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A much-changed Everton team ticked off something else on Carlo Ancelotti’s to-do list by ensuring a safe passage to the next round of the League Cup.
Choose your team for the next league game.
The Everton boss made 10 changes for the Salford City visit tonight and hopefully he will make them all again by the time West Bromwich Albion shows up at lunchtime on Saturday.
Not because you’re not satisfied with this well-deserved 3-0 win, which booked a place in the third round of the Carabao Cup next week – the Blues controlled the game, had more than 30 goal attempts, and restricted their opponents from the League Two to just one. they shot at the door, but because they did not do more.
One thing that sounded loud and clear after Sunday’s win over Tottenham Hotspur was that the standards in the team have improved.
And as a consequence, it will be more difficult than it was to force your way back to the starting eleven for a league game. Not even being part of a comfortable home cup win will be enough at this point.
Ancelotti’s selection fulfilled the main objective here, and they did it with room to spare, they played well in the periods, handled a potentially difficult tie and created chances.
Work done.
But did they play well enough to change Ancelotti’s mind for the weekend? It seems very unlikely.
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Few of the team’s fringe players dared to claim. Sure, the manager will know he can trust them, but that may be it for now, and based on their track record, albeit limited, in this competition with Chelsea, they’ll all get another shot next week when Everton head to Fleetwood Town. in the third round. But not before.
It was clear that the message of victory over the Spurs has been received because a team that included retirements for Tom Davies, Bernard and Theo Walcott, played with urgency, rhythm and intention from the beginning.
But even after a comfortable victory, the task of breaking into the league team doesn’t seem easier.
This group of players did a relatively simple job, although they could have finished the tie earlier, in a situation that had the potential to be much more difficult but, as we saw in London, the expectations and demands of the coach have increased. .
Ancelotti will need to see more than this to make him think twice about what his strongest XI is today.
Aside from Michael Keane, who started this, his players for the next league were on the bench or lounging at home.
However, what will keep Ancelotti awake at night is the defensive headache caused by Jarrad Branthwaite’s injury.
The 18-year-old had an outing tonight but was forced to retire just 25 minutes after spraining his left ankle and in doing so increased the need to find a new center-back.
As it stands, Keane and Yerry Mina appear to be the only senior center-backs fit for the weekend’s game.
But the need for a new left back to replace Leighton Baines, who watched from the stands tonight, has diminished.
The growing sensation in recent weeks has been that Niels Nkounkou’s progression has reduced Everton’s need to try and find a solution in the transfer market, and after an excellent debut from the teenager, that belief will only have taken hold.
Anthony Gordon, opposite him, came to life in the second half and finished the tie strong, but Ancelotti has few questions about his ability.
He has doubts about the ability of older professionals to make an impact on the starting lineup: Gylfi Sigurdsson, Bernard, Walcott and Davies, for example. He also got a competitive first look at Jonjoe Kenny tonight.
They all played well, to varying degrees and impact tonight, but they can’t believe they did enough to upset the top 11 names on the team sheet.
Keane, who led the opening goal home from a Sigurdsson corner, is likely to be the only one holding his place.
What did you think of the performance? Give your opinion in the comments below.
Some of those who played here tonight may feel hard, given that they have been part of a good victory and have helped carry the club to the next round of the League Cup, but that level of competition and those demands are what Ancelotti contributes to Everton. and it will be what drives the Blues to improve.
Even after all these years of disappointment, in the League Cup.
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