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Carlo Ancelotti has spoken of Everton’s system change in what was a “difficult” win over Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
The Blues came out of the clash at Craven Cottage with a major 3-2 win, ending a four-game streak without a Premier League win.
A Dominic Calvert-Lewin first-half double before Abdoulaye Doucoure’s first goal for his new club gave the visitors a 3-1 lead at halftime, disallowing Bobby Decordova-Reid’s goal.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek dragged Fulham back into the game in the second period and they dominated much of the final stages, but Everton held on for a result.
The match saw the Blues set up with a back three system, with Lucas Digne and Alex Iwobi as wingers, rather than the 4-3-3 Ancelotti has preferred for much of the season.
And, while the boss admitted that he was not perfect, he explained why he introduced a new tactic to try to solidify his defense.
He said, “I don’t think it’s a winning system, because there are no winning systems.
“But we tried to be a little more compact in the middle of the defense. Still, even with three defenders, we could be more compact, but we have to work on this.
“I think this system gives us the positivity to use the midfield, to cross now for Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin.
“I think the individual performance of the three centers was good.
“Collectively we have to do better. Sometimes we were too open in my opinion, we have to stay close in certain situations.”
The Blues showed a lot of quality during the first half in particular, but struggled in the second period when Fulham tried to find a draw.
Ancelotti believes that many of his key players were tired as the match progressed, especially a trio who have traveled long distances during the international break.
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“It was a difficult game, difficult to prepare because we had no players during the international break,” added the coach.
“At the end we reached our goal which was victory. It was a fantastic first half, the second was more difficult. We lost physical energy and in the second half we had difficulties, that was quite normal.
“James was tired, Richarlison was tired, Allan was tired, so I tried to replace them, but we stopped playing for this reason I think.
“Right now we don’t have to look at the table.
“We started very well, we had a difficult period, but now the difficult period is gone. We need to have consistency in our results.
“Every game will be a test, but our goal is to fight for the top of the table, not for the last one.”
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