After a miserable week with two Premier League defeats on the bounce Everton host Manchester City in an FA Cup quarter-final tie that will potentially define their season.
This is a massive test for a group of players who badly let down Everton supporters last week especially in a miserable home defeat to Burnley.
Saturday’s match represents the final chance for the Toffees to win a trophy again for the first time since 1995. It’s been that long since the Blues won silverware.
While not terminal, the defeats against Chelsea and Burnley have called into question whether the Toffees can secure European football next season.
Everton’s opponents on Saturday are the hardest possible, on paper anyway. City almost totally dominated the Blues when they met in the league recently and are enjoying a superb season as they try to achieve the seemingly impossible ‘quadruple’.
And while some teams don’t take the FA Cup seriously anymore, City have been showing in recent seasons that they are very committed to winning domestic trophies. Although their number one priorities are the Premier League and especially the Champions League.
City bascially don’t have a weak eleven, they have so much quality in depth to choose from and this ability to rotate with very little drop off in performance is why they can realistically pursue four trophies.
As for the home team there certainly isn’t anything like the quality and depth within their squad as their opponents. If they play, a number of players like Alex Iwobi really have to step up and perform if they are to convince they have a future.
There are now several more key injuries for manager Carlo Anceotti to deal with. At the time of writing we’re not sure if James Rodriguez or Gylfi Sigurdsson will be available. In addition, Abdoulaye Doucoure was already out probably for the rest of the season and then during the Burnley match Jordan Pickford went down hurt and had to be substituted.
Young keeper Joao Virginia came on and did well overall but despite that let’s hope that Robin Olsen is fit for the game on Saturday given his quality and experince.
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While that selection problem can be solved, Doucoure’s absence is a huge blow. Against the Clarets Ancelotti tried playing Tom Davies in his place but that didn’t really work as Davies lacks the energy, pace and box-to-box workrate of the Frenchman.
Against a City team that is going to control the ball and dominate midfield Everton are, you would think, going to need more than ever to be competitive in midfield.
I’ve previously said that one possible option is to move one of Mason Holgate or Ben Godfrey into midfield to provide the pace and bite that the hole due to Doucoure’s absence has left.
That would potentially leave gaps at the back unless Yerry Mina is fully fit and can play at centre-back, although he and Michael Keane will lack pace and would struggle against the sort of quality movement and quickness of the City forwards.
Another alternative approach and probably the only realistic option is to go back to the very defensive approach with the four central defenders he employed first back in December.
Packing the defence, sitting off City and trying to hit them with the kind of long-ball counter attacking football the Blues have employed a lot this season might will be the only strategy.
Whoever Ancelotti does pick and how he sets up Everton to play, this is a massive test for the Toffees. It’s very hard to see the Blues winnning the game, (although they have reserved their best against better teams this season), but defeat will possibly be terminal to the team’s hopes for achieving something from this campaign.