Séamus Coleman has said Everton’s players are fighting for their futures under a “world-class” manager in Carlo Ancelotti.
The Italian organised an impressive defensive display to nullify Liverpool in Sunday’s Merseyside derby, although Everton’s 10-year wait for a win over their neighbours continued with Tom Davies hitting a post in the 80th minute.
Ancelotti has yet to make a first-team signing since replacing Marco Silva in December and Marcel Brands, the Everton director of football, expects more departures than arrivals this summer because of financial fair play rules and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Morgan Schneiderlin could be first to leave having held talks over a move to Nice. The 37-year-old goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, who has signed a short-term contract extension at Goodison, will rejoin Ajax on a permanent deal once this season ends.
Coleman said Everton’s players are on trial over the remaining weeks of the season as they seek to convince Ancelotti they can improve on another mediocre campaign.
“We have to realise we have a world-class manager and as players we are fighting for our futures,” the Everton captain said. “He is new to the job and I am sure he will want to be putting his stamp on things.
“I want this club to be successful. We all need to be pushing in the right direction and giving everything we have to be part of this team. It can’t be something that just happens in periods. We need to build a culture, demanding from each other in training.
“We wanted to win [against Liverpool] and felt it was a good opportunity. We worked hard and had enough chances. The performance was good, defensively we did quite well – but it would have been good to get that win we have been craving for a while.”
Coleman excelled against Sadio Mané and said of Liverpool’s forwards: “We know the dangers they are – you have to be prepared for that ball in behind, Mané loves to run in behind. We were well drilled, we did our homework on them and I thought we handled them quite well.”
Ancelotti has been charged by prosecutors in Spain over alleged tax irregularities related to his time at Real Madrid, where he was manager from 2013-15. The Madrid community prosecutor’s office alleged that tax declarations presented by Ancelotti excluded some of his income and that this had been done “with the intention of unreasonably evading his obligations to the public treasury”.
The indictment said Ancelotti’s alleged activity had cost the treasury more than €1m. Everton will not make any comment on the case. – Guardian
