Ancelotti sPOTLIGHT
CARLETTO'S WAY
EYEBROWS WERE RAISED WHEN CARLO ANCELOTTI EMERGED AS EVERTON’S TARGET TO SUCCEED MARCO SILVA IN DECEMBER. FEARGAL
BRENNAN EXPLAINS HOW THE MOVE CAME ABOUT, AND WHAT’S IN STORE FOR CLUB AND COACH...KEAN
PROJECT
C
arlo Ancelotti’s move to Everton
has been the managerial talking
point at the 2019-20 Premier
League season, as the multiple
Champions League winner swapped Naples
for Liverpool. His arrival was greeted with
a mixture of skyrocketing optimism that
the serial Champions League winner took
the post at Goodison Park, to scepticism
that Ancelotti was motivated by significant
financial gain from the club’s deepening
pockets.
However, the reality, as it so often is, finds
itself somewhere in between for Carlo and
his potential Blue Revolution. The eventual
dismissal of Marco Silva came as such a
relief to most Everton fans that talk of his
successor took a few days to formulate,
such was the negative exhaustion
surrounding the club in the final days of
Silva.
Duncan Ferguson’s appointment as
temporary boss took the heat off the
club’s board, with an improvement in
results enabling them to not fall into the
trap of knee jerk Sam Allardyce-esque
appointment. And despite the usual solid
but uninspiring names being linked with
the position – Sean Dyche, David Moyes
and Mark Hughes, for example – the club
deserve real credit for holding their nerve
and sealing their first-choice option.
Ancelotti’s name was a late one to
emerge, but the momentum it gathered
from supporters demonstrated this was a
do-or-die moment for the club. Given the
spectre of a new stadium and sustained
financial investment on and off the pitch
in recent seasons, a backwards step andMoise Kean arrived at Everton from
Juventus in summer 2019 and was
heralded as one of Europe’s most
promising strikers. Feargal Brennan
looks at the Italy youngster’s future...Carlo Ancelotti’s handling of Moise
Kean, could, in the eyes of some
Everton fans, ultimately determine his
legacy at the club. His summer capture
from Serie A giants Juventus shocked
most supporters, given his status as one
of Europe’s most exciting young talents.
But arguably no player was a greater
symbol of the lack of planning that went
into Marco Silva’s squad than the Italy
international, as the 19-year-old was
expected to carry the goal burden with
another young striker, Dominic Calvert-
Lewin.
That was despite Silva favouring a slow,
rigid style of play and both Kean and
Calvert-Lewin being at their best with
space to run into and crosses fired early
into the penalty area. Neither got the
service or support they needed under
the Portuguese, and it looked certain
Kean would be back in Italy sooner
rather than later.
It got little better for Kean when Silva
was sacked. Duncan Ferguson brought
Kean on to help see the game out
against Manchester United, then hooked
him off again shortly after. When asked
why, Ferguson claimed it was a time-
wasting effort, but no one believed
him. Really, Ferguson was unimpressed
by what he saw – although he did do
likewise to Cenk Tosun against Arsenal.
That was a setback for Kean but the
appointment of Ancelotti was a step in
the right direction at a personal level.
Now with a manager who understands
him – both figuratively and literally- perceptions are changing. He got
his first goal for the club, against
Newcastle, and a more adventurous
style of play should, in time, be to his –
and Everton’s – benefit.
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