Carlo Ancelotti doesn't want lowest finish for 16 years on CV - Everton have plenty to play for
Don’t believe anyone who tells you that Everton have nothing to play for on the resumption of the Premier League season following its coronavirus-induced hiatus.
We didn’t know it at the time but March 1 was the last occasion until further notice that Goodison Park was packed with fans and the day ended in high drama with
Carlo Ancelotti marching on to the turf after the final whistle of a 1-1 draw with Manchester United.
The Blues boss remonstrated with the referee (who by the way was Manchester’s Chris Kavanagh, an interesting choice for a fixture between a team from his home city and one from Merseyside) after the home side’s stoppage time winning goal from
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, which had originally been given by the match officials, was ruled out following a VAR review.
Whether the finger of blame lies with those meddling Stockley Park pedants, the man with the whistle for not awarding a penalty in the build-up for a foul on
Gylfi Sigurdsson or the Icelandic midfielder himself for remaining on the turf in a crumpled heap and not getting out of the way from his offside position is up for debate but Ancelotti realised this was a big two points lost for his side.
The sharing of the spoils left
Everton stuck in the bottom half of the table and some five points behind United in fifth for what could become a Champions League qualification place if neighbours City’s ban from next season’s competition is upheld.
Had they beaten Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, that gap would have just been two points.
The normally unflappable Ancelotti, who shrugged off throwing away a 2-0 stoppage time lead against Newcastle United at Goodison Park in January by remarking: “They played well and it can happen”, was for once apoplectic.
Regardless of what some frustrated fans might say, especially those who just might be tempted to use a deadly global health pandemic as a thinly-veiled excuse to have an entire season declared ‘null and void’ – the Blue-hued counterparts to Kopites who invent trivial reasons why the building of Everton’s proposed new stadium at
Bramley-Moore Dock shouldn’t take place – Ancelotti’s side should not be merely going through the motions on their return.
Of course this season – even before the COVID-19 lockdown – was already looking to be another wasted opportunity for Everton to make some ground on the division’s established elites.
Chelsea went into the campaign with a transfer ban and a rookie manager, the aforementioned Manchester United had the affable but seemingly out of his depth Solskjaer “at the wheel” while Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, suffering a bad post-Champions League final defeat hangover, were both in a state of flux.
But like the north London rivals, the Blues were flattering to deceive and made a change in the dugout themselves after slipping into the relegation zone in December following a 5-2 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.
Even the previous term’s ‘best of the rest’ Wolves should have been there for the taking with the distraction of Europa League football threatening to bring a second-season slump but instead of Everton powering on up the table it was a Leicester City side managed by former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, who had finished below
Marco Silva’s side in May 2019 who proved to be the Premier League’s surprise package.
All is not lost though in a division that below Jurgen Klopp’s runaway leaders, has been unusually concertinaed.
If the Premier League’s chiefs had pulled up stumps and called time on a truncated campaign as have the powers that be in the lower divisions plus other European top flights such as Scotland, France and Belgium then Everton would be condemned to finish 12th.
Some might shrug their shoulders at such a prospect but
Roberto Martinez never stooped so low at Goodison and even
Sam Allardyce who arrived only a little sooner than Ancelotti during his respective campaign, steered the Blues to eighth.
Everton’s current position would also represent their lowest placing for some 16 years since they came a dismal 17th with just 39 points it what can now go down as
David Moyes’ ‘sophomore slump’.
Ancelotti, a coach with three Champions League wins and major silverware from all of Europe’s major five leagues does not want that unnecessary blot on his curriculum vitae.
Whether or not European qualification is ultimately achievable – and things are now more uncertain than ever with games being played in empty stadiums – with a quarter of their fixtures still remaining, the Blues should be able to climb a few more places.
What matches behind closed doors have tended to show so far is that while home advantage is lost, the teams with most quality are tending on the whole to prevail.
So with a supposedly stronger playing squad than both Crystal Palace and Burnley, the two clubs currently just above them in the table, plus new boys Sheffield United, Ancelotti’s Everton should be looking to finish with a flourish.
