Max used to fans at minimum

Carlo keen on success to ease lockdown Blues for Evertonians

MAX KILMAN is coping better than most with the lack of fans at matches – in fact, he’s well used to it.

The Wolves defender created history when he became the first player to appear in both the non-league and the top-flight in one season, in 2018/19.

He was familiar with playing in front of just a few hundred supporters at Maidenhead United – so for the last 11 months he’s been going ‘back to the future’ thanks to lockdown.

The centre-half reckons having just a fleeting experience of full houses in the top-flight means it is not as big an adjustment for him as for others.

Kilman, 23, said: “The statistic is that I’ve played in non-league and the Premier League in the same season.

“I started with Maidenhead, their first game of the season – and then I moved to Wolves. I came on in the second-last match of the campaign.

“So I’ve come from non-league where there are fewer supporters, and even Under-23 football where you’re playing in Premier League stadiums with no one watching.

“To go from that to where there’s 30,000 fans and one of the best atmospheres in the country...

“We have to find a way to deal with it and keep performances at a high level, even without having much noise and the obvious boost from the supporters. It’s about finding a way to cope. I think we have. But everyone wants the supporters back.”

Wolves’ season took a turn for the worse in midweek when Southampton ended their FA Cup hopes.

It has been a tricky campaign – losing Diogo Jota and Matt Doherty, to Liverpool and Tottenham respectively, robbed them of two very influential stars. And the injury to prolific scorer Raul Jimenez has affected them still further.

Kilman added: “Raul’s an unbelievable player, one of the best strikers in the Premier League – maybe in the world.

“He has been a big miss. But with the last couple of league results we have felt more confidence. We have seen many more glimpses of quality. “It’s not the end. We can easily pick up points and move into the top 10.”

CARLO ANCELOTTI is well aware of the role he is playing in giving Everton fans something to shout about despite the continuing lockdown.

Games in hand mean the Merseysiders are well placed to launch an assault on the Premier League’s top four, while a mouthwatering FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City awaits following the thrilling midweek victory over Tottenham.

Ancelotti knows that a seething Goodison Park would have given his team a huge lift at the business end of the season.

But with a reality that will see stadia stay empty for the foreseeable future, the Italian wants his players to do all they can to keep Evertonians happy.

Ancelotti said: “I met a lot of Evertonians during the lockdown, during my walks and my bike rides.

“They are really passionate about the club and I can not imagine what would have happened if the crowd on Wednesday night was full at

Goodison Park.

“I couldn’t imagine how happy the fans could be after the victory against

Tottenham.

“I think that our life has changed – and it has changed for everyone. It

GET IN Bernard celebrates his Cup goal against Spurs has changed our job, also because I think there is a different atmosphere. “I cannot say it is a different job – but it is a job with a different emotion. “But what can we do? We have to adapt to this and we have to hope everything will be fine for everyone soon. “There is no other way to go. Just to follow what the Government says to us and hope everything will be fine for everyone.

“I start to think the people are really tired of this. Not only us. We can say we have the luck that we are working. Every day we can go outside and do our jobs. For this reason we are lucky people.

“There are a lot of people that are forced to stay home for a long time.”

Everton face Fulham at Goodison Park ahead of a schedule that will see them face City in both league and Cup as well as Liverpool and Chelsea.

Ancelotti was critical of his players for failing to perform in a 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle last month.

But they have since shown their mettle with a win at Leeds and a stirring fightback to take a point at Manchester United.

Ancelotti insists the Blues will not be taking Scott Parker’s relegation-threatened team lightly.

EVERY TIME I watch Manchester United, I can’t help being reminded of the Liverpool team I played in during the ‘90s.

Like us, on their day they can be devastating and can beat absolutely anyone. Like us, they are thereabouts, threatening to take the final step, but just a fraction away from being completely convincing.

And like us, there seems to be something, well, I hate to say it, but something missing… a final missing ingredient.

In our case, it was always ‘well, they just need a dominant centre-half ’, and then it was, ‘they need a player in the middle to control it’. Everyone had a theory, and even now, there is a debate still going on about that team.

I know we should have won more, because we were a damn good side, and maybe that was part of the problem – there was a bit too much belief in our qualities at times, that led to a touch of over-confidence.

Maybe that’s Manchester United now – a team who know they can beat anyone, but one which throws in a horrible lapse just when it seems they are on the verge.

I couldn’t help but draw that comparison last week. They thrashed Southampton 9-0 with some compelling football, and then in a game against Everton where they could have gone level with Manchester City at the top of the table, they were 2-0 up at half-time. And blew it. Twice. I hate to say it, but we did that too. Lost games we were cruising in, chucked in a shocking performance against a team we should have strolled. Too many to mention really, but no doubt rival fans have their favourite ones.

It’s funny as well, because the same questions are being asked about this United side, that were aimed at us.

The centre-halves getting stick for not being dominant enough, the goalkeeper being under constant, vicious focus. The lack of leadership, etc etc.

And then there are the managers. Roy Evans always got the same sort of lazy questions – is he too nice to be a top manager? That sort of thing. And I keep hearing the same thing about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

He’s too indulgent, he makes too many excuses.

First thing, Roy may be a decent fella, a nice guy, and Solskjaer, too. But everyone in football has an edge about them in some way, and no way would these managers be shy of saying something when needed.

I think with Solskjaer it’s too simplistic to say that he can’t handle the big players, too. Who can these days? You can’t rule by fear any more, they have to be far more circumspect.

That is just the nature of management now, and Solskjaer understands that – you can see it in his treatment of Paul Pogba.

In one sense, he’s used kids gloves, been sensitive towards the investment United have piled into Pogba, and also the fact that it’s probably impossible to offload him in the current market. And that has paid off in a sense. Ole has got him playing better, a bit. So that’s good management.

But I think United’s inconsistency can still be explained by the fact that Pogba just hasn’t reached the heights you know are there.

Look, he’s got real quality, which is why when he hasn’t hit the heights people have a right to question him. It’s also the nature of being a top player, you have to keep creating new standards.

With Pogba, it feels like we’ve been waiting about three years now for him to kick on and take himself and United to the next level.

And I think that’s what they need if they’re not going to be like my Liverpool team and never quite get there.

People bang on about leadership at Old Trafford, saying there are no leaders, no Steve Bruce, Roy Keane, Bryan Robson. Again that’s a different era, and leadership can come in many forms.

Do City have leaders like Keane, say? Nope, but they have plenty leading by example in being courageous on the ball, in their movement and their sheer quality. Kevin de Bruyne is not Keane, but he’s a real leader.

And that’s what United are lacking – that player with the courage in the key moments to take responsibility for creating, for leading.

I think they will be up there, reach semi-finals, and make the top four. But that final step? Nope.

You can easily seeing them tripping up at places like West Brom.

It feels like we’ve been waiting about three years on for Paul to kick and take himself and his team to the next level