Carlo Ancelotti took over Everton in December, leading them to two consecutive wins against
Burnley and Newcastle United.
Up to and including the game against Crystal Palace, Everton have won five league games,
drawn two, and lost only to Manchester City, although they did also lose a Merseyside derby
in the FA Cup to a very young and inexperienced Liverpool side.
Ancelotti is one of the leading managers in world football, with significant successes
achieved during his time at AC Milan, including two Champions League titles, as well as league
wins with Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern Munich, and another Champions League
win with Real Madrid.
He’s known for being a tactical flexible coach, overcoming a slightly dogmatic adherence
to a 4-4-2 developed at Reggiana and then Parma, and he’s also well-regarded for adapting
his tactics to suit his squad and for his man management skills.
Despite this flexibility, Ancelotti still likes his sides to defend in a 4-4-2 shape.
He believes this achieves the greatest degree of horizontal and vertical compactness, a
clear echo of the influential Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi.
Ancelotti also seems to favour a degree of pressing, especially high.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is the more aggressive presser, while Richarlison tends to sit off
slightly to mark the diagonal out-ball from left-side to right, but he will engage should
the ball move across to the opposition right back.
Behind these two, the midfield generally align as a horizontally compact line of four, with
the wingers tucking inside slightly; this allows the full backs to push up and press
should this line be by-passed out wide and they are, in turn, covered by the centre-backs
moving wide or the central midfield dropping off.
It’s also worth noting that one of the two central midfielders, usually Gylfi Sigurdsson,
is also freed up to push forwards to press centrally should the opposition start to move
the ball backwards in anything other than a very controlled manner.
This is a good indication of how Ancelotti mixes zonal and man-orientated pressing.
Should this happen, Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin tend to fan wide to ensure the press is uniform
across the pitch.
This pressing system has downsides which, interesting, are echoes of some of the problems
Ancelotti had at Napoli too.
The aggressiveness of the full backs, and the 4-4-2 formation, mean that should team
bypass the first two lines of the press, Everton can be caught out.
This is especially the case if a centre-back is pulled wide and the central midfield cannot
cover quickly enough.
However, it’s an issue that, on balance, is probably worth accepting given Everton’s
increased ability to win back the ball and transition to attack.
In attack, Everton have looked fairly assured since the Italian took over.
In common with a number of other teams, a central midfielder, usually the more defensive
of the two from the central pairing, will drop off to provide the semblance of a back
three.
This permits the full backs to push high and wide and provide crossing opportunities.
On the left especially, Bernard will drift infield to be an option for the dynamic, attacking
Lucas Digne to work one-twos and find space.
On the right, Theo Walcott will sometimes do this, but he also likes to go outside while
the right-back pushes in – this worked very well for Everton’s first against Crystal
Palace, for example.
Walcott’s pace and energy has been a factor for Everton, as he is able to get back to
double up defensively with the right-back, either Sidibe or Coleman, and then burst forwards
to provide an attacking threat.
Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin appear to be working well in tandem.
Richarlison can loiter behind the aerially strong Calvert-Lewin, waiting for knock downs
or half clearances, but the Brazilian will also run ahead the English striker, who is
happy to drop back and play him in, or look to shift the ball wide before moving into
the box.
The Brazilian certainly has a freer role, but he is not the sort of ‘striker’ who
actually drops off and mostly plays as a ten, nor does he play as an inverted forward who
happens to be in a front two rather than a front three.
He is arguably Everton’s most dangerous player and Ancelotti has found a role for
him that accentuates his strengths while also managing to retain enough structure to ensure
he’s part of the defensive set-up.
Everton look most dangerous when they can run at pace against a defence, using the skill
and awareness of players like Richarlison, Bernard, Digne, and Calvert-Lewin to drive
at teams.
The set-piece threat of Yerry Mina is significant too, as Watford found to their cost.
Everton can construct attacks from deeper, but they have to work hard to manufacture
the little opportunities to get players into space and use the pace that makes them dangerous.
Nonetheless, under Ancelotti, Everton seem to be a team with a clearer identity and plan
than under Marco Silva; the experienced Italian’s man-management, tactical astuteness, and ability
to work out how to get the best from a squad is paying dividends for the Toffees.