Pragmatic Ancelotti shaping Everton
As Everton secured another important win with their 2-1 victory over Leicester City on Wednesday, there was further evidence of the continuing impact of Carlo Ancelotti’s leadership.
When Ancelotti arrived back in December to take over as manager, Everton were in dire straights and facing a probable relegation battle after a dreadful first half to the season.
The Blues were conceding simple and avoidable goals nearly every week and the team seemed devoid of any focus, commitment or self-belief.
Perhaps not since his earliest managerial days in Italy had the former AC Milan, Chelsea, PSG and Real Madrid boss taken over a team in such crisis.
Just reciting the names of some of those clubs once again, underlines the pedigree of the man now in charge at Goodison Park and the heights to which he is used to scaling.
His impact at Everton was immediate and quickly the Toffees began a decent run of form that saw them stabalise their situation and inch up the table.
Ancelotti has used several different systems in his time in club management, but he was pragmatic enough to recognise immediately the positive impact of the 4-4-2 formation that temporary manager Duncan Ferguson had introduced when Marco Silva was sacked.
He stuck with it of course as it’s one he’s used often before, although making some subtle but important tweeks such as the use of a three-man backline pushing one of the full-backs forward.
The Blues were looking a lot more organised and the mood of the players was obviously improved, with a world-class manager at the helm and as they had a clearer idea of exactly what they were supposed to be doing on the pitch.
However, that solid start was brought to an abrupt end with a 4-0 shellacking at Chelsea, Then came the coronavirus pandemic shutdown of the Premier League.
Since the restart, Everton have again been very solid, organised and defensively resilient, apart from a few hairy moments.
The Toffees attack isn’t firing properly yet, although significantly Richarlison scored his first since the restart on Wednesday night after a fine move involving Lucas Digne and Anthony Gordon.
Ancelotti though is not over anxious to go to a more adventurous style, even if ideally most Blues fans would probably want to see their team attack more. He is still committed to maintaining a strong defensive position at all times.
Although this is a relatively prosaic approach, a return of 25 points since he took charge is ample reward and will certainly be taken by this Evertonian!
In truth what he has managed to do is little short of miraculous considering he has the same set of players who were performing so abjectly before the turn of the year.
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Ancelotti emphasised his safety-first approach with his substitutions in the Leicester game. He moved to shore up his midfield, which was being overrun, by bringing on Tom Davies in the second half when he needed more energy and work rate.
That Leicester win was very important psychologically too, as it’s exactly the kind of game that Everton would almost certainly have lost just a few months ago.
Having begun well and taken a lead, the Toffees would most probably have blown it when coming under the sort of pressure the Foxes exerted for so long. But this time Everton held on and secured what might turn out to be a critical three points in their push for Europe.
There is still the need for additional strengthening at the back and he is keen on bringing in another centre-back and perhaps as I suggested a truly top-class keeper.
But by setting up this solid foundation, Ancelotti will be able to build on this and create a strong and potent attack in the future. That will make a team that Blues fans can really look forward to.