5 Things We (and Carlo Ancelotti) Learnt | Liverpool 1 – 0 Everton

08/01/2020

Greg Denholm

1. Ancelotti may finally be seeing how much of a task he has ahead of him..

Carlo Ancelotti started life at Everton with consecutive wins, but likely saw some worrying signs in his third game, a lacklustre loss to Manchester City. Against City, Everton showed a lack of confidence, a lack of leadership and a lack of effort, all three of which were magnified hugely against Liverpool. In some respects it is a positive that Ancelotti is seeing early into his tenure what needs to change and the fundamental issues holding Everton back, but in the meantime, the period of change will likely be painful.

2. The new manager effect will be short-lived..

A teams upturn in form when a new manager comes in tends to be a psychological one, a mix of fresh confidence and a need to impress. If this was the case for Everton’s first two games, losing to Liverpool’s reserve players will certainly have killed this confidence. Ancelotti’s honeymoon period looks to already be over and here comes the hard graft of marriage.

3. The Anfield anxiety reaches new heights..

Everton haven’t won at Anfield since 1999, and this looked like as good an opportunity to bury that statistic as we will get for some time. Liverpool fielded young, inexperienced players, clearly with less individual quality that Everton’s squad and this highlighted just how different the atmospheres are at Liverpool and Everton at the moment. Liverpool’s younger players looked uplifted, riding on the cloud of success found at every level of their club. Liverpool looked up for it, not daunted by the pressure and keen to impress. On the flip side, Everton looked traumatised by the idea of playing at Anfield and were suitably paralysed by the occasion.

4. Midfield Crisis..

Gylfi Sigurðsson and Morgan Schniederlin is not a tenable midfield for two reasons. Firstly, they are both under criticism from Everton fans at the moment for a lack of effort, so putting them together in a high pressure environment, requiring high work rate was never a good idea. Secondly, they both severely lack agility and pace. Simply we are desperate for Gbamin and Gomes to be back from injury.