Winning a trophy is still the number one priority
Solskjaer and Ancelotti happy to go without rest for a semi-final place
IN this most condensed of football calendars, at this most chaotic time of the year, many managers would prefer to enjoy their Christmas without having to prepare for an EFL Cup quarter-final.
For those knocked out of the competition early, this will be a precious week free of football, allowing several days to rest and recuperate for games to come.
Liverpool, for example, are enjoying their first free midweek since mid-september.
The fixture computer has also been kind to the Premier League champions this year.
No top-flight club will have more than their 13 rest days between games over the festive period. Southampton will benefit from the same number.
Other clubs have a busier Christmas, and few are busier than Everton and Manchester United, who meet in the last eight at Goodison Park tonight.
United have just eight days of rest between their five games over this period, which started with Sunday’s 6-2 win over Leeds and ends with Aston Villa’s visit to Old Trafford on New Year’s Day.
Everton, meanwhile, will have had nine rest days between Saturday’s win over Arsenal and West Ham’s New Year’s Day trip to Merseyside.
If anyone at Goodison really wanted to make a point, they could count the number of hours between games rather than just the days and find they have the fewest of any top-flight club.
But whereas Jurgen Klopp might happily trade a quarter-final berth to give his players precious downtime, the opportunity to win the EFL Cup is far from an inconvenience for Carlo Ancelotti, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, their particular projects and the clubs they represent.
This is a competition that Everton have never won in their 60-year history. They have only reached this stage three times since the late 1980s.
Consider their 25-year wait for any kind of trophy whatsoever and you can see why some of the 2,000 supporters in attendance will justifiably feel this is the most important game of their season yet.
That is despite a promising start to the Premier League campaign, which may have been even better if not for the injuries to and absences of several key players.
Everton spent handsomely in the summer and signed players in the prime of their careers. ‘Win now’ was the strategy: effectively a gamble that the uncertainties of this unique season would see a shake-up at the top of the table and that they would be part of it.
The first part of that bet appears to have paid off — this is shaping up to be one of the more unpredictable seasons in recent memory, even if it has stabilised somewhat in recent weeks — but the second part involves performing well enough to qualify for the Champions League or at least returning to European competition.
Eight wins in 14 games has given Ancelotti a platform to build from — Chelsea and Manchester City are further back, Tottenham were title contenders a week ago but are now behind Everton on goal difference — but the top half of the table is congested and distorted by games in hand.
The most straightforward — and most memorable — way to guarantee a return to Europe may still be the EFL Cup, which offers the winners a place in the inaugural Europa Conference League.
“We want to fight for this,” Ancelotti said yesterday.
“Tomorrow is an important game of an important competition that Everton have never won in their history and we are not so far (away).
“In a good moment we are going to play against really tough opponents who beat us a few weeks ago here.
“It is a great opportunity to show the momentum.”
United are not counting on this competition to qualify for Europe and are even beginning to look beyond the pre-season ambition of simply achieving another top four finish, but Solskjaer has always taken the cups seriously.
The club is currently experiencing its longest run without a trophy since the late 1980s under his management, but of more pressing concern is United’s failure to win one of last season’s three semi-final appearances.
Defeats to Manchester City in the competition, Chelsea in the FA Cup and Sevilla in the Europa League put a dampener on United’s progress last term, and though Solskjaer always denied those were evidence of a mental block, he has spoken of how his squad need to turn progression through the cups into actual silverware.
Or, as Solskjaer put it while previewing this trip to Goodison yesterday, they need “to learn how to win”.
“Of course (winning the EFL Cup) is something we’re aiming for.
“We want to improve every season, and to improve on last year is to get to the final and, of course, when you get to the final there’s only one thing that matters and that’s to lift the trophy.
‘The players are desperate to get their hands on a trophy’
“I remember myself winning my first trophy. Even towards the end of my career, I think it was Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic’s first trophy in the Carling Cup, 2006 was it?
“I think that was their first trophy and it does give something to a team.
“We are desperate to get our hands on a trophy, these players are desperate to learn how to win.”
Solskjaer is expected to rotate. That speaks to United’s priorities and how their manager — now contemplating a title challenge having moved up to third in the Premier League table — is especially wary of the need for rest ahead of the Boxing Day trip to second-place Leicester City.
Even so, it would not be a surprise if the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford were kept waiting in reserve and introduced in case of emergency.
Solskjaer and Ancelotti are having to contend with the top flight’s busiest Christmases but are not going to simply sacrifice this opportunity for silverware. It is an important game for both, and perhaps more important on closer inspection than it first seems.