They may have lost battle... but Everton have right general
AT the height of sacking season, when three of London’s biggest teams removed their managers from office, one man remained out of the equation.
Carlo Ancelotti, a serial winner with a house in the English capital, was out on a limb after his sacking at Napoli. He had initially appeared to be the favourite to succeed Emery at Arsenal; one would have thought he would have jumped at the chance to manage the Gunners or even Tottenham. West Ham might have been more of a stretch but instead it was left to Everton to profit from the trio’s decision to look elsewhere.
When Arsenal parted ways with Emery they sat in eighth, seven points adrift of the Champions League places, and looked listless with rising antipathy pouring forth from the stands. This morning they find themselves ninth under Mikel Arteta – still seven points adrift – even if there is significant improvement from those dark Novermber days, notwithstanding the good fortune they experienced in shading victory yesterday.
Meanwhile, West Ham travel to Liverpool this evening expecting to be just the latest cannon fodder in Liverpool’s military procession to the title unless David Moyes can conjure up a win, something he has managed only once since returning to the dugout at the London Stadium. West Ham, for the record, were 15th when Ancelotti took over at Everton, who were one place below them. The gap is now 12 points between the 11th-placed Merseysiders and the relegation-threatened Hammers.
Tottenham might be better off than under Pochettino – statistically at least, even if their supporters now find themselves entering similar territory to those of Manchester United and Chelsea in wondering if improvement in league position is worth the price: turgid fare and revisionism from Jose Mourinho about the paucity of a squad he called one of the best in England upon his arrival in the Spurs job.
Ancelotti provides a good barometer here. Take Mourinho’s constant carping about his squad. There has been no such criticism from Ancelotti about the players he has inherited. On the contrary, he has extracted the maximum effort from relatively-limited resources, opting not to disrupt the squad with incoming transfers last month.
Indeed, the Italian has remained characteristically circumspect throughout the early days of his tenure at Goodison Park. Everton, a club that has so often got managerial appointments spectacularly wrong, appears to have got this one quietly and convincingly right.
And, in truth, how could they not have?
Ancelotti, inset, has won three Champions Leagues, a Premier League, a Serie A title, a Ligue 1 crown and a Bundesliga before you even mention domestic cup competitions. He has been world coach of the year. Make no mistake, Arsenal look to have finally found their feet again under Arteta but where might they have been in the table this morning had they, or their neighbours, gone for the avuncular Italian to produce an expeditious managerial bounce?
Certainly Arsenal took a long time to get going under Arteta and that might just be what costs them a Champions League berth for the fourth successive season.
Their fans might just look at it as short-term pain worth enduring.
And so to yesterday . . . it took Everton just a minute to expose the deficiencies in Arsenal’s defence that last week’s thumping of Newcastle disguised, Dominic Calvert-Lewin volleying home acrobatically after David Luiz got caught out at a free-kick.
The Everton youth product is a case in point. Prior to Ancelotti’s arrival he was a once-promising young player who had lost his way. His opener here was his seventh Premier League goal in nine games.
THE hallmarks of Ancelotti’s teams of the past were there to see: a compact 4-4-2, a high line and a willingness to break at speed when the chance arose. An enforced change, following an injury to Sead Kolasinac presented Arteta with the opportunity to bring Bukayo Saka onto the pitch and within nine minutes of his introduction he laid one on a plate for Eddie
Nketiah to equalise. Soon after, it was 2-1 when David Luiz strode out of defence unchallenged and found Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who took one touch, opened his body, and then clipped the ball around Jordan Pickford.
In first-half injury-time it was 2-2 when Richarlison flicked a big toe on to the end of a clip forward by Yerry Mina and through the legs of Bernd Leno.
If Everton had come flying out of the blocks in the first half, they were sleeping at the start of the second, Aubameyang adding his second after Sidibe had stood off him inside the area with Nicolas Pepe dropping the ball towards the penalty spot for the striker to nod past Pickford.
As the game neared its end Arsenal, leggy from their midweek Europa League exertions against Olympiakos, were clinging on and it required three smart saves from Leno and a missed sitter by Calvert-Lewin to prevent Everton from scoring the equaliser they deserved.
This was a fixture Everton had not won since January 1996, a run that included just four draws; Ancelotti is undoubtedly the right man for the job but winning here was a miracle beyond even him.