2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[TippEverton]

He got it really really wrong yesterday. Iwobi put his best performance in an Everton shirt last weekend as a right wing back, and he moves him to left wing back to accommodate Tom Davies. Nkounkou who is our only recognised left back with Digne out doesn’t even make the squad. Let’s be honest, if any of our previous managers would have made those changes, they would have been crucified. Square pegs in round holes. He needs to start playing players in their actual positions.

His team selection and use of subs against Newcastle was alarming.

By no means am I questioning his role, but no one is above criticism if it is warranted, and at times in recent weeks, sadly it has been.

 

[gorgeousgeorgeEFC]

Klipperty across the park took two years to get into the top 4 and four years to win a trophy. And he didn't inherit as awful a squad as Ancelotti did.

Patience.

Great point. And let's not forget that this time last year we'd just been hammered by Norwich and were about to be beaten by Leicester and tonked in the derby.

 

[Gilbert..]

Great point. And let's not forget that this time last year we'd just been hammered by Norwich and were about to be beaten by Leicester and tonked in the derby.

Shuuuush with that talk. The senile old get has been here 1 year. We should be like his old AC Milan side by now.

 

[Death]

Fair play, never seen the film so didn’t know, apologies and welcome aboard

If you think a kopite is going to pick a name like that and not atleast be packing a loophole excuse, well, just stay frosty is all I’m gona say.

 

[Death]

Honestly Carlo could be sat in the dugout watching a Friends marathon on Netflix while instructing his player to lime dance around the pitch and we can say nothing. We have been failures for so long we have wanted every manager out in less than a season. We chase this managerial icon out of the gaf and when we get relegated no body should act sad or surprised.

 

[alphabet]

Nice piece on the athletic

Carlo, as the banners say, is magnifico. The Everton manager is one of the very best. Since he walked into Goodison Park he has transformed a team that was sinking under the weight of expectations and failings of his predecessor Marco Silva.

Ancelotti is a master — of that there is no doubt. But the Italian is also human — and therefore capable of error. As you’d expect from a tactician of his experience and wisdom, he has rarely been to blame in the 11 games Everton have lost since he took charge almost a year ago.

But on Saturday night against Leeds, as at Newcastle at the start of November, the signs suggest that the manager simply got it wrong.

His counterpart Marcelo Bielsa demurred when it was put to him afterwards that he had got the better of the former Real Madrid manager, preferring to praise his players. But of the two formations and systems on show at Goodison it was the Argentine’s that seemed more effective and cohesive.

Of course the home manager was fighting with a hand tied behind his back. He had only just finished trying to make do without one of his most influential players in Richarlison recently, when injury struck another of them.

It was always going to be tough to replace Lucas Digne. But the Italian has faced that tall task already, at St James’ Park on November 1. His answer then was to use the potential and pace of Niels Nkounkou at left-back in a back four.

It didn’t work. Everton were awful and the 20-year-old Frenchman was withdrawn for Cenk Tosun in the second half.

But perhaps taken with how well Alex Iwobi performed as right wing-back in place of Seamus Coleman, another costly absence, at Fulham last time out, Ancelotti arguably fell foul of muddled thinking.

He kept the 3-4-3 formation that allowed Everton to outscore (and also concede twice) against the west Londoners, but swapped Iwobi to the other flank and asked Tom Davies to play as right wing-back. For different reasons than on Tyneside, this reshuffle didn’t work.

Everton are one of the best teams in the Premier League at getting crosses into the box and scoring from headers. It’s partly what has propelled Dominic Calvert-Lewin to the top of the division’s goalscorer table.

So often the deliveries come courtesy of Digne and Coleman overlapping Richarlison and James Rodriguez respectively and firing balls into the young England centre-forward.

At Craven Cottage, Iwobi managed five crosses, and Digne seven.

But on Saturday night, Iwobi was always going to have a far harder balancing act; tasked with getting his defensive duties right in the face of Raphinha down his side and Leeds’ incessant attacking.

Consequently the Nigerian produced just two crosses all game. Davies only one. The average position map from Opta below shows just how deep Iwobi (Number 17) played, with 24 of the former Arsenal man’s 39 touches overall coming in his own half.

Davies fared slightly better. Of his 33 touches, 16 were in his own half and 17 in Leeds’ but if the pair’s deployment was intended to continue some form of supply line to Calvert-Lewin, it failed.

Ancelotti put a brave face on it afterwards, insisting the wing-back formation was not the reason his side lost.

“Yes we missed some players and we need to adapt,” he said. “But honestly, they adapted quite well and the work of the wing-backs was really high. [They had] good fresh legs and the performance of both of them was, in my opinion, good.

“I think we played badly against Southampton and Newcastle but tonight it was a good game… not enough to win but we competed. If we could score before [first] we could win.”

The Everton manager was correct in that neither Iwobi or Davies were the reasons the hosts lost again, after appearing to turn a corner, albeit in a faltering manner, in London.

His team’s problems were more than just two square pegs forced into round holes because of injuries. If the formation was also intended to ensure Rodriguez was still free to roam in the attacking role which lit up the start of the season, that didn’t quite work either.

Either sticking with the 4-3-3 which made Everton’s start to the campaign so scintillating, albeit without two key cogs in his full-backs, or returning to 4-4-2 and making the Colombian adjust his role may well be better options.

Instead it was a helter-skelter evening when Everton fell too easily into the trap of trying to out-attack Leeds instead of playing their own game.

With his first anniversary approaching, it feels like Ancelotti is still trying to learn his best way of playing when he can’t play his strongest XI. Still learning about which players he can trust; not, it would seem, the raw but promising Nkounkou, Anthony Gordon or Jarrad Branthwaite.

Indeed, he is still mulling over his best defensive pairing, and the chopping and changing of his centre-backs can’t help the need to stop conceding so many goals.

It was perfectly understandable for the worryingly leaden Yerry Mina to sit this one out. In came Mason Holgate, who in turn sat out Fulham after a poor return from injury in the defeat by Manchester United.

On Saturday night Holgate, wearing the captain’s armband, was the centre-back to make way when the manager wanted to try something different and bring on another attacker in Bernard.

The truth is Everton are still lucky to have Ancelotti. They’re undoubtedly on a better path to potential success under a steward of his wisdom and guile.

But imagine, for a moment, if this confused and frustrating performance had come under Silva. Ancelotti has seen it all before and won’t lose much sleep over criticism.

He’s also far too savvy than to list his team’s tactical faults too painstakingly in the aftermath of defeat.

Whichever way you cut it, it felt like he got it wrong on Saturday. That’s not something you can say very often of the manager who has won more trophies than most.

But Everton were always going to be one of the toughest challenges he has faced in his managerial career. Their long-suffering fans must at least hope a man who makes so few mistakes, doesn’t make his latest ones twice.

The players he has at his disposal seem so much more suited to a back four. If the wing-back experiment is to continue, then his other players must become far better at replicating what injuries have taken from this team.

 

[anton66]

I think a lot of the criticism stems from the fact that the league is very poor and there for the taking. A win for us at the weekend would have had us in third place, so still time to turn things around.

 

[Death]

Good article from mcnulty.

Carlo Ancelotti arrived at Everton in December, the perfect answer to owner Farhad Moshiri's long-held ambition to have his own "Hollywood manager" in the north-west.

One of only three managers to win the European Cup/Champions League three times alongside Liverpool's Bob Paisley and Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane, Ancelotti was taking on a different type of assignment after being sacked by Napoli.

Everton required major renewal whereas Ancelotti's previous speciality had been as a facilitator of world-class players, earning the label 'the diva whisperer' for his ability to soothe the ego while coaxing stellar performances from high-maintenance personalities.

His early coaching days were at Reggiana and Parma in Italy - but does Everton represent his hardest job?

Kevin Ratcliffe, Everton's most successful captain after leading them to two titles, the FA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup in the mid-1980s, told BBC Sport: "Your first job in management is always your toughest because you are trying to make your mark and prove yourself but this might be his toughest since.

"In the past he has maybe plugged holes and had great players but Everton have got big, big holes and no great players. It is really a total rebuild."

Everton's season ended with dismal performances, especially away to Wolverhampton Wanderers and at home to Bournemouth, but Ancelotti's overall results offered some encouragement and ensured safety with a Premier League finish of 12th.

'Unfit for purpose' - what are Ancelotti's priorities?

Ancelotti's priorities were laid bare in a painful last few games, particularly in a midfield that is arguably the worst in recent Everton history, with Tom Davies and Andre Gomes struggling badly and Gylfi Sigurdsson flouting his billing as a £45m creative influence.

This key area needs a complete overhaul.

Everton's current midfield is unfit for purpose, lacking energy while offering little supply to strikers Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin and no protection for Ancelotti's defence.

Ratcliffe says: "When Everton played against teams that had more energy, they struggled.

"If I look at that midfield there is no legs. Where is the energy, the composure on the ball?"

Is Pickford now a serious problem?

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, undisputed number one since his £30m move from Sunderland three seasons ago, had a dreadful campaign highlighted by a series of high-profile blunders.

In the past three seasons, he is top of the list for mistakes by Premier League keepers that have led to goals with 10, alongside Asmir Begovic. He had an outstanding first season on Merseyside but there is no doubt he has regressed to such an extent his England place is now up for debate.

Ratcliffe said: "Have a look at his competition. It's not very good.

"The people he trains with are not making him better. He should be improving. He needs more pressure on him.

"He has had Maarten Stekelenburg, Jonas Lossl and young Joao Virginia as his competition. I wouldn't want any of those reserve goalkeepers playing on a regular basis for Everton. It might sound harsh but standards must be high."

Ancelotti agreed a four-and-a-half-year deal worth a reported £9m per annum. It will take much of that term to turn this dysfunctional Everton around.

Since majority shareholder Moshiri bought into Everton in February 2016, he has sacked Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce and latterly Marco Silva.

Dutchman Marcel Brands is now working alongside Ancelotti as director of football.

This will be a key element of Everton's summer but will there have to be compromises in what Ancelotti has already called a "beautiful relationship"?

Brands looks to bring in younger players to develop, increasing in value. Will Ancelotti still want the more hardened professionals to toughen up this mentally fragile Everton?

The word from inside Everton is that Ancelotti is "totally aligned" with Brands and the board on how they will approach this transfer window.

Ratcliffe said: "Recruitment has let Everton down. They have spent over the odds and paid ridiculous wages for average players.

"The club has been mismanaged with the managers appointed. How did Marco Silva get the Everton job? Where on his CV in the Premier League did it say he was right for that job? He took Hull City down and faded at Watford after a good start.

"You look at Gylfi Sigurdsson being signed for £45m. He was signed as a number 10 and is then played on the left wing because Everton already had two number 10s in Wayne Rooney and Davy Klaassen. Where was the thinking there?"

Ancelotti and Brands now have a bloated squad where so much deadwood has been assembled some cynics have suggested the club's Finch Farm training HQ is in danger of being labelled a fire hazard.

Who will take Sigurdsson, Fabian Delph, Cenk Tosun, Theo Walcott and even Alex Iwobi, signed for an eye-watering £34m from Arsenal on deadline day last summer?

How long will Ancelotti's rebuild take?

Ancelotti, with his usual measured wisdom, has talked about "evolution" rather than revolution but there is still serious urgency required in this transfer window.

A long, tough road lies ahead.

He has been promised total support in the markets within the parameters of Financial Fair Play.

It is not, though, as simple as that.

"Everton have been spending money on players without having a top-class manager," says Ratcliffe.

"Ancelotti is a top-class manager but the biggest problem he has got is trying to recoup some of the money Everton have spent. This will take more than a year.

"He has to look right down the middle. They need an authoritative centre-back, a dominant midfield player, a striker and another wide man.

"It is also difficult to see where the leaders are when they are losing games."

And this is why, after years building a reputation as one of the most decorated coaches in the history of the game, Ancelotti now faces a different, herculean task.

He was know as the diva whisperer now he has to learn the subtle art of the tramp whisperer.

 

[Big_nev]

Fact is we are a team that massively depends on our left hand side. We've arguably got the second strongest left side in the league Behind Mane and Robertson. You take Digne or Richarlison out of this side and the drop off in quality is vast. You can argue that it shouldn't be that way but it is what it is. James actively cuts inside and seeks the run of Digne or Richarlison and it's by far our most effective move.

We can discuss why Ancelotti doesn't trust Nkounkou to slot in (he's made one senior appearance in his career), we can wonder why we haven't addressed the issues in the squad over the summer and we can try and understand why Tom Davies skates around Bold Street dressed like the Birkenhead tranny but either way we are still an injury or two away from the likes of Tosun filling in unless we start moving the team around just like Carlo did against Leeds.

 

[GwladysBlue]

So on the one hand you’re saying we have a losers mentality yet we’ve brought in one of the most successful football managers ever, who you say (in your previous post) doesn’t seem like the right fit? Which is it to be mate you can’t get much more of a winner than Carlo Ancelotti

But like players, managers too decline. We’re probably Ancelotti’s last job unless he fancies the MLS or something.

 

[BlueToff]

Fact is we are a team that massively depends on our left hand side. We've arguably got the second strongest left side in the league Behind Mane and Robertson. You take Digne or Richarlison out of this side and the drop off in quality is vast. You can argue that it shouldn't be that way but it is what it is. James actively cuts inside and seeks the run of Digne or Richarlison and it's by far our most effective move.

We can discuss why Ancelotti doesn't trust Nkounkou to slot in (he's made one senior appearance in his career), we can wonder why we haven't addressed the issues in the squad over the summer and we can try and understand why Tom Davies skates around Bold Street dressed like the Birkenhead tranny but either way we are still an injury or two away from the likes of Tosun filling in unless we start moving the team around just like Carlo did against Leeds.

You raise good points but if your left-back is injured - and ours is now going to be for most of the season - then play your other left-back. That shouldn't be a debate. You play the back-up players for those roles.

If Carlo wasn't happy with Nkounkou as Digne's back-up, then we should have gone and got another left-back before the window shut.

 

[ToffeeTim]

You raise good points but if your left-back is injured - and ours is now going to be for most of the season - then play your other left-back. That shouldn't be a debate. You play the back-up players for those roles.

If Carlo wasn't happy with Nkounkou as Digne's back-up, then we should have gone and got another left-back before the window shut.

He clearly would have liked more players last summer, but for various reasons it didn't happen. We are still being hurt by some of Walsh players who remain at the club but now Brands players are causing the same issues.

The right back situation with Kenny was the most bizarre one of them all. CA clearly does not rate Kenny so why on earth was no replacement found. We have a director who leaves us very short every year and no manager can fully operate under that. It was exactly the same for Silva where everything was left to deadline day panic. How we operate in the transfer window sums us up as a club. Disorganised, confused and happy to settle for second best.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

Good article from mcnulty.

Carlo Ancelotti arrived at Everton in December, the perfect answer to owner Farhad Moshiri's long-held ambition to have his own "Hollywood manager" in the north-west.

One of only three managers to win the European Cup/Champions League three times alongside Liverpool's Bob Paisley and Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane, Ancelotti was taking on a different type of assignment after being sacked by Napoli.

Everton required major renewal whereas Ancelotti's previous speciality had been as a facilitator of world-class players, earning the label 'the diva whisperer' for his ability to soothe the ego while coaxing stellar performances from high-maintenance personalities.

His early coaching days were at Reggiana and Parma in Italy - but does Everton represent his hardest job?

Kevin Ratcliffe, Everton's most successful captain after leading them to two titles, the FA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup in the mid-1980s, told BBC Sport: "Your first job in management is always your toughest because you are trying to make your mark and prove yourself but this might be his toughest since.

"In the past he has maybe plugged holes and had great players but Everton have got big, big holes and no great players. It is really a total rebuild."

Everton's season ended with dismal performances, especially away to Wolverhampton Wanderers and at home to Bournemouth, but Ancelotti's overall results offered some encouragement and ensured safety with a Premier League finish of 12th.

'Unfit for purpose' - what are Ancelotti's priorities?

Ancelotti's priorities were laid bare in a painful last few games, particularly in a midfield that is arguably the worst in recent Everton history, with Tom Davies and Andre Gomes struggling badly and Gylfi Sigurdsson flouting his billing as a £45m creative influence.

This key area needs a complete overhaul.

Everton's current midfield is unfit for purpose, lacking energy while offering little supply to strikers Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin and no protection for Ancelotti's defence.

Ratcliffe says: "When Everton played against teams that had more energy, they struggled.

"If I look at that midfield there is no legs. Where is the energy, the composure on the ball?"

Is Pickford now a serious problem?

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, undisputed number one since his £30m move from Sunderland three seasons ago, had a dreadful campaign highlighted by a series of high-profile blunders.

In the past three seasons, he is top of the list for mistakes by Premier League keepers that have led to goals with 10, alongside Asmir Begovic. He had an outstanding first season on Merseyside but there is no doubt he has regressed to such an extent his England place is now up for debate.

Ratcliffe said: "Have a look at his competition. It's not very good.

"The people he trains with are not making him better. He should be improving. He needs more pressure on him.

"He has had Maarten Stekelenburg, Jonas Lossl and young Joao Virginia as his competition. I wouldn't want any of those reserve goalkeepers playing on a regular basis for Everton. It might sound harsh but standards must be high."

Ancelotti agreed a four-and-a-half-year deal worth a reported £9m per annum. It will take much of that term to turn this dysfunctional Everton around.

Since majority shareholder Moshiri bought into Everton in February 2016, he has sacked Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce and latterly Marco Silva.

Dutchman Marcel Brands is now working alongside Ancelotti as director of football.

This will be a key element of Everton's summer but will there have to be compromises in what Ancelotti has already called a "beautiful relationship"?

Brands looks to bring in younger players to develop, increasing in value. Will Ancelotti still want the more hardened professionals to toughen up this mentally fragile Everton?

The word from inside Everton is that Ancelotti is "totally aligned" with Brands and the board on how they will approach this transfer window.

Ratcliffe said: "Recruitment has let Everton down. They have spent over the odds and paid ridiculous wages for average players.

"The club has been mismanaged with the managers appointed. How did Marco Silva get the Everton job? Where on his CV in the Premier League did it say he was right for that job? He took Hull City down and faded at Watford after a good start.

"You look at Gylfi Sigurdsson being signed for £45m. He was signed as a number 10 and is then played on the left wing because Everton already had two number 10s in Wayne Rooney and Davy Klaassen. Where was the thinking there?"

Ancelotti and Brands now have a bloated squad where so much deadwood has been assembled some cynics have suggested the club's Finch Farm training HQ is in danger of being labelled a fire hazard.

Who will take Sigurdsson, Fabian Delph, Cenk Tosun, Theo Walcott and even Alex Iwobi, signed for an eye-watering £34m from Arsenal on deadline day last summer?

How long will Ancelotti's rebuild take?

Ancelotti, with his usual measured wisdom, has talked about "evolution" rather than revolution but there is still serious urgency required in this transfer window.

A long, tough road lies ahead.

He has been promised total support in the markets within the parameters of Financial Fair Play.

It is not, though, as simple as that.

"Everton have been spending money on players without having a top-class manager," says Ratcliffe.

"Ancelotti is a top-class manager but the biggest problem he has got is trying to recoup some of the money Everton have spent. This will take more than a year.

"He has to look right down the middle. They need an authoritative centre-back, a dominant midfield player, a striker and another wide man.

"It is also difficult to see where the leaders are when they are losing games."

And this is why, after years building a reputation as one of the most decorated coaches in the history of the game, Ancelotti now faces a different, herculean task.

Was back in early August that article wasn't it?

 

[matty1878]

Shuuuush with that talk. The senile old get has been here 1 year. We should be like his old AC Milan side by now.

 

[matty1878]

But like players, managers too decline. We’re probably Ancelotti’s last job unless he fancies the MLS or something.

ha ha ha ha ha my god.