Ancelotti targets top-four next season

Looking forward to this summer and more quality players coming in.

But good luck Carlo.

Onwards we go!!!

Once again, Everton have had yet another disappointing season after high expectations.

Carlo seems the right fit for the club and we now have a manager that even the media recognize and know that it's only a matter of time when we're back winning trophies...

Whilst most of the players are on the same wavelength as him, both Pickford and Sigurdsson were not up to speed in the last game. The whole team need to be improving on the coaching they are getting from Ancelotti. There are some players who have really improved and are more aware in their defending and attacking play, but there are others who are not listening and still are weak links in the Everton team. What's more, they may never get it.

Everton are constrained, in going into the market to improve the squad, by the poor management of previous regimes. The situation in regard to this has not changed for Ancelotti, unless he can develop the Academy and U23s, which is now more under his control.

Everton need to start winning matches, both home and away. 12th in the table is not good enough.

Just like when Leicester won the league in 2016, the season has seen the usual top sides all struggle for form and remain in transition but we have not been good enough when it's mattered most.

As fans, we are made to look foolish by this because we are constantly banging the drums for this squad of international players that get hyped up and this crop of simply irresistible youngsters but they haven't yet produced the results that so-called lesser talented teams are doing.

The end of this season is big but next season is huge, can we allow yet another season to pass us by with little change?

As mentioned by many, we have had our expectations "dumbed down" by managers over the years. Why should we not strive for more, especially when outside the top 2 of Liverpool and Man City, the other two places are up for grabs?

Man Utd, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal (that's 3 of the original Sky Four) don't look like they are a season away from getting back up as established top 4 contenders.

It's unlikely that Leicester, Wolves or Sheffield Utd will get too much stronger, unless there is a lot of other investments.

And even if they are in with a shout, why shouldn't we be?

We have got the nucleus (or have we? – some might say) but that will only be a good starting point if we recruit much better this summer. Win today and the feel-good factor will just keep on growing – that is the biggest indication of how I feel right now.

I've watched Everton for years knowing they haven't got the quality or the belief to go and win away from home against the better teams, but something is stirring because, although we still lack quality, the stray balls have been getting less and less during the last few games, and I've also seen signs in a few of our younger players, that losing is something they don't like, and these younger players also seem so much more aware of what it means to us fans.

Only words, just an opinion, but if you have got a few in your team that don't like losing, it usually becomes infectious, and we all know if the players play for the shirt, Evertonians usually take care of the rest!

I haven't woken up with so much confidence in my team for years, and nothing is going to stop me being positive... well not until the game starts today, anyway!

Wolves, Leicester, Sheffield United may be tired out by Europe and Vardy is starting to get injured.

Chelsea will spend big. Man Utd will spend big... but does Solskjaer have the nouse? Arteta will still have a very porous defence.

Carlo could be on to something...

Goalkeeper: shaky, error-prone and erratic

Centre-backs: seems Holgate could be an answer. Who's the best choice next to him? And if the spine is so strong, why do we concede so many goals?

Centre-midfield: universally acknowledged to be our weakest area. I love Gomes but he doesn't score enough. Sigurdsson doesn't do enough. Schneiderlin doesn't do enough. Delph can't stay fit for more than 10 games in a row ever and doesn't create or score enough. Davies: if he doesn't produce next season, then you have to wonder if he'll ever make that next step up. Gbamin: we haven't seen enough and may not even recover. I'm really baffled by this spine comment.

Centre-forward: I like Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin up top. But who's behind them in case of injury or loss of form etc? Kean: has there ever been a more disappointing outcome since a high profile purchase? Cottee at least scored a few goals (nearly 100 by the time he left). We have had poor luck with strikers and the next purchase has to be bang-on.

Sorry, Carlo, we don't have a good spine. Don't know what you're taking about.

Cottee got progressively worse; I personally expect Kean to do the exact opposite, and honestly not because I've woken up today feeling positive!

I'm getting off ToffeeWeb until after the game, but before I go, I will say I'm a lot more concerned about our midfield than I am about further up the pitch.

Over the park, they have of course gone about things the other way – by having top class forwards and defenders and getting by with a workmanlike but average midfield. Each to their own.

Now we all know saying you plan to do something and doing it can be quite different. But when did we last hear an Everton manager talk about getting a Champions League place? And this isn't from a manager with no experience of playing in the Champions League; this is a man who has won it 3 times.

I think the window in the summer will be very interesting, and by now he will know who stays and who won't be needed.

I think he is largely happy with the squad and excited by the young talent so believes in the overall quality of the squad. Clearly the heart of the squad was ripped out this summer which has destroyed our season but with a few top signings in key areas that will make a big difference like Fernandes has done at Man Utd.

Don't worry about Kean, next season I'm confident we will see a lot more of the talent that showed up when he came on against the neighbours and against Newcastle. I expect him to be a real bargain in time.

In the other positions we have the bones of a team that can challenge for the top 4.

I hope Carlo will be magnifico but he hasn't done anything yet, let's hope his best is yet to come. The best of luck to him as I feel he is good for the club.

I do feel we need a major injection of talent in the Summer to achieve that, easier said than done, with the immovable deadwood and FFP possibly being breached in the process.

This high end backroom staff have an impossible mission: Turn Tom Davies into a dynamic midfield wizard, do you accept the mission?