 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of toffee TV USA. We are coming to you on Christmas Eve So Merry Christmas to all of you blues out there Hope you are enjoying this time with friends and family as best you can in what has been a tumultuous year for Both Everton and for everyone living in the world basically We missed last week's episode took a little break, but we are back on Christmas Eve to talk a little bit about Carlo Ancelotti we of course have a lot to celebrate but in looking back it's been and I mean I think I have a lot to be thankful for despite all the difficulties we've been through. I made my first trip to Goodison this year. It's been great a lot of progress with the pod and Just a lot to be thankful for healthy family and all that sort of stuff So just take time to reflect and be be thankful for what you got and hope hope for the future hope for the future of Everton at Behind the Reigns with Carlo at the Reigns Steering us in the right direction. I think which is the subject of our show today It's just past the one-year anniversary of Carlo Ancelotti taking over as manager Which feels like probably a decade ago Ryan now. Yeah, it really does. I mean cloud you think about it There's been a lot, you know, it just never there's always so much drama here at Everton And it's kind of nice that I feel like maybe things are settling into some there's some fixed variables now to be very Analytic about it, which how could I not be right? I mean, that's apparently my calling card, you know I don't watch the games. I just study ed and spreadsheets at this point But no, I think you know and in honor of that I think it's worth revisiting It's also the one-year anniversary approximately of our cooperation for the Golden Ogden Award or otherwise known to Americans as the Skip Bayless Award a reminder of Mark Ogden's Wonderful diatribe last December about Carlo Ancelotti Obviously, we know the article where he said basically Everton's not good enough We can't get Carlo Ancelotti. What are we thinking? How naive of us? But then he followed it up with this gem on the 27th and I thought it was worth revisiting his quote Not a fan of Moyes But over six months think he'd be a better bet than Ancelotti. Let's see Well, we have seen and I think it's pretty safe to say that all Evertonians are very thankful and appreciative and are celebrating the fact that Carlo Magnifico Carlo Fantastico is at the wheel at Everton football club and I think that bodes great things for the future so The theme of this episode is to celebrate Carlo Ancelotti But really take a harder look at the impacts that he's made both tangibly and intangibly to the club I want to talk a little bit about mentality. I think it's made an impact there Transfers personnel. I think there's maybe some mythology. That's probably worth exploring The tactical differences especially from the predecessor manager in overall performance Hamas, let's kick it off with the mentality because I think it's hard to ignore the impact that Carlo has made on that the club and the players Yeah, I think there's a few facets of this I think you start with the fans us And you look at in the wake of David Moyes's departure We've had a slew of new managers and I think most of them had bright spots But eventually fizzled out and there was never this this presence that Carlo has or this Record frankly of success and so there was this inevitable trend of any time things weren't going quite so well You'd start to second guess you'd start to question the decisions being made and though we do Some of that on the show with with Carlo and over the course of individual matches and on the American Toffee podcast I still think that at the end of the day He commands the kind of respect that very few in the game can and I think that Translate to the fans. No one's pointing fingers at Carlo really there was a kind of you know You might say oh, he got it wrong here there But no one saying there's a systemic problem at Everton and that Carlo needs to leave no one with a rational brain at least Furthermore the players. I mean this I think the same thing happens when you're under a Marco Silva Who's a younger manager really nice guy by all accounts and really professional? but some of the advice and the Coaching that he may have tried to impart on the players may not have landed with the same gravity that it has Or it does with someone like Carlo Ancelotti. So I think that's really important and then you look at again It's just the fact that we are now rock solid from a managerial standpoint I think there's changes that need to be made But I think most fans are kind of buckling in for the long haul and recognize finally that these sort of things take time It's a massive difference. No question and and the thing is I had a soft spot for Marco because I loved His analytical tactical approach to the game, you know what I mean? I really liked how he played and we'll get into the tactics in a second And I do think people liked him, but ultimately he was complicated He's by all accounts a very complex individual and Carlo seems to have simplified things a little bit and made it a little bit easier for players Albeit, I would argue his systems and his adaptability are somewhat unique and difficult It's gonna take time But but I think a very interesting approach is the difference in the impact of the managers on personnel decisions So I'm not gonna get into this whole mythology that there's a Carlo by versus a Brands by I think that is absolutely absurd and I'll say it forever Because they have different jobs and ultimately I have to admit when Carlo was first announced as a series candidate I had some initial apprehensions. I thought oh man. This guy is used to working with big-time senior players Leaders on the field, which we didn't have many of and I was very concerned that So I'm a firm believer and I think you are too a club like Everton that does not quite have the buying power of the other clubs I mean part of that you need to get into Europe and do some other things to achieve greater revenue commercial revenue all sorts of other things One of the ways the teams like that can compete is buy a little bit younger players still for the first team Whether it's a dean or a charlison that's maybe slightly undervalued Knowing that they're going to improve or you can get the best out of him Maybe the circumstances they were in did not and they would grow in value and again as we said a hundred times in the pod It's not just for sell-on value to please But sell-on value is also illustrative of increased performance the bottom line Is we didn't we don't have the revenues to just go out and buy world-class players and I was concerned that Maybe that would be problematic. We can't afford to compete that way You know, we would not have enough depth or whatnot So I did a pretty hard look at toffee analysis wrote an article on Carlo Ancelotti and to me It showed a lot of interesting things to me And I don't think necessarily there's a predilection one way or the other But one thing I will say that's very interesting with Carlo is I think the difference between him and Marco is Carlo has always worked under a sporting director And I think a guy that's that mature that seemed that many different types of teams and have those kind of experiences who's fairly adaptable Frankly Carlo, I think it's just a better reader of the game And I think he's also in turn a better reader of what his team needs and the types of players He has in the evaluation and I think that downstream is going to be much more beneficial to a guy like Marcel Brands Who's really job is to take the needs? Given to him by the head coach and find the right players for him Not to mention Carlo's ability to attract players of greater nature opens up markets that wasn't there before but it is interesting I mean you look at Carlo and I think one of the reasons he seems very happy working under Marcel Brands is my god James look at the sporting directors He's worked under. It's I mean, it's almost like a list of repressive regimes. Is it not? Yeah, a list of megalomaniacs create just some truly some guys who stand out. I mean you look at Roman Abramovich is his time at Chelsea exactly known as a guy who Taking a whole lot of opinions from his staff on how things should be run And you went into De Laurenti said at Napoli, but there's some other ones that maybe aren't as obvious to To people that you did some in in-depth research on and spoke about in that article and I think it's helpful to recap it here Yeah, I think Luciano Moshe is interesting and who Ventus. I mean he had such a reputation as a transfer guru There's no way Carlo was gonna mess with him Carlo at Parma was a little different, you know, it's more of an upcoming team and stuff And also a lot of these teams he took over were not already world-class. So he did improve them At Milan, I mean where where Carlo stood and stayed for a long time Riloussone is is a pretty legendary and infamous character He was you know dominating transfer policy as well as everything else in that club But Carlo is a very understanding guy and diplomatic guy and stayed with them for a while I think Abramovich and Frank Armisen was his sporting director I mean, some of these were clearly had nothing to do with Carlo like there's no way Carlo What about Yuri Zerkhoff, you know to me for a crazy money and I don't think Fernando Torres is this guy too and Florentino Perez infamous Sporting director at Real Madrid. I mean look Carlo did not necessarily want Gareth Bale And I think it's very interesting how Carlo used guys like Thomas Ironically playing a most as a 10 and a 4-3-3, but look at this and then Willy Honest at Bayern Munich I mean, I think that's the one where I Mean him losing the dressing room was really the cards are stacked against him He even admitted in his books. He basically said I didn't know how to play them other than peps Set up. I mean you have a guy like Moller is a very unique player. Where are you gonna play? Yeah, he has to be almost in that free roll on the right side So I think all of those guys are very dominating very domineering guys It is their club and I think brands is a little different. I mean, he's a little more accommodating and stuff And I think I think that's so so let's look at the argument between old and youth so It's very easy to look at this pass transfer window and say Carlos only interested in old people, but we think maybe there was a different reason for why they invested in maybe mature Players that maybe had some leadership qualities. What are your thoughts on this? Yeah, I think the leadership quality is definitely a big a big thing I mean any time you have and Carlos spoke about this in his book when he went to to PSG and he came in and You have to at a club like that at the time PSG didn't have the like I guess recent history that they do They had good young players too But they didn't necessarily have a slew of experienced guys that were proven winners And they right and that's the culture that you want to instill at the club And I definitely Everton if you have one overarching critique of the players themselves over the last several years It's been that lack of leadership that lack of at times Just digging deep and getting stuck in and times, you know, we thought the players looked kind of apathetic They've failed to take responsibility for for some of the losses and if you're trying to establish that culture You need to bring in guys who have a track record of that and you could argue There were very few whatever Tim on Carlo arrived that had that and so in the summer I think that was the immediate pressing need get some guys Not just who are leaders, but our quality and gonna improve the side But I don't think there's a lot of young players that can check all three of those boxes And so as a result you take two of the three you get the leadership in the quality And that's I think the backbone of what our transfer policy was this past summer for sure and in value You know, that's the thing you look at the price He got these things are he got great value for players and we talked about as much as I think Maybe buying the young players might be a better way forward if you don't have the leadership there Who's gonna help facilitate their growth anyway? It can't just be the manager solely and when you look at the prices that we got for some of these guys We got a lot of bang for a buck so kudos to brands maybe for the negotiation But yeah, Carlos a big a big attraction, but really when you look in history, I think it's very varied I think it's very difficult to say We only likes older players and kind of blame him for not bringing guys in like Anthony Gordon or in Kunku immediately Which I think is a stretch anyway, but look, so just revisiting very quickly like who ventis Carlo took over team the finished seventh and Moji and Carlo pretty much brought in young players and that's it At Milan they bought a lot of older players, but he still had no problems incorporating guys like a car Gillardinho Pato into very experienced sides now granted auto levels, right? You know, I mean certain different levels of players which that could be the counter argument I think that's a fair one. I mean caca was world player the year at one point. Yeah, so I get it You know, I mean and Bufone giving him his start at it goal. I mean, who are we talking about here? So it's a fair counter. I'm simply trying to be objective when I wrote the article But yeah, other than the bizarre purchase of Chelsea of Zyrkoff from Moscow Most most of the guys are younger players even Torres Fernand Torres is only 26 and they were under a transfer ban I forgot about that right Ray on the dread surprisingly all players under 25 one exception Taylor Navas who decent purchase there. I would think talk about, you know, a great fine I guess Chica Rito is there in a loan deal. Don't even get me started on that guy LA Galaxy. Thank you my god But yeah, and Byron Byron tons of young players really with the exception of that's Hummel's so Yeah, Napoli is a little more more interesting, you know, they bring in guys like Irving Lozano and Minolas and Moret But it was kind of a mix. So anyway, all trying to say is looking back on that I understand the idea that all carlone only works with experienced players But I'm sorry the transfer business even if he wasn't a huge impact on it and it was under sporting directors He clearly has shown at least some deference either to sporting directors in the way they buy or at least a willingness To give some young players a chance. So I just I don't think it's that one-sided and I Think it'd be better to consider the individual circumstance the argument of a Bernard versus an Anthony Gordon And their past performance to last night Bernard probably didn't shower himself in glory and maybe we'll see Gordon as a result I know I don't want to bring it up for those of you. I haven't listened the American toffee podcast Hommes and I went on a bit of a rant last night off. I don't yeah, I don't know if I feel any better I will say one thing though. That's very important is The difference between Marco Silva. I think tactically who is very system-oriented or very kind of restrictive Versus Carlo Ancelotti who's known for adaptation Clearly that is a big difference in terms of personnel and transfer business. Is it not and I think that's where Carlo Ancelotti differs from a lot of Quote-unquote maybe superstar modern managers or new yeah new ones modern guys. Yeah, a lot of systems out there, right? if there's guys who are almost religiously obsessed with their one system and yeah trying to Get the players to play that system constantly regardless of the opposition and basically just dominate opponents that way but Carlo Has said and he's on record that that is not a philosophy that he subscribes to he's very much Win the way you need win with what you have Don't try to put a square peg into a round hole so to speak You can take the guys you have and you can be flexible and based on injuries and all these sorts of things And it makes you much more resilient to the types of Situations ever tend to have been faced with when you have three of your four best players that are out injured You can then adapt and change and you're not trying to plug guys into Leuka Dean's role specifically and expect some the same kind of output you can then Change the the definition of what you want your left back to do in general We've seen that would been Godfrey and that makes you much more difficult to beat and much more difficult to predict as well Which I think is a huge advantage for Everton under Carlo for sure, but conversely you have to buy some different players I mean that's the key. I mean under Marco He was slating people into either his 433 with kind of the sitting defensive mid which I Mean Marcel Brands bought in JPG and just never kind of never was healthy still barely hasn't been or that 4231 I mean the thing about Marco is he was so restrictive and much like a lot of counter pressing and pressure oriented coaches. I Mean remember watching Bernard play in the left side where he's very comfortable He's comfortable playing in the half space and people were crying for him to play more centrally I don't think he's really a center player But certainly when the balls on the off wing he should drift central the thing is did you ever see him cross mid the midpoint of the field? Never I mean did you ever see Marco adapt and Really play overloads and really attack teams that bunkered in I mean He was very good at dealing with better teams and packing in and kind of grounding out results But I think ultimately that lack of flexibility did him in I mean What's the point of buying creative players if you aren't gonna allow him to express themselves and while there's merit in systems? Boy, you've got to be really darn good at playing those systems. I look I think about what Ralph's doing at Southampton His system is very distinct There's a reason why they've been so successful this year have they had a single major injury inks for a couple matches But that makes a massive difference So Marco in a very rigid system with people bought specifically for the system had a slew of injuries and sure enough Could not adapt and deal with it and maybe the underlying metrics on Marco indicated and some of the rumors Marcel Brands kept pushing and defending him That we were fairly unlucky in results and I do think there's some merit to that But ultimately if you're gonna be that restrictive and you're buying better more talented player is Marco Silva The right player to play with better players. I don't think so. I think he's more of a guy that should be in an Olympiacos You know what I mean to make things more difficult that has to rely on the system if Ralph Hassengut could buy the best players in the world He wouldn't have to turn a word prowess into world-class player So I think what's really important is do we think hum is if Marco Silva is in charge Knowing our current injuries. How do you think his team would have fared in the last three matches against Leicester? Chelsea and Arsenal It would have been Bad, I mean having done the pod now for a long time and covered Extensively like Marco Silva match after match. It was like groundhog day Like we just continuously be beat the same way and it didn't really seem like he had any intent of trying to Switch things up do something different to try to change course And so I think I don't think that with the slew of injuries that we have now we Marco would have been able to find a creative way to win I think he would have tried to maybe bring in some try to do like a like-for-like switch and it would have made us just Similar but worse product on the pitch than we then we had seen previously And I also don't think that you ever really showed Any way to kind of correct course when we went when the team's mentality started to slip It was just a consistent downhill trajectory and there was and that's ultimately what did him in was the inability to to Reverse and take a step back and say, okay, what are we even doing here? Do we need to maybe change up the formation change of the positions and Ended with him being sacked as we all know now do something Marco Yeah, I mean every time, you know subs He did not have a great grasp of the in-game management as subs were never necessarily effective rarely subs Ryan the so I know they're very Frustrating so so it is interesting you can look at the underlying performance metrics and say he probably was better And he was unlucky and certainly injuries contributed to that but conversely now and Patty Boyland and Greg O'Keefe put out I think a really interesting article on Carlo By the way, I'm gonna plug Patty's article last night on the man you match. It was excellent He had a very nice combination of tactical and personal type stuff I love patty. He writes really really well and interesting stuff But him and Greg they're quotes. I think is really good talking about the on-field performance In that time since carlo's been here He has tasted victory in 19 of his 38 games in charge across all competitions a win rate of 50 While only five premier league sides can boast a better points total since he's since his arrival So that's impressive in and of itself But thinking about the personnel he's had so last year well documented everton far and away had the worst injuries In the entire league the most major injuries. I mean you've seen the graphic that I put out there I mean it's ludicrous. It's it's almost comical and hard to believe Really and last night we saw it just the lack of defensive midfielders when you got three out of your four out It makes it very difficult to do much tactically But a lot of his success right now has been with almost the same guys I mean sure when james and alan And decori have all been available. I mean you've seen I mean how well relatively well we've performed But carlo is getting a lot more out of players That guy's like a marco marco could not so I think it's very interesting though to look at the team He took over his first match in charge was boxing day Last year against burley and a one-nil win off a dumb and a calvert lune header if I recall So let's look at that starting lineup. So you've got pickford same guys You've got colman yuri nina mason holgate all guys he inherited Um And then you had sedibae Guilfee fabian delt who he doesn't even have available dean doesn't have available Bernard who he has available who was forced to start basically for lack of people were charleson and dominant calvert lune. So Now he has alan he has decori But he doesn't really have those guys and moist keen off the bench last year He doesn't have a moist keen to come on that could I mean could we have used that step over and blast into the corner that he had Please yes Yeah, I mean He's the perfect type of guy that you would want off the bench leighton vanes was there last year too I'd look he allows you to almost play the same way and and And you know, we don't have that so as a result carlo has used someone like ben godfried very intelligently Even though he was bought primarily to slip in eventually be center back Um, he doesn't have the oh wall cut even anymore, which is fine big deal But the point is he doesn't have he has some key personnel that are different and unique that have helped us so far But look at what he's done in the absence of a lot of these guys How can that not make us feel good and optimistic somewhat into the new year? Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean the guys that are here last season A lot of people were asking questions about a guy like michael keen look at me this season Ben I think our most consistently good player all all season long The guys that started that Fabian delf who was brought in and has barely played because he's just been injured and the injuries are are what they are But he's getting now the best and calvert lewin is like the golden poster child of the carlo enchilotti philosophy Changing the way that he plays still getting the good pieces of calvert lewin's game that we've seen in his Long run in the first team now But also adding the biggest missing component was which was consistent goal scoring and you see that from the system and Adaptability even guys like gilfee sigurdson who many fans would have been happy to see leave in the summer I think we're both probably in that camp He's getting a tune out of him at least the last four games when he's needed And he's not going to be needed every single game when we're fully healthy But the important thing is that he's able to be utilized in an effective way when he's in there Still not up to the quality that I think we all expect and perhaps demand But he does a job and he Does you can see the things that he contributes? Which we've we've known since he joined everton, but that had gone missing for such a long time And now we're kind of seeing a little bit of it return I'm just looking forward to the injuries lucadine looks like he's coming back, which would be absolutely huge And a couple more additions and we're very close to returning to that starting 11 that went on the tear at the beginning of the season so Again, no pointing fingers at carlo. I think he's done an exemplary job and Under some really difficult challenges that he's faced. He's met them all and for the most part I don't think any fans can have very many complaints going into 2021 No, and we can pick and choose off certain tactical setups that we didn't like the first match against man You I know you and I were pretty frustrated about our performance against south hampton seemed to play right into them And the christmas tree experiment with andre and gilfy up top was probably not the best move But he is learning and adapting and ultimately you start to wonder a little bit Um, especially after gilfy admitted in a post match interview how much time they spent working on defensive shape that Maybe it wasn't carlo. Maybe the guys were not following instructions very well Um, and and I'll tell you when another feather in his cap is david enchilotti Clearly is sharp as attack and seems like a wonderful foil and kind of a sundad way to I mean be able to tell his dad Like what are you doing? You know, it's kind of a special relationship And most importantly too carlo seems to really reflect the values that we all cherish and some of the reasons why we're attracted This club to begin with and and that's I mean he resonates with the fans and seems very happy God knows we've heard enough about crossby You know their statues are their statues There's a beach. Um, yeah, it's really nice and you know, he's a lovely guy and I think he represents the club well Um that being said I did want to plug at least what we think for is going to be fitting for our next episode We know the january transfer window is not too far around It's nice to talk about carlo's impact and generalities on performance But we're going to try and get in a little more detail into the current performance and talk about what we need as a club um And so stay tuned for that next week on toffee tv usa, but I will say this I'd like to close in our american and actually worldwide tradition Um on a little bit of a christmas question So hummus if you could have one everton oriented christmas gift to magically appear under the tree tomorrow and only tomorrow We don't open christ christmas gifts On christmas eve darn it speak for yourself. We don't know. I'm just speaking. I don't care people do that Now that was a williams family household real rule. I swear to god It's like the one time we were strict the whole year, you know, come on What would be the one thing if you could have one everton gift appear fall down the chimney poof at finch farm magic hummus I my choice I think And this is looking ahead a little bit. This isn't an immediate gift got it But I'd really like to see a strong f a cup run now that we're out of the caribou cup Now that we're sitting pretty in the league I want to see us get healthy and I'd like to see us just have a go at the f a cup man. It's I know people kind of there's the the caribou cup the league cup is a bit divisive Where people are kind of of two minds where we want to get silverware by any means necessary But it's also the making mouse cup and so you can kind of exist like in between those two Things but there's no question the f a cup if we could get to even a semifinal or a final would be Such a boost to the fan base and and hopefully by then once that's going on the fans will be Back in larger numbers than they already are so that would be my thing and I can gonna sneak a second one in there and that is 2021 to see a full goodison park once more I think you know the days are numbered before we move to the new stadium And there's nothing like goodison park when it's roaring Behind the team and the 2,000 fans the last silver matches have done a great job But it's there's no substitute for that full full audience. So that's going to be my Christmas wish ryan, how about you god the goodison roar would be lovely I can't wait to get back over there and experience that again. What a special place For me immediate immediate gift a healthy jpg It's the only thing I could think of before the window that might make a difference Do I think he magically is going to appear down the chimney poof Santa hat ready to go and play 90 minutes And I think alternatively carlo may want to look at moving someone like ben godfried into defensive mid because andre and tom davies are not the solution But man what an absolute impact he could make you remember how much I talked about I love that signing when when brands made it. I think he is a really talented guy could protect our back lines So well would give us so much more versatility and dynamic ability to change the game It could allow to cori and ellen to play higher. That is my christmas gift bring them on down santa, please Everton out, please dear god. I don't think I've been that bad this year. My wife and kids may disagree, but um, you know, that's what my wish is Uh, but on that note, I personally want to wish everyone out there all our listeners and every everton fan out there A merry christmas a happy holidays Homage you want to give your wishes and send us out here. I think that's it for this week Yes, merry christmas to all the blues out there if you're celebrating Thank you again for checking us out If you enjoyed the show definitely subscribe to toffee tv check out what else they got going on as i'm sure you all know Subscribe to the channel subscribe to us follow the usa toffee pod you can find all of our stuff at link tr dot e slash usa toffee pod And otherwise, I hope you as ryan said buy been some Drinks perhaps enjoy some good food and be with your family if you can or connect with them Give them a call if you're not able to be with them in person Definitely, it's that time of year to reflect and enjoy and last but not least I hope all the liverpool fans out there get colon. They're stalking Well, they will automatically by definition. I mean there's no way Just santa's blue. That's right. He is clearly and he's forced to wear that outfit I mean, please if you had his choice it'd be blue crimbo all the way man 100% everyone knows that All right, folks That's gonna do it for us catch us next week on toffee tv and again Do check out the us on the usa toffee pod as well. We'll see you guys next time