The English Football Thread

[Vesper 31,181]

1 minute ago, ZaynChelsea said:

Did we really struggle against that shower of shit that lost shamefully to this ManU side?

tbh, they missed 2 absolute sitters and got fucked on a not called (quelle surprise) pen, so it  REALLY (I know we often say it but in this case it really is true) should have finished 6 5

[Vesper 31,181]

Big Sam versus Grealish time

[Laylabelle 9,754]

14 shots on target to Leeds 3.. no wonder it finished like that!

[Jase 43,479]

Leicester and Man United play each other next weekend by the way.

[Blue Armour 4,759]

7 minutes ago, Tomo said:

No we didn't.

Haha, I think some people just dont watch our games from start to finish.

We could have put a lot more than 3 past Leeds.

[Tomo 21,754]

10 minutes ago, Blue Armour said:

Haha, I think some people just dont watch our games from start to finish.

We could have put a lot more than 3 past Leeds.

And unlike United didn't concede a shit load of chances.

[ZaynChelsea 423]

I am really worried about tomorrow. Drop 3 pts and we are virtually fucked already

[NikkiCFC 8,529]

Grealish vs Gallagher. My two fav English players 

[NikkiCFC 8,529]

Why is this red? This sport is bullshit. Won't bother watching. 

[Atomiswave 6,120]

5 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Why is this red? This sport is bullshit. Won't bother watching. 

They have killed the joy for me, you cant celebrate goals anymore, you cant touch anyone in the box unless your pool or udt, 50/50 calls go to the darlings, change of rules that never needed tampering with, VAR being selective, divers and cheaters rewarded time after time, out of this world decisions that will make your head spin...I could go on. 

[NikkiCFC 8,529]

I remember someone saying Grealish is winger and not midfielder. He is orgasmic to watch either way! 

[communicate 2,703]

7 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

It matters because our midfielders offer nothing in the final 3rd.

Pool was by far the best team in epl last season, yet their midfield doesn't offer much in final 3rd.

[communicate 2,703]

7 hours ago, killer1257 said:

 

 

Bruno and Fred are better than Mount, Kai and Kova currently.

Fred in my opinion is highly underrated.

People here overhype our players and underrate the players of United.

Gesendet von meinem VOG-L29 mit Tapatalk
 

 

So is ole a good manager or not? 

 

[Strike 7,854]

7 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

I remember someone saying Grealish is winger and not midfielder. He is orgasmic to watch either way! 

Is Grealish a potential signing?

[Vesper 31,181]

51 minutes ago, Strike said:

Is Grealish a potential signing?

Yes, IF we care to dump out insane money (if we liquidate the top 11 dregs, even at huge discounts from what they were worth just 2 or so years ago, we will have enough to buy both Rice and Grealish no problem)

he solves the winger depth issue as well, leaving only a WC CB (Thiago's replacement for 2022/23 as I think he remains the starter for next season too) and far a better backup keeper and a backup LB needed (unless Maatsen comes good)

the final player is my personal pipe dream and 99% unlikely to pull

Håland

IF we did get all those above (including Håland) in by start of 2022/23, we would be a Treble (EPL/FA Cup/CL) capable team to a very large degree, especially as we have multiple fantastic youth soon arriving (next 2 to 3 years max) at a senior level for the mix All 3 of the bindippers front 3 (not counting Jota) will be in their 30's by then as well, as will VVD and many others (a total of 12 if they all stay, some far into their 30's, We would have two max (Azpi and Kante, if both remain, and the rest will be gone, 3 IF Silva stayed one last year, but he turns 38yo near the beginning of the season then, so cannot see him a full time starter at all).

[Strike 7,854]

14 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Yes, IF we care to dump out insane money (if we liquidate the top 11 dregs, even at huge discounts from what they were worth just 2 or so years ago, we will have enough to buy both Rice and Grealish no problem)

he solves the winger depth issue as well, leaving only a WC CB (Thiago's replacement for 2022/23 as I think he remains the starter for next season too) and far a better backup keeper and a backup LB needed (unless Maatsen comes good)

the final player is my personal pipe dream and 99% unlikely to pull

Håland

IF we did get all those above (including Håland) in by start of 2022/23, we would be a Treble (EPL/FA Cup/CL) capable team to a very large degree, especially as we have multiple fantastic youth soon arriving (next 2 to 3 years max) at a senior level for the mix All 3 of the bindippers front 3 (not counting Jota) will be in their 30's by then as well, as will VVD and many others (a total of 12 if they all stay, some far into their 30's, We would have two max (Azpi and Kante, if both remain, and the rest will be gone, 3 IF Silva stayed one last year, but he turns 38yo near the beginning of the season then, so cannot see him a full time starter at all).

Just a thought since Pulisic seems to be having too many niggles and Werner can play up front. Left wing is a spot we could strengthen and Grealish can also play through the middle in a 4-3-3 (?)

 

[Strike 7,854]

58 minutes ago, Vesper said:

the final player is my personal pipe dream and 99% unlikely to pull

Håland

IF we did get all those above (including Håland) in by start of 2022/23, we would be a Treble (EPL/FA Cup/CL) capable team to a very large degree, especially as we have multiple fantastic youth soon arriving (next 2 to 3 years max) at a senior level for the mix All 3 of the bindippers front 3 (not counting Jota) will be in their 30's by then as well, as will VVD and many others (a total of 12 if they all stay, some far into their 30's, We would have two max (Azpi and Kante, if both remain, and the rest will be gone, 3 IF Silva stayed one last year, but he turns 38yo near the beginning of the season then, so cannot see him a full time starter at all).

Everyone's dream. Not sure about working with Raiola

[Jase 43,479]

What kind of defence is this from Arteta!?

[Vesper 31,181]

John Stones: The resurrection

https://theathletic.com/2272582/2020/12/21/stones-john-man-city/

It was only a fleeting moment, easily forgotten about and ultimately inconsequential, but it tells us how John Stones is currently playing, and feeling.

On another day his bad luck may have struck again. Southampton had launched another of their forays down the right-hand side, the ball was chipped into the box, evaded the stretching Che Adams and hit the unsuspecting Stones, inside his own six-yard box, square on the forehead.

By the time he processed what had happened the ball had bounced out for a corner. The hands went on to his knees, a ‘thank God for that’ expression showed just how close it came to becoming an own goal. Maybe one that would have derailed his resurgence.

But then a smile. You don’t see many footballers smile in the heat of the battle these days if you think about it, but Stones afforded himself a moment to enjoy his good fortune, sharing it with his good friend Kyle Walker.

It might have come back to bite him had the towering Yannick Vestergaard planted his header in, having run off the much smaller Ferran Torres, but this was City’s day.

Once again, it was Stones’ day.

He’s had a fair few of them now and the left-sided centre-back spot is his to lose. That’s been the case for a few games now, and it’s why he started the Manchester derby last weekend.

“His attitude was always the same but we see him happier and stronger now because he’s fit, he’s not injured every two or three weeks, and that helps a lot,” Pep Guardiola said on Friday, perhaps feeling, like many others, that having come through that test at Old Trafford that now is the time to talk.

“He’s played really well and that gives you confidence. His personal life, now it’s settled, is much better.”

It’s worth pausing here for a second. There weren’t too many affiliated with City who would have been happy with how the derby played out, but Stones would have been. Even in his one indecisive moment he quickly reasserted control, stepped in front of Ederson, brought the ball forward and launched the attack that led to City’s best chance.

But his biggest coverage in the Sunday morning media was a very revealing peek into the past year or so of that personal life, via an interview with his ex partner and the mother of his daughter.

Some of the topics raised may have shone a new light on his recent struggles, perhaps making a few realise that his time out of the City team has sometimes been of his own making.

Most of the details, some of which that wouldn’t look out of place on a series of Footballers’ Wives, were kept out of the media as they were developing, meaning it was often a mystery why Stones’ name did not feature on the City team sheet.

Back in February he was left out of a match day squad because those off-field issues — a matter relating to his split — meant he was deemed by Guardiola to not be in the right frame of mind to play football.

Between those moments, poor form and injuries, Guardiola simply felt he couldn’t trust him.

That should not come as a surprise to anybody who looked at any City match when the 19-year-old Eric Garcia was in the line-up while Stones sat on the bench, such as the Champions League quarter-final against Lyon in August.

Another sliding doors moment. He would have left this summer but for Garcia’s desire to join Barcelona, which caught City on the hop. They decided to cash in on the youngster instead, as his contract expires at the end of the season. Everton thought they were getting Stones back, and how would that transfer have been perceived?

If Guardiola couldn’t get a tune out of this elegant but sometimes flawed defender, who could? A move back to the club he left four years ago would have been a failure for both him and for City.

Even in the autumn, after yet another injury ensured he couldn’t build on an opening-game appearance against Wolves, it was the wantaway Garcia who kept getting picked, with Stones not able to get a look in.

Yet here we are. City have conceded just one goal in 12 hours of football, a genuinely impressive achievement that has been somewhat lost in the team’s underwhelming attacking performances. Guardiola was tasked with tightening his team up and he has done it, and Stones is a big part of that, playing in six of the eight games (missing the game where they conceded, against West Brom). Perhaps most tellingly, he has played in the games that Guardiola deems most important.

“He’s a guy who is so sensible and that helps to be focused on what we have to do,” Guardiola continued.

Guardiola has effectively been running two teams of late, a weekend team and a midweek team. One for the must-win Premier League games and for the Champions League, where there were two or three attempts to grab top spot in the group.

That is where Aymeric Laporte’s only appearance in the last seven games has come, the dead rubber against Marseille, while Stones rested up for the derby.

The Frenchman did not feature in the matchday squad at Southampton on Saturday, with fans worrying about his continued absence and where that may lead.

He has just moved into a new apartment in Manchester, so that should allay some fears, although his reaction to dropping out of the team has not done him too many favours with Guardiola.

City clarified that he missed out on Saturday because he’s not fully fit, which plenty of supporters didn’t believe, but it must be said that there have been plenty of times in the past few years when players have been dropped for non-footballing reasons and the club haven’t been moved to comment, so the official verdict shouldn’t be taken as suspicious.

He played well in that game against Marseille and that’s all he can do now. Stones has had enough opportunities in the three years since injury derailed his fine start to City’s 100-point season. That’s how long it’s been since he played like this.

As Guardiola said, he is in a better place now. He spent time this summer analysing his own performances, working out where things had gone wrong, but as one close observer put it this week, “John isn’t doing anything differently, it’s just confidence.”

It’s hard to argue with that. He just looks calmer, more assured. Even when he got his latest break in the side, as part of the ‘midweek’ team against Olympiakos at the start of November, he looked right at home, ordering his team-mates around and taking charge of situations.

That’s a basic requirement for top-level centre-backs, of course, but it was striking to see him so assertive after another difficult time.

Perhaps surprisingly, it’s not his famed passing ability that has stood out in recent weeks. In fact, the stats alone paint a very surprising picture.

What the tables above show, apart from how good Garcia actually is on the ball, is that there’s more to football than the numbers.

Can a percentage be put on the fans’ confidence? How often has Stones looked flustered, per 90? He looks commanding and in control, and to use a broad phrase, he hasn’t put a foot wrong since he got back in the side.

“My only advice to him is that what he’s gained right now, in the way he lives his life and how he takes care of himself — his body, his mind, everything — he’s got to keep that for the next 10 years, 12 years, here with me, without me, with other managers,” Guardiola cautioned.

“The moment that drops he will not be consistent but if he can avoid injuries he can be the player we’ve always believed he can be. He’s given us a good feeling but it’s just two or three games. A defender has to be consistent all season.”

Nobody wants to get too carried away, and in fact after his first few games back in the team nobody dared say anything, lest a mistake or injury lurked around the corner, or the tougher games showed up his real level.

But so far, so good. Saturday’s game was another tough assignment and one that he glided through, apart from that momentary scare 10 minutes before the break.

Stones is smiling again.

[Vesper 31,181]

Inside Carlo Ancelotti’s first year at Everton

https://theathletic.com/2273366/2020/12/21/carlo-ancelotti-everton-davide/

It is December 23, 2019, and Carlo Ancelotti is being officially unveiled as Everton manager. 

Two days earlier, the Italian had signed a four-and-a-half-year deal, completing an audacious swoop few outside Merseyside ever thought possible. 

After press conference duties and a photoshoot on the pitch, Ancelotti makes his way into the private boxes in Goodison’s Main Stand to meet the assembled media. He knows he is set to face a grilling but opens with a question of his own. 

“Who here is an Everton fan?” he asks a small room of journalists. 

A few hands are raised tentatively. “Good,” he says in their direction, with a smile.

Content at what he has seen, Ancelotti moves on to business. First questions from the media, then the important stuff. 

He has work to do. Everton are 15th in the table and reviving their fortunes will be no easy task. 

---

Twelve months on and the decision to appoint Ancelotti appears to be bearing fruit. Victory over Arsenal on Saturday took Everton temporarily up to second place in the Premier League table. A far cry from the lingering fears of relegation when Ancelotti arrived on Merseyside. 

In that time, he has tasted victory in 19 of his 38 games in charge across all competitions — a win rate of 50 per cent — while only five Premier League sides can boast a better points total since his arrival. 

It is the kind of progress the club’s billionaire owner Farhad Moshiri always anticipated Ancelotti would inspire. A long-time admirer, Moshiri had already attempted to hire Ancelotti in 2017 after the Italian left Bayern Munich, only to receive a polite “no” due to the timing.

Two years later, with Ancelotti out of work and Everton craving a big name to get them out of the mire, Moshiri tried again. 

Talks were conducted first over the phone to sound out interest and then face to face in Germany and London. Although Ancelotti was a free agent, it was just as much about Everton getting the former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager’s buy-in than vice versa. Finally, he was convinced of “sincerity and ambition of the owner”, according to one source, and the seriousness of the project in front of him. 

The unwritten promise had been that Moshiri would back him if there was something he really wanted.  

“It was a decision motivated by his passion for finding new challenges in his career and the possibility of contributing to building a winning project,” the source tells The Athletic. “But going back to the Premier League was always a dream for him.”

---

“We arrived without much time,” Ancelotti’s son and highly-rated assistant Davide (below with Michael Keane) explains to The Athletic. It is the Sunday morning after the 2-1 win over Arsenal but Everton’s coaching staff are already back at work at Finch Farm. “Of course we knew the quality of the players but three weeks before we were working for another club,” he continues. “The last six months of last season were to assess the situation and what we wanted to work on.

“We wanted to bring some power, some legs in midfield over the summer and the club helped in the market. Players like Ben Godfrey and James Rodriguez helped the team to improve a lot. In the Premier League, you will have injuries. Our squad is deeper and now we have injuries but the players are ready and we can keep the level high.”

Carlo Ancelotti’s calm authority and precise instructions have been the perfect anecdote to predecessor Marco Silva who, while popular with members of the Everton squad, had a tendency to obscure and complicate with dense theoretical information. 

The younger Ancelotti has won plenty of admirers and is entrusted with tactics and devising training sessions. “Davide has important tactical concepts. He is a football scholar and Carlo trusts him with the plan,” says a source. 

“Davide is so calm and methodical,” the source explains. “He sits down and goes through clips with them. For the defenders, he will look at goals conceded and suggest what they might have done differently. But he’ll also show them how things may not have been their fault, pointing out how the shape of the team could be better. He’s good at building the lads up and also being constructive.”

Sessions are said to be intense, regularly lasting between 60 and 90 minutes, and are often a mix of small-sided games and forms of rondo that favour incisive passing. Usually, players get just one day off a week. The ultimate aim is to play from the back, press high and dominate the ball. “Positional play” as it is known in some parts of the world. 

There is an emphasis on verticality when it comes to passing and quick penetration from the defenders, rather than just possession for possession’s sake. In meetings after the disappointing FA Cup defeat to Liverpool in January, Everton’s defenders were reminded of the need to be brave and incisive in possession. 

“The ball is a protagonist every time with Carlo,” another source puts it. “The most important for him is ball training.”

The other aim is to be flexible. 

Since his arrival, Ancelotti has used several formations, including variations of 4-3-3, 3-4-3 and, in his first six months, 4-4-2 — a continuation of the set-up that brought success during Duncan Ferguson’s spell as interim manager. 

Initially, only minor tweaks were made to Ferguson’s system. But, as time passes, Ancelotti has started to put his imprint on proceedings. 

“Where Carlo differs to ideologues like Pep Guardiola is he’s very pragmatic. For him, football isn’t about proving his preferred system is better than all other systems,” a source close to the Everton manager says.

“He tailors a different approach to every game. What helped them beat West Brom might not necessarily help against Chelsea. He’s fluid.”

Most recently, the two Ancelottis have been preoccupied with fixing a leaky defence that went 10 games without a clean sheet. There has been an acceptance that, ultimately, the players were more “comfortable” with a back four than the 3-4-3 used in the defeat by Leeds United and at the start against Burnley. The new set-up, which deploys centre-backs Mason Holgate and Godfrey in the full-back positions, has been more coy and far less expansive than the one that blew teams away during the run of seven straight victories in all competitions at the start of the season. 

“According to the players we have, we can change the strategy for games,” Davide says. “If you have James, Andre Gomes and Lucas Digne, they are players that need the ball. Without them, you can change a little bit and use other weapons we have. At the moment we have big physicality, we have players for set pieces and we can counter-attack. But the spirit of the team must always be the same.”

Limiting space between the lines has been a big focus.

“Carlo talks a lot lately about ‘dangerous space’ in behind his back four and limiting it,” a source adds. “In the first part of the season, he was happy for his full-backs to be high up the pitch, but now he isn’t.”

Such flexibility in approach has been invaluable in recent weeks. After one win in seven, Everton have won their last three matches — against Chelsea, Leicester City and Arsenal — since making the changes, conceding just one goal in the process. Given the clear improvement, the only wonder is that the change in approach did not come sooner.

Those closest to the set-up speak of a change in mindset in the squad over the last 12 months, in part inspired by Ancelotti’s status in the game, as well as the signings he has been able to make. In the case of both Rodriguez and Allan, the Italian’s presence at Goodison proved decisive, a series of personal phone calls helping persuade the high-profile duo that their futures lay on Merseyside.

“What we want to do is to keep the fighting spirit of this club, which is what the fans like to see,” Davide says. “The message we give is that we need to keep this. Seamus Coleman is really important in the process. He is a real leader who helps Carlo to manage the dressing room, keep the discipline and the players on board. We also have players with personality, like Holgate, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Tom Davies who are confident and can represent the club really well.” 

It has been a gradual process with a couple of notable bumps in the road. After the 3-0 away defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers last season, Ancelotti and captain Coleman demanded the side show more spirit. At the end of the campaign, Ancelotti told his players to come away with an improved mentality. Slowly, things have changed.

“Ancelotti’s arrival and the arrival of the new signings means nobody can afford to drop their level. He’s been there and done it. You know if you play poorly you’ll be out. It’s changed the mindset,” one source says.

“He has the ultimate winning mentality,” another adds. 

“Results have been up and down the last few months but listen to Holgate when he was asked recently about competing for the title and he says, ‘Why not?’ That comes from Carlo. He’s here to win things. 

“He’s been first class from the moment he walked into the place. Everton have fluctuated from different types of managers over the last few years — from Roberto Martinez to Ronaldo Koeman to Sam Allardyce and Marco Silva. Under Marco, rightly or wrongly, some of the younger lads, who are more savvy and confident now than in the past, may speak up or question things.

“They’ve just been sponges with Carlo. If he suggests they try something new, they’ll just do it. There’s no questioning. He’s worked with the very best so they just accept he will be making them better players. It’s another reason why highly-rated young players like Calvert-Lewin and Holgate are more likely to stay at the club regardless of where they finish this season because, let’s face it, there are not many places they could go and learn under a better manager.”

Ancelotti takes the time to video call the youngest members of the squad while they are away on international duty.

“It’s the personal touch,” another source says. “You might not necessarily expect a 61-year-old to do this but he FaceTimes the younger players when they’re away with their national set-ups. He checks in and makes them feel important. He’ll remember little details about their families too.”

---

Those closest to Ancelotti say he feels he has found a new “family” at Everton. The Athletic has been told that he is “delighted” with the club and how he has been welcomed. 

Ancelotti lives in Crosby, a town on the Sefton Coast and, away from the pitch, spends his time exploring the area by bike and foot with his wife Mariann. Il Forno, an Italian restaurant in Liverpool city centre, is a regular haunt and he has become so familiar to staff there that he comes in via a different entrance and often dines privately in a separate room.

“He absolutely loves Liverpool,” says one figure close to the Everton manager. “From the first week when he was at the Titanic Hotel, he was interested in the history, the docks. Then in lockdown, he was getting out on his bike and really enjoyed familiarising himself even more. He loves being close to the beach.”

Although the Everton manager’s contract is not up until 2024, privately he has already hinted he would like to stay for longer, provided he feels can help the team remain competitive.  

“He always talks about the difference between ‘family’ clubs and ‘corporate’ clubs,” says one source. “If he finds himself in a corporate club such as Chelsea, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, he creates his own family feel. He sees Everton as a family club, which is why he’s so comfortable.” 

The target this season is European qualification and a challenge for silverware. Next year, it is making the Champions League. Ancelotti’s belief is that winning a trophy at Everton would mean as much, if not more, than the Champions Leagues he lifted with AC Milan and Real Madrid. 

“We are happy,” Davide says. “There was a big step compared to last season. We have new players that helped others to have a better spirit. The key is with the training because we have a really competitive team there. 

“If you reach some consistency, you can achieve results and stay at the top of the table. To compete at this level, we need to keep the way we are now, building the quality of the squad, the spirit and the training. The ambition is clear: to be competitive. But we have to improve and that is what we are trying to do.

“The fact we can compete against teams like Chelsea, Leicester and Arsenal that have a lot of quality is a good sign. We can be competitive but we need to be consistent. If we keep working, we are not too far away. This season we are trying to compete for Europe. Then, year by year, we can try to climb more and more.”