Basic Fundamentals

by Tony Everan | 12/12/2020

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We talk about fitness, energy, desire, motivation and commitment week after week on ToffeeWeb. Strip out talent altogether and just think about these basic fundamentals of being a successful football player. Also, what every successful club bar none instigates as an undisputed necessity.

First, we need to match teams for these basic fundamentals or we will struggle against any team — including teams with less talent, such as Leeds United, Southampton; even more so against teams with more talent, such as Chelsea. Forget new signings for a minute: we need to get the regimes and culture into the whole club from top to bottom that produces these basic fundamentals better than the rest.

Carlo Ancelotti is a wonderful man, and is hugely successful, but at Everton, some different skills and approaches are needed to achieve these basic necessary fundamentals. Until I see an upward trajectory in these basic fundamentals, I cannot see an uplift of form in any permanent or sustainable way. I think we will muddle along mired in our perennial mid-table mediocrity.

Above all, I want stability; the club needs it, and I want Carlo to succeed. We have some wonderful talent at the club that — with the basic fundamentals in place — can shine bright. I want to see us return to being that hardcore football club that we love, a defiant club and an uncompromising club. 11 players fighting for everything on the pitch for 95 minutes. All this with the talent to deliver the winning blow. I don't just want it, I am desperate for it.

The big question has to be: Can Carlo deliver the basic fundamentals with his backroom set-up as it stands at the moment?

It is looking unlikely from what we have seen over the last 7 weeks. Soon, Carlo will have to make some very difficult decisions if he is to set us on the right path and if he is to be a long-term success at Everton.

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