Everton verdict: Carlo Ancelotti inspires new attitude as eight players sum up change

Soccer works in strange ways, doesn’t it?

Last season, when Everton entered their third league game of the season with the prospect of a win that would send them to the top of the table, they squandered the opportunity.

On a warm night at Villa Park, Seamus Coleman lurched down the right wing, threw the ball back and Dominic Calvert-Lewin shot straight for the goalkeeper, his effort blocked and he was left to lament a glorious missed opportunity.

Everton did not recover from the foul and the criticism that followed was strong.

But today, with the same carrot dangling in front of Everton, Coleman slipped back into the space on the right, once again serving the ball for Calvert-Lewin to offer a similar opportunity, only this time for the forward. Effort squeezed through the goalkeeper’s arms and Everton went 1-0 up.

He has now scored five goals in three league games, is Everton’s established No. 9 and tops the Premier League charts. Like your team.

Everton would be linked here, but now they have the confidence to see it only as a temporary disappointment, rather than a fatal blow.

And where last season, they felt the Blues couldn’t buy a positive VAR decision for love or money, here the new laws of the game and the technology behind it were in their favor.

Richarlison was the joyous catcher after Joel Ward was given a hand, when Lucas Digne headed the ball into the box and restored Everton’s lead after the Crystal Palace draw, a lead they did not give up.

However, and although Roy Hodgson, who was furious with the new handball laws, may disagree, Everton had no luck at Selhurst Park and has not reached the top of the table by chance, but what is it that people say?

When you play well, things go well for you. When you’re out of shape, they don’t.

And every successful team needs a splash of green. Every team where Carlo Ancelotti has achieved glory has had him somewhere along the way. It will be the first to tell you.

It’s that bounce of the ball, that shot that squeezes instead of being blocked, and that decision that comes to you, every now and then, that helps grease the wheels of momentum.

But then you also make your own luck, right?

With the signing of Colombian superstar James Rodríguez, Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton is looking to make waves in the Premier League this season.

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And this super confident Everton scored his goals because of the quality of preparation, not because of the failures of the opposing goalkeeper or the referee making a bad decision. And they defended their advantage because they dug in and showed determination. There was no luck involved in that. They could only do it themselves.

A good part of what happened around the goals and solid defense was not to Ancelotti’s liking and the technical failures he saw today will be a topic of discussion at Finch Farm this week, but at the end of it all, Everton played enough. good enough to win, so Everton played well enough to reach the top of the table.

At the same point last season, they didn’t.

It can’t, and won’t be, always as convincing as it was at Spurs or finish with flourish and flair as it did against West Brom, so sometimes this season, if Everton qualify for Europe, then there will be games like this.

If Calvert-Lewin had converted both chances that came his way in the second half, this would have been a lot more comfortable than it was. Instead, Palace was invited to push, given the chances of getting the ball into the box, they were allowed to retrieve it too easily and given enough confidence that they could find a second draw of the game.

Ultimately they kept their distance, with the host’s only shot on target coming from a header from Cheikhou Kouyate (another aspect Ancelotti won’t like), but the coach left South London with a lot to hold on to this week. in training.

But you will also have cause for quiet satisfaction.

Ancelotti is not soft. His assessment was that the first part was “quite good” but in the second “we left out the quality”. Sure, he touched the spirit and the defensive attitude, but stressed that Everton found it “difficult”.

Calvert-Lewin would echo his manager’s thoughts that the performance was not the best.

But in private, Ancelotti must be much happier than he let on.

This match is always tough, the conditions added to it, and Everton allowed the momentum of the second half to turn towards Palace.

But when faced with the need to roll up their sleeves, head to crosses, and physically match Palace, they did.

You won’t like how they got into trouble, but Ancelotti will be happy with how they got out of it.

What is the saying? The harder you work, the luckier you will be? Well, it’s clear from Everton’s results and focus in the first few games of the season that the penny has dropped on training ground and that the players have returned from a short break, after last season they crawled over. the line, with a point to prove. , with a new attitude and a new commitment.

The new players, of course, also made a difference and the quality of James Rodríguez shone through in the first 45, while Abdoulaye Doucoure’s presence was felt in the second, but this start to the season is more than just three signings.

Eight of the players who weakened that night against Villa last season started today and all played an important role in ensuring that all three points were returned to Goodison, where the league leaders play.