Ancelotti employs a very different attacking masterplan

Just shows what a quality manager can do. Think what we'll be like when he has all his own players.

Dreaeaeam... dream, dream, dreeaam.

However, in all three cases, it would only be on goal difference, so we're right in the mix for Europe –
at least until the season is suspended again!

We are nearly at the half way mark of the season and we are very close to the top spot. We have to keep grinding away and if we can pick up 15 points out of a possible 18 in our next six games we are in with a real chance this season.

Hopefully by the end of the month we will have a fully fit squad to choose from and we can give the title a right rattle. We have no European commitments and this has to be a help in the second half of the season.

Add to that a blossoming team spirit and belief you can start to believe that something serious is happening at the club.

It's only natural that us Evertonians are reticent when it comes to expectations. We've been led up to the altar and jilted too often. There is a difference in the air this time though. I think that comes down to the manager he's seen it all and done it all, the players have total trust in him.

As Dean above says, Carlo has signed a few players and he has given a confidence boost to the incumbents. He is creating a side that can't be bullied but still has enough magic to win games. With our resources this is a perfect fit for the club at this time. Furthermore there are contracts ending soon and confidence that two or three future signings will be targeted well and strengthen us again. This will add to consistency and bolster our aim of being realistic top 4 challengers.

The other teams around us are not the finished article. They all have their own weaknesses and they've all be inconsistent at different points of the he season. A team who gets a bit of momentum going can grab this league by the horns and win it.

With Calvert-Lewin and Allan coming back, the possibility of Richarlison finding his top form once again we have a really good first 11 who can harness this momentum. Also, with James seemingly getting fully fit we have a world class player who can make all the difference when it comes to top 4 aspirations (or better).

James was class all night long spraying balls round with precision
and guile. Gomes exuisite cross for the second goal, a superb header from Keane gave us the victory, all in all a good all round team performance, Carlo's doing a great job, plus the feeling it will just get better the more signings he's allowed to make.

I think Michael Keane deserves a special mention, if I had been asked prior to coming back from lockdown to finish the season would I have been disappointed if we had sold Michael Keane, I would have said no. But for the way he played in the remaining games of last season and the games he has played this season, for me he has been our best and most consistent player. I read with interest that during the first lockdown that at his own cost he employed his own sports psychologist. Something that is quite normal in golf and tennis and snooker, but not something that seems to happen too much in football. But you can see since working with the psychologist his game has come on leaps and bounds the indecisive Keane has been replaced by a very assured Michael Keane. I also think Carlo can take some of the credit for turning him into for my money one of the best CBs in the Premier league. I also think with Mina they have formed a very dependable pairing.

I read that most of the players talk about Carlos calmness, but they also say he talks to them a lot about non football related things. I read Pochettinos auto biography were he said that he talked regularly about non football things to the Spurs players. He said it was important to talk to the players about how their wives were how their kids were and how their families were. Because he reasoned if a players wife and kids and family were happy then he had a happy player who would perform to the maximum. I think there is a lot more to football management that just picking a team on a Saturday. There is no doubt in my mind that Carlo is a top top manager, I read all the nonsense sometimes spouted on T/W about him being here just to top up his pension and he is not the manager he once was. We have a very special commodity and I hope he stays longer than the current deal.

We get beat its down to the manager.

We win its down to the players.

Some of them have made their minds up on Ancelotti.
One or two of them wont let their ego change their minds.

My concern however over a long time is Tom Davies. Well and Pickford but we really are stuck with him, I'm not going to mention our 45 million weapon.

Sadly looks like the Villa game will be off, again when we have momentum.

I feel a bit sorry for Tosun; after almost grabbing a brace in the FA Cup, he might feel aggrieved not to have started – unless he was deemed knackered, which based on his game time seems highly possible.

Still, Carlo's tactics were justified and no Evertonian can complain on that score. Looking forward to trying to predict the line-up against Villa!

Best of all though I had a fiver on Keane to score a header at 16-1, so it was a doubly-delightful moment when he nodded it home to win us the game.

The red shite are 5-2 to win the league, we're a point behind on the same number of games and 80-1. Tempting to use some of my winnings on an each-way bet, but I probably won't.

Anyway, well done to Carlo and the lads and thanks, Michael, for the cash.

No mention of our injury ravaged squad.

Rob and Nathan, I'm assuming that Rich will be up top until Dom returns next month. That's the position he plays for Brazil.

Jay #21, that's weird, what I heard from the Peacock commentators (once they were audible) was a balanced account. Funny how people hear the same thing and get differing impressions.

Yet they also gave us the necessary defensive cover in front of the full backs to disrupt Wolves's runners. The formation made the team look very solid so that ultimately we did to Wolves what West Ham and others have done to us, digging in and grabbing a late winner.

You're a little confused there, fella. Who is it you think should be apologising... and to whom?

Ancelotti has been quite rightly murdered on here and other websites. Some of his performances have been shameful. I still haven't got over the embarrassment of him blinking when the intrepid Davey Moyes eyeballed him and walked away with three points – Despite having a vastly inferior squad of players at his disposal.

I have a pretty good idea who the people are who have quite rightly roundly criticised and rejected the cowardly tactics we have seen on several occasions this season and, to a man, they have all come out and given Ancelotti credit for last night's win. The same people were out in force to credit him when we beat Leicester too. That's how this footy lark works. Play well and you get praise; play shite and you get criticised; lose and you get hammered.

The majority of people who admire and support Ancelotti on this website have that open-mindedness. They see him as a great man, but they also see his errors. They're knowledgeable supporters with the ability to think for themselves. But there is a hard core – the "fingers in the ears" crowd – who simply blind themselves to his errors. They will defend and excuse anything and everything. No criticism (no matter how legitimate) will go unchallenged, even if it takes a hundred rabid posts to refute them all.

If you are looking for apologies from people who criticise players, then look no further than Carlo's excuse makers: "What chance has he got with this load of shite?" You must have seen and heard that a thousand times on here.

If you are looking for the people who criticised the manager to apologize, you will be in for a very long wait, my friend. While it's possible for Carlo to win them over by setting out to win each game, they will always feel justified in hammering the cowardly stuff.

Every game represents a new start for Mr Ancelotti. Continue with last night's mindset and he will not only win over his critics, he will have them eating out of his hands.

I don't know the people who have criticised him personally, but I can guarantee you one thing: They are all supporters who want to see their Everton play the game in a manner it is meant to be played – to win! They will not be repentant for venting against the awful stuff we have had to endure.

If Carlo Ancelotti is remotely interested in getting all Evertonians on side, he made a huge step in the right direction last night. He knocked the apologists' claims that "we can't be expected to open up and play with these players" clean out of the park.

Spoiling tactics are never forced on a manager; they are a choice. If you can get forward in numbers when you have no strikers, you can deffo get forward in numbers to support them when they are playing.

Harmony has descended upon Evertonia tonight. A contentment, but be very assured: A return to spoiling tactics against inferior teams will have it all kicking off again, big-time!

Nobody has the right to expect Everton to win, but every Evertonian is entitled to expect to see his team at least try to win.

Like I say, every game represents a fresh start

What I have a hard time with is statements like “I want that man out of my club tonight” before we'd even kicked off, and similar nonsense spouted by a minority of people who seem to expect Everton 2020 to morph into Everton 1984 in half a season.

There is more than enough there in the results to temper some fair criticism but some are just having a slag for the sake of it. Time's up on the weak shit, if you think this team sucks right now and it challenges your Everton identity have a long look in the mirror or right off with you.

I have had a few verbal tussles with Darren and no doubt will have many more as the season progresses but, if you look at the other post on last night's game, you will see that, shortly after the game, Darren gave fulsome praise to Ancelotti and the team. I can't remember the number of his post but, if you scroll down, you will see it.

I have just read it now.

Well done Darren, good post giving credit to Ancelotti

Bet your night shift flew by after that win.

All credit to you

Carlo is a terrific manager, he's doing a good job at a basketcase of a club and things are finally looking positive, let's get behind him.

I agree also with someone's comments above that we do get on his case if we perform badly – as we should; we are Everton FC!

I know who said it. I also know the guy was on the live forum praying for the final whistle as we got into the final stages.
Evertonian Dislikes manager...Nothing new there. Evertonian loves club...nothing new there either.

Dale

It doesnt work that way mate. You don't look in the mirror and do one if you don't belief you are seeing "your" Everton. If everyone who disliked a manager deserted this club. The last six would have emptied the place.
Managers and players come and go... Your club is for life.

Fran

I saw something I hadnt seen before last night. A glimmer of hope, but you are being a little bit previous here. By claiming Anchelotti has proven his critics wrong. You sound like the guy who jumped in the queue to be paid out because his horse was in the frame as they come to the end of the first circuit of the Grand National He's proved nothing yet.

I'd rather concentrate on what he can do. If he doesnt win the cup. That wont be his fault because there are better teams in it. If he doesnt get top four, that wont be his fault either, for the same reasons.
But if he resorts to spoiling tactics against inferior opposition again. The only people he will have proven wrong is those who have trusted him.

The manager is refreshingly humble. Evertonians celebrate the club's success and grieve our defeats but we must always be critical of whatever we think could improve us – even after a great win – it's our right.

Our problems, however, come with clubs who don't play so open and come with a game plan and here we often lack the creativity and yes tactics to open them up. Moyes was/is a past master at this game and we see it in well-drilled lower league opposition.

The knee jerk reactions when you see the same underperforming players picked every game is understandable but, at the end of the day, we all want the same thing.

I think the difference comes when we can't differentiate between individual game performances (players and manager) and bigger picture. Emotional reaction versus seeing progress and improvement over time.

I didn't get caught up in the hysteria following the draw at Burnley. I saw something in the performance that I thought would see a turn in form. I'm no crystal ball gazer and could have got it wrong, but I saw through the result to see a performance that could get results if we kept playing. Admittedly it took Delph to go off and force a change in that particular match, but I could see something. We have done pretty well since in the main. The manager and players collectively deserve credit for that. League positions don't lie.

All along, I have maintained I don't look at or take much notice of the table until after Christmas. When people were wailing in November, I said I'd wait to see where we are come January, as I always have done. Just as the first 40 posts on the live forum often declare defeat on the announcement of a team they don't agree with; the game isn't finished until it's over and likewise the season.

Our realistic target this season was Europa League qualification. We remain very much in touch and on target with that. Arguably we may surpass that but let's not get carried away just as we shouldn't despair over every misplaced pass in the moment of a 90-minute match that represents a small percentage of a season.

No-one has the right to expect Everton to win. But then no-one has the expectation that the manager should win every game.

The players and the manager are very much on track to achieve our target of European football next season. Achieve that and we raise the bar and expectation even more and rightly so. Fail to do so, then rightly criticise. But the season ends in May, not after every good or every poor result.

I thought the comments were misguided also. Great result against Wolves, but Sigurdsson in particular was a complete non-entity in that formation. I think we won despite this. Not a masterstroke by the manager.