Neville’s in wrong on Gylfi
CARLO ANCELOTTI has backed Gylfi Sigurdsson after Gary Neville criticised the midfielder.
The Sky Sports pundit singled out the Everton star’s performance against Spurs on Monday night after he appeared to pull out of a tackle in the first half.
Spurs won 1-0 but Toffees boss Ancelotti said: “I didn’t see that he didn’t put a tackle in.
“Gylfi’s a professional player, 100 per cent. He can play good, he can play bad.
“He’s a great professional. Maybe he could do better but against Tottenham all the team could.”
Everton take on Southampton tonight with Ancelotti still believing they can qualify for the Europa League.
The Italian is already looking to improve his squad this summer to ensure they are challenging higher up the table next term.
He said: “We are going to improve the squad, 100 per cent.
“I have assurance from the board that we are going to improve the squad.
“The players that we are going to sign will be good players.”
Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl wants revenge for a nine-goal thriller the last time he faced Ancelotti.
He lost both games against his opposite number tonight in the Bundesliga in 2016-17 when his RB Leipzig side finished second to Bayern Munich.
The latter of those two meetings was a 5-4 defeat at the Red Bull Arena and Hasenhuttl said: “It was the most intense game I’ve had as a manager.
“We put the tactics away and showed what we could do.
“I needed two or three days rest after this game.”