Everton need to decide on attack
Most teams in the modern game don’t really play with a traditioanl target-man type centre-forward and tend to have a more fluid attack often with three interchangable forwards.
Calvert-Lewin in contrast is I reckon best suited to something like a 4-4-2 formation where he’s got another striker to directly support him and there is enough width and creativity to provide the chances he needs. This was how he played last season alongside Richarlison when the pair netted 26 times between them in the Premier League.
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However, if Everton do want to play a more defensive counter-attacking game, which they have done when they’ve played the best teams and often got results – like Chelsea at home or Liverpool away – then they can’t really operate with an orthodox number nine.
He will tend to become too isolated up front and starved of the sort of ball he needs to have an effect and too often even when the ball gets to him, if he can’t quickly control it or lay it off to a supporting team-mate, then the possession is lost. So perhaps for this conservative approach to work Everton need a more flexible attack.
An example of what I mean is the derby game at Anfield. Ancelotti sprung a surprise by not picking Calvert-Lewin and instead he played Rodriguez behind Richarlison. It worked very well and Richarlison seemed to thrive with that responsbility and scored Everton’s first goal.
Then later on the manager could bring on Calvert-Lewin to provide that extra pace and threat in the air to keep Liverpool honest as they pressed for an equaliser. That led to the move that brought the penalty and the Blues second goal.
This approach makes a lot of sense. The team that lined up against City playing with a sort of back-three of Mason Holgate, Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey, was very strong and provides for a good counter-attacking foundation, if you have the right players at wing-back and midfield.
Of course it’s always horses-for-courses to some extent but if the Blues want to continue playing that way they probably need a much more fluid attack with a set of forwards and midfielders who can better link together and perhaps even operate at times without an out-and-out centre-forward or striker.
If that’s the case then perhaps Calvert-Lewin might not fit these tactics and approach. That would leave Ancelotti with a difficult choice about whether he will and can stick with the England man as his regular first-choice centre-forward.