelsea did the same. We have Carlo (a proven world class winner) who obviously knows what he's doing. It might take a season or two or even three but he's got us going in the right direction. I have faith in the manager. As much as it's frustrating to watch us at times.

They finished 4th and won the FA Cup in the second season Mansour was there and won the league in season 3.