'I'm not a magician!' — Ancelotti says character and quality needs to improve

We've seen Everton sides over the years with far less ability than this one fight tooth and nail and at least try to win games even though it lacked quality.

I'm looking at the internationals in our squad and then I look at the manager who has won so many things and I just can't help but wonder why are we in a position where we can't commit men to score goals, can't pass and move, can't shoot?

That's partly down to training methods in my opinion as much as the actual personnel.

As I say these aren't Sunday league players, they are multimillionaire Premier League footballers that the manager has at his disposal.

In many ways the 11 away wins have been great but next season they could be games we lose by the odd goal if we don't start learning how to attack.

He is right, we have some quality but appear to lack the desire when at home especially when teams come to defend. They'll soon know about it tomorrow against Wolves if they serve up the same shit.

Another good window and I think we will push right on. Especially if Spurs lose Kane. Missed opportunity this season, definitely.

We have tried to play more open at Goodison, and that is when we have come unstuck, and that's why he's talking about more quality, because he knows that we have nowhere near enough.

He could have made us better at Goodison though, but who can disagree and say that we already have enough players with spirit, or with personality, and who concentrate for 90 minutes and sacrifice themselves for the team?

I have to agree. The fact is hat Carlo's taken it on the chin for 18 months and kept his counsel private but at some point you look like an idiot if you keep extolling the virtues of players who can't or won't perform. As Dan Nulty points out, if he was Mourinho he'd be publicly hanging Holgate out to dry for one. I think he's a) being honest and b)hoping he might light a fire under one or two who could at least do better.

Frustration with those who have let him and us down and a statement to the owner.

He is not absolved from blame whatsoever. Just like any leader, he carries the can. But he is also calling out what many of us have been doing and seeing with a lot of these players over the past few years.

Isn't that a bit of a contradiction? You say he's blaming the players but then say they are excuses for footballers.

Perhaps the most unaware statement any Everton manager has ever said, utterly delusional.

It's a message to the owner, and a defence of his reputation, saying this is the best that can be done with the players at my disposal (unless you deploy witchcraft).

.. If you don't back me with four or five quality players this summer, nothing will change.

"We played 21 games where we planned to be strong defensively, play on the counter attack and use set pieces. We won 14 of those games.
In 15 games we tried to play differently. We won 2 of them games"

Allan is ok breaking the play up but at the end of the day is a none scoring none creative midfield player.

James, don't get me wrong I think he's top class player but he's becoming a liability.

Doucoure is not the player he was when we brought him here, at Spurs on the opening day he was immense box to box, we have stagnated him.

Godfrey has maintained his form and is super fit.

Nkounkou one for the future but clearly not rated for now.

King well I don't know why we brought him here, just a pointless waste.

So Carlo needs to actually bring in better than last summer in my opinion, because even last summer's window wasn't quite good enough at the end of the day.

Doucoure was playing very well Jim, his work rate was really missed when he got injured, and he's just played his first game in over ten weeks, so are you sure it wasn't his injury that has stagnated him?

One-nil Chelsea, just stay like this, get the points but don't fuck Leicester's goal difference up too much🤞

Carlo locked his players in a closed dressing room and didn't know if they were dead or alive.

Is he not saying what the vast majority of fans have said every time we bottle an opportunity for progression?

This team lack commitment, pride, spirit, and fight. I've said it countless times, not only this season, but for the last six seasons!

There's no fear factor at this club. There's no high standards expected, consistently.

Sounds to me like Carlo is laying it out for everyone now. You've had your chance. Times up. Buck up or off you pop. Doesn't matter if you're shite. I expect a certain standard and if you're not going to give it, you have no future here.

At least, I certainly hope that's what he's saying!

He knows you can't go on in football, playing this style of football in your home games, but I honestly wonder if he's been getting more pressure from Richarlison?

I ask because I think playing narrow, and with two up front, has left us unbalanced, wide open, and so easy to play against, so this has been the hardest things to work out for me, because it's a move that just hasn't made any sense.

He knows that's not acceptable long term though, so he's tried different things at Goodison, but playing Richarlison alongside DCL, has rarely made us a more productive attacking team, especially when playing with a narrow midfield, and has been a terrible tactical move, imo mate.

‘There is no problem at all. I want players who are happy and want to stay at Everton and feel part of this project. There is no player I can force to stay here.'

Only wants players who are committed to Everton

Yes, our defensive record this season is that we average 1.2 goals conceded per game in the league this season (2 or fewer per game, apart from 3 games). Not bad! But we've only scored 1.3 goals on average.

Is our offensive / scoring side weak because in fact we've had to maintain a more defensive approach? And have we had to do that because the back 4 has it's weaknesses if we play with a more open game?

So we do need to strengthen up front, but also in defence?

The seemingly "Laissez Faire" attitude that he shows is typical of someone who allows people to act or behave in any which way that they choose without interfering or trying to regulate their behavioral standards.

Basically means that he just goes with the flow and this is typical of the regime that has been in place at the club for many many years. Mediocrity is installed as the accepted standard with rank amateurs running the show for far too long.

Previously have worked in Asia for a ruthless results orientated Chinese family being specifically employed to bail out an ailing and under performing business which they had acquired at a knock down price. (much as a certain Bill did at Everton). The departmental directors and senior management team in this company if I compare to our senior players were highly paid individuals content to sit back and accept being bottom of the league in a lucrative niche business environment with only six major competitors in the world.

The senior team running the place saw little need to put in very much effort as there were no come backs for being lazy and half committed as long as they picked up their big bucks every month. Have we seen this somewhere before ?

Solution was to take the time to examine each individual senior executive, much as Carlo has done with the senior players for the past eighteen months and then to bear down heavily on those who were not committed to do the hard yards. Autocratic management was not my normal style but big kicks in areas associated with rectums soon put a lot of spring into certain peoples steps. Some fell along the journey but a small core became a very successful team and accepted that attitude, performance and a desire to succeed were important factors in keeping a sinking ship afloat.

Prima Donna footballers are a protected species in today's world and it is very hard to motivate or change attitudes but time now for Carlo to stand up and man up, show some balls and kick some ass or somebody will be kicking his ass when the folks who pay his wages get back into the factory.

John, is that perhaps because the problems on the pitch aren't that players aren't following pre-match instructions but that they are making errors which no amount of shouting can change - timing tackles, winning tackles, controlling the ball, timely passing, accurate passing. Seems to me that so much of our failure in games is down to players' lack of abilities such as these.

Can I ask all Blues fans to try and put aside that latest disaster on Sunday and get behind every player in the Blue shirt and Carlo, he's nobody's fool and knows exactly who's good enough and who isn't, so let's enjoy the game. Cheers COYB

Against Sheff U I watched on the hour mark, one-nil down as we'd been for fifty minutes, our four man defence pass the ball across the pitch to each other in our own half, and back again at such a slow pace that Sheff U's sole forward was able to feign closing down all four of them without breaking sweat.

Desire, effort, pace, skill and professionalism is absent. The players don't wanna know.

This is where we are now Mr Moshiri, under your leadership. Any plans to markedly improve things this summer, for once?

I think we can certainly question the way Carlo sets up the side and his reluctance to drop certain players. All the pundits and Richarlison, himself, say he's better down the centre but I disagree. He's far more effective cutting in from the left. Playing down the centre doesn't work and he has absolutely no awareness of where DCL is.

I disagree with your opinion about his signings. I think they're a definite upgrade on what we had.

Allen is a defensive midfielder and is excellent at breaking up attacks and protecting the back line.
James is our most creative player as we saw in the first half, on Sunday
Doucoure is the engine but was, understandably a little off the pace as he hasn't played for a couple of months.

What needs addressing is an overall lack of pace and a winger who can get down the line and actually centre the ball. It would also help if our players could string more than two passes together.

It'll certainly be an interesting summer but it'll probably be next summer before the rest of the dross are out of contract.

Agree 100% mate.
For me he plays wide left orvatva push wide right.
One thing he is not is a centre forward in the English game

I prefer Richarlison on the wing Thomas, because although he falls over way to much for my liking, I do think the lad is physically strong in this position, whereas that rarely looks the case when he plays up front.

It's the lack of link play that him and DCL have failed to develop that is more concerning, because they say good players can usually play with anyone, and yet both of these players have looked better when playing as a lone striker, although Carlo's narrow midfield, is possibly also contributing massively to this major problem.

The first signs of Ancellotti's other face have now been aired in public, and agreeing with John R, I think he's been waiting for this moment for quite a while, because there is no was this manager is foolish.

Me too.
A solid, fast back four gives the platform to the midfield and forwards.
Imo we have not got the players in the current squad to form a decent centre half partnership. This needs sorting out asap.
A right back to replace one of my all time favourites and then we can think about the wide right position, a back up striker and a ball carrying central midfielder.

Tony,

Sad news. Your owld mate The Duke has passed away.

If he is not a ‘magician', Ancelotti should have a meeting with Moshiri, and Brands and discuss the inadequacies of the current squad, and what it will take for yet another rebuild. Then, Ancelotti will have his own squad and no excuses for any magic acts to transform the team.

I don't want you to be a magican.

I want you to play to the teams strengths and not set us up to play dour negative football that has a slim chance of succeeding against 50% of the teams in the league.

I want you to stop picking players on reputation and shoehorning them into a position that doesn't work.

I want you to stop harming the overall team by adjusting a formation to suit one or 2 individuals.

I want you to have a chat with Brands and start next season with a squad of players you might actually use.

You don't need to be a magican, you need to apply some common sense.

Obviously there is a core of players who Ancelotti believes are not committed to following his instructions. They must have support from within the Club to be so brazen that the Manager has to go out of his way to have a meeting to address the whole squad in such a issue.

it shows that the Manager thinks that against Sheffield United that there where players who where not putting the effort into what he required technically or tactically them to do.

If the game against Sheffield United is assessed on what was technically and tactically wrong. It follows, on these reports, that the technically and tactical display was dictated by a core of the players, rather than the Manager.

This points to a orchestrated attempt on the pitch to prevent European Qualification, by a core of the players.

In my experience when a Manager has to hold such a meeting, there is a element of lack of support from other Management i. e Backroom and Club Management. This is reflected in the dominant, Staff or Players attitude.

Would they down tools against Wolves?

Ancelotti has made it clear he is staying.

No-one is expecting you to work miracles Carlo! But your immediate predecessor, Big Dunc, managed to get more grit, determination and effort out of a slightly worse group of players! Where are those things at the moment?

We're not expecting to start playing like Barcelona under Pep, or winning every match but we do want to see our team at least put a shift in. Duncan somehow managed to get Marco Silva's clueless wonders working hard for each other and leaving nothing on the table for the few games he was in charge!

I'm not advocating replacing Carlo with Big Dunc but to suggest that it's an issue of the current players not being capable enough shows a bit of a lack of understanding of the multiple issues the team currently has.

Carlo calls himself a trainer. Well, our bunch of ratbags don't look particularly well trained at the moment.

Richy and DCL are reasonable but not rapid, Nobody else.

Carlo must change some tactics, we're the only team in the division who employ zonal marking in all areas of the pitch at all times!

But, the squad needs speed, pace, velocity, athleticism!

Lets see some perspective in the the thread.

But I think there are many fundamental floors in the make up of Everton football club, for it solely to be the fault of the manager. Moshiri decided he wanted to go down the DOF route which has obviously worked at some clubs, but I think he should have defined the role of the DOF. Because its been quite apparent that since we appointed Walsh and now Brands we have 2 people buying players the manager and the DOF. So where is the clarity in that, I think its very clear that Brands bought King and Ancelotti seems not to rate him. Many posters have suggested that Brands was the driving force in signing Doucoure and Godfrey and Carlo signed James and Allan and Olsen, all decent signings. But as the saying goes one singer one song as their seems to be 2 people driving this ship and not always in the same direction.

But the fault for me goes much deeper than the manager and DOF roles, our coaches who are mostly ex players seem to be falling short of whats needed. Obviously its either Ancelotti or Brands who have decided that there are to many players in our U23 set up who are to old and clearly wont make the first team. So there has been a big shift to lower the age of the U23 squad and we have also seen some of the youngsters join the first team squad for training. Then you have to question their ability to spot a talent seeing as Haarland the most sought after striker in World football spent time here before leaving, also the young Sheffield Utd striker who scored against us was also here at the club but again let go.

There has also been suggestions that the chairman signed Rooney to come back which just adds to the problem. Now whether Moshiri is strong enough to define the lines of what role the DOF should be in the signing of players then this problem of a dysfunctional team will carry on. There is absolutely no point in hiring a manager like Ancelotti if he isn't allowed to pick and choose what players to buy for the first team, and maybe the role of the DOF would be to be on the look out for young players who in a year or two could be competing for a first team place. Just look at the situation we have in who replaces Seamus no youngster at the club is ready to step into his shoes. Surely when 2 or 3 of our ex managers decided Kenny wasn't the answer why didn't we scour the country for quick attacking full backs then.

Seemingly I'm in a minority, but when I watch Everton I don't see a side that don't care any, nor do I see a lack of effort. What I see is a (albeit limited) side uncoached in the basics, performing within a non-existent system from an attacking perspective, and without the partnerships needed to provide flowing link up play. We also still witness a side whose press is operated on an individual rather that a group basis - no wonder that opposing defences and midfield seem to make easy progress up the pitch whilst also invariably picking up any loose or second balls.

One of the takes from what Carlo seems to be saying is that the unmotivated will not be getting a look in. Odd then that the only player not to be getting a look in of late - Tom Davies - has been one of the few that can always be relied on to put in a shift.

Joe, I think we see this time and time again with a new manager (and we've seen it with Carlo) where players become motivated more than usual for a few games. But so often that motivation fades. That initial self-motivation can deceive us into thinking it can and will be maintained. Some parallel with what's called the Hawthorne effect.

I am at a loss to explain it also. But the Sheffield United game was the ticket to Europe and by the way they played, one can draw the conclusion that a core of the players did not want that ticket. The way that they do that is not to be technically or tactically committed to the Managers instructions.

Why to they not want into Europe?

Happy to play in England base competitions.

See Europe as a threat to there current position. (That goes for backroom staff as well. )

Getting into Europe gives Ancelotti more power and influence, by enabling him to bring in new players and influence the structure s and workings at Finch Farm.

The fact that Ancelotti is experienced and sucessful European Competitions Manager gives him more power over a bunch of European nobodies at Everton, allowing him to call the shots.

Ancelotti is reacting to resistance. He made in clear that it clear he wants qualify for European. The performances we have seen are the on the surface resistance to that objective amongst enough players and their coaches to influence the way Everton play.

That is unless the BM project relies merely on staying in the Prem and no more. Wouldn't be surprised !

No one wants to see an unoriginal magic act being performed over and over.

Perhaps some of the above advice could be used in his current occupation?

As a manager just starting his career and yet to win his first trophy Mr Ancelotti will be very grateful for your advice on how to set a team up

Where did it all go wrong.

When we're being outfought, outplayed and beaten by a team who've been relegated it should be clear that it's not a simple case of needing better players.

This is going to be pure car crash TV.

Hopefully the crowd will let the manager know in no uncertain terms that this garbage isn't acceptable.

Wolves are even worse than us... I'm going with 1-0, a Sigurdsson penalty.

Likewise, and certainly in the Premier league era, a team's midfield – "the engine room, the lungs, the link" – is so important.

It has to have a bit of everything, functioning well together. This has been our weakness for decades. There's been a few seasons of potential but key players have been sold, injured or lose form with no suitable replacement.

That is still the case. We need a midfielder that's not one-dimensional. James is creative but no pace, strength or energy. He's our 'best' player. Play to his strengths or don't play him.

Doucouré has energy but is a terrible passer and clumsy in the tackle.

Allan's got energy to get around and is a decent passer but lacks pace, strength and creativity.

All 3 are better than what we had but we need midfielders that have 3 or 4 strengths, not just 1 or 2.

A central midfielder with passing, energy, tackling and pace. A winger with pace, creativity, energy and passing.

I'm sure they have already been identified, now go get them before the Euros.

You forgot one characteristic we are sadly lacking and that's goalscoring.

I quite like the look of Perreira at West Brom who has goals and assists to his name playing in a poor team. He is also skillful.

Jay, I still believe that our problem upfront is more a supply issue rather than an ability to score.

Currently our forwards are living off scraps due to pedestrian build-up which gives every defender time to organise while our forwards are doing decoy runs to try on open up space. Faster build-ups with put defenders on the back foot.

Hopefully we start looking at young hungry quick players: Demarai Gray would be a starting point.

With 2 quick widemen and more games from James, we could improve our league position imo. Wholesale changes rarely work, regardless of who is in charge.

The Everton back line move the ball way too slow and then, when not working the ball out quickly, are forced into mistakes or hitting a hopeful long ball which Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin far too often cannot control and turn.

It hasn't changed all season and, for long periods in yesterday's first-half, it was evident. Wolves must be kicking themselves they got nothing from the game.

Ancelotti isn't wrong about having needed to be a magician to make the sizeable changes but would have hoped some of the players mentality would have changed as a result of his appointment and training. I still think he needs another transfer window to provide what he can do with the team but there are so many passengers in the team, it's unreal.

I always maintain that a more attack-minded team, coach, manager could have gotten more out of Bolasie and Walcott but they were pretty useless when it came to passing, crossing, shooting and general 'team play'.

How I'd love a Kanchelskis. A fairly simple player, no fancy tricks or overplay to make himself look good, he just did everything well. Direct, fast, strong, delivered passes, crosses and goals.

He was a great outlet for the midfielders and defenders to put early balls into space behind the opposition. James needs a player like that so he doesn't have to slow play down and get caught in possession.

Simms should stay at Blackpool (may soon be a Championship team) or a similar league 1 team. He needs to learn playing real competitive football. He's probably learnt more in 5 months than the previous 18 playing against kids.

Players are on massive salaries with no pressure to win trophies and it leads to the rotten performances and torpor seen particularly in home games. Too often, the club is like a country club with players doing no more than fulfilling their contracts. We've become too loyal to past-it players.

The only thing that separates "big" clubs from others is the expectations upon the players to win. If this is lacking, and at Everton it is, all you get is the tedious position we are stuck in, maintaining the status quo.

The owners and board, who don't understand football properly, are content with this situation. They'll issue the occasional soundbite when things are really stinking but it's all forgotten at the next half-decent result, and, sadly, too many of the fans fall for this rubbish.

We need to be ruthless if we are ever to escape from this coma – and I don't see that the club even realises this – never mind acting on it.