I’ve felt with every manager post Moyes (perhaps with the odd exception of Allardyce) that we either didn’t get the best individually out of players or as a collective sum of parts, or that we didn’t have good enough players as a whole. What is refreshing to see under Ancelotti is that most players have started to perform how I’d expect them to. Digne once again looks like the left back we bought, all the centrebacks look competent, Coleman looks like what he is (a right back we need to replace) the midfield look like what they are, some injured, some just not good enough, and our forwards are playing at the level we’d expect. There’s been some bad performances yes but there’s also been levels of consistency that I feel we haven’t had for a long long time. Wolves was possibly the only aberration, but the other losses we’ve been able to see where the midfield has struggled but the defence and forwards have still played ok in some of those games. That feels like a base to build from we haven’t had in a while and gives me hope that if we sort the midfield out there’s no reason why the defence and forward line will suddenly drop their level. This feels like a base to gradually improve from whereas to be honest under Silva and Koeman no one knew what Everton would turn out any week.
