CARLO’S MEN HIT BY STAGE FRIGHT
STAGE fright: it creeps up without warning, at the most inopportune moments. It appears from nowhere, ruining the prospects of a commanding performance. Carlo Ancelotti was desperate to crown the anniversary of his first year in charge at Everton with a display to usher in a new era. The urbane Italian has been overseeing significant change and the biggest alteration he wants to make at Goodison Park is to turn this huge club into winners again. A Carabao Cup quarter-final with Manchester United offered the perfect platform to show the strides Everton are making. What Ancelotti got instead, though, was exasperatingly different. Rather than standing on the sidelines orchestrating seamless patterns of play, Ancelotti was left making a series of gestures that underlined how nerves had got the better of his team. This was a big occasion for Everton, a point emphasised by a line in Ancelotti’s programme notes in which he told supporters that his main aim is to ‘bring happiness’ to the club and ‘celebrate it by winning the Carabao Cup’. However, the first 10 minutes were chaotic, as United sped through those in blue at regular intervals. Colombia defender Yerry Mina hollered ‘calm down’ to his team-mates in the 11th minute, but didn’t listen to his own advice — his next involvements saw him pass straight to Axel Tuanzebe then kick the ball out of play. It got to the stage where Ancelotti was so exasperated that he clasped his hands together, almost in prayer, before shaking his fists. The defining moment came in the 35th minute when, under no pressure, Abdoulaye Doucoure chose to pass backwards to Michael Keane rather than go forwards. Ancelotti flung his arms in the air while the 2,000 fans in the Gwladys Street growled their impatience. The second period continued on a similar theme. United, for whom Bruno Fernandes was absolutely wonderful to watch, dominated possession. Ancelotti wanted calmness but he was frustrated as his defence resorted to hurriedly hoisting balls out of their area, only finding red shirts and inviting pressure back on themselves. Somehow, nonetheless, it appeared as if they would force a penalty shootout. Not so. With three minutes left, the dam burst when Edinson Cavani delivered the goal his team deserved and Anthony Martial put them out of their misery. Ancelotti could only spin away and shake his head. It had been that kind of night.