• It is their heaviest loss since the restart of the Premier League and leaves them 11th in the table, with any real hope of making Europe gone.
• There’s no hiding, they were better all over the pitch and we need to ask some serious questions of ourselves — Coleman
Image: /REUTERS
Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti says the spirit of his side during their 3-0 defeat at Wolves on Sunday was “unacceptable”.
The Blues were comfortably beaten at Molineux, mustering just two shots on target against a superior opponent.
It is their heaviest loss since the restart of the Premier League and leaves them 11th in the table, with any real hope of making Europe gone.
“It was a really frustrating day and performance,” said Ancelotti. “There are some excuses but I don’t want to have excuses, the performance was not acceptable. The spirit of the team was unacceptable. I spoke to the players and we have to prepare and work differently and have a different attitude.”
“I don’t want to talk individually about every single player. I said to them this attitude is not acceptable for me and we have to change immediately. I want to see a different spirit. If I have to be honest, in some games the spirit was really good. Liverpool, Norwich, Leicester. It’s difficult to accept for this reason because this team has a fighting spirit.”
Everton were hit by two well-timed goals from Wolves that took Sunday’s game away from them, with Raul Jimenez scoring from the penalty spot before half-time and Leander Dendoncker heading in the second just after the break.
Diogo Jota fired in a third to seal the win, but in truth Everton were never in the game and could have lost by more. Defender Seamus Coleman echoed his manager’s sentiments are offered his own warning to the squad.
“There’s no hiding, they were better all over the pitch and we need to ask some serious questions of ourselves,” said Coleman. “The attitude and desire is not there, we got beat by the better team. As individuals, as a club we need to be expecting better and the lads really need to dig in or that won’t be good enough for this manager or this football club.”
Ancelotti took over at Everton in December on a four-year deal and so far has seven wins, five draws and six losses from 18 matches in charge. The 61-year-old Italian, who has won numerous trophies across Europe as a manager, including three Champions Leagues and the Premier League title with Chelsea, inherited an expensively-assembled but under-performing side that sat 15th in the table, four points off the relegation zone.
Ancelotti’s calm and measured approach to all of football’s various fortunes is legendary — so for Everton’s manager to use the word “unacceptable” to describe the 3-0 loss at Wolves sounds an ominous warning to their players.
Ancelotti has done well to engineer a position of comfort for an Everton squad that has let down a succession of managers and is a monument to a wretched recruitment strategy in recent years. It now appears, however, that Ancelotti’s patience is at an end.
Everton owner Farhad Moshiri spent big money luring one of the most decorated managers in the game’s history on a contract worth a reported £9m-a-year — now Ancelotti will expect his judgement to be backed over the next transfer windows.
He is working with a virtually non-existent midfield and the increasingly erratic performances of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford will worry not only Ancelotti but England manager Gareth Southgate.
Ancelotti represents Everton’s best opportunity to achieve Moshiri’s high ambitions — now the Italian will expect him to support his equally ambitious plans.