‘Don Carlo’ out to ambush Klopp’s troops for second time this season
● Ex-napoli boss hoping to get the better of Liverpool counterpart again
One of the more fanatical responses to America’s assassination of an Iranian military leader was to be found in the fanzine ,in which one Manchester United supporter suggested World War III might be one way of denying Liverpool a first title in 30 years.
The contributor was probably only half joking with the nuclear option and will find sympathisers in the blue half of Merseyside, where recoil from all things Liverpool is even greater than it is along Lancashire’s eastern perimeter.
At least this weekend’s contest is in a cup competition, which offers some scope for hope, the more so since Everton’s newly-appointed coach Carlo Ancelotti is the only manager to have got the better of Jurgen Klopp this season (we discount Dean Smith, since Klopp was in charge of the Liverpool first team at the Club World Cup in Doha when the seconds went down at Aston Villa in the EFL Cup).
Don Carlo, as Ancelotti is affectionately known on Merseyside, oversaw Napoli’s ambush of the European champions in the Champions League group stage, the first reverse in any competition since losing to Wolves in the FA Cup third round a year ago.
Given Liverpool’s priorities lie elsewhere and Klopp’s willingness to rotate, we can expect to see a changed team but with no diminution in
Carlo Ancelotti, right, goes head to head with Jurgen Klopp in the FA Cup tomorrow as Everton bid for a first win at Anfield in 21 years.
intensity, he says. “Whatever happens Sunday, people already told me I haven’t respected the cup. It is not true. First job is to respect the players. No 1 job,” Klopp said, while adding. “It’s a derby, it’s a big one. It’s in our stadium so let’s use that and give everything. That’s the plan.”
Liverpool carried forward their unbeaten league form of 2019 into 2020 with a 2-0 win over Sheffield United on Thursday. Though the scoreline was routine the effort expended was not, leading Klopp into further criticism of the scheduling of games and the consequent abuse of players. “The guys ran 13km to win the game last night. I can’t ask them to run 11 just to save energy for the next game. The solution is to bring all these people (FA, Premier League, etc) together and TV. It’s about quality, not quantity. We throw football at the people.” What Ancelotti would give to have Klopp’s problems. The FA Cup offers an obvious chance for Everton to make tangible the gains in atmosphere and mood made at Goodison since the dismissal of Marco Silva. Ancelotti adds gravitas to Duncan Ferguson’s shirt-sleeved brio, which was such a positive antidote, whatever the weather, to the brooding melancholy of the departed Portuguese.
Everton’s first defeat since Silva lost his job came last
time out at Manchester City and bore no relation to the walloping at Liverpool a month ago that brought a close to the previous regime. Everton were aggressive and ambitious at the Etihad, creating real unease as City survived a nervous finale. The 2-1 defeat told us how much better teams have become at stalling City’s parade and how much improved Everton are for a fresh outlook.
It is 21 years and counting since Everton’s last success at Anfield. Ancelotti, an FA Cup winner at Chelsea ten years ago, beat Liverpool with Napoli last season as well as this. And like Everton they were not favoured in either fixture. His tendency towards raised-eyebrow insouciance sees advantage not burden in Everton’s status as underdog. Asked what it would take to win, he replied: “Score more goals.”
That’s the spirit. “It is a fantastic challenge but also a fantastic
opportunity. At Napoli it was the same, we were able to do a great performance because to beat Liverpool a normal performance is not enough. Everything has to be perfect. You cannot defend for 90 minutes and we do not want to defend for 90 minutes. We want to have the possibility to play our football.”
Positivity like that goes a long way at a club starved of light for so long. A new stadium is coming, a pedigree coach is at the helm. Even Klopp can see a new dawn breaking across Stanley Park. “Carlo Ancelotti is one of the smartest people I have ever met and he would not have taken the job if he did not think the squad is good. They invested a lot and brought in good players. Carlo is somebody who can lift a group when he enters the room.”
All rise Everton, a better option than global conflagration, at least.
“At Napoli, we were able to do a great performance because to beat Liverpool a normal performance is not enough”
CARLO ANCELOTTI