View: How Ancelotti solved Everton’s defensive issues v Chelsea
Prior to facing Chelsea on Saturday Everton had not played well defensively this season, conceding 18 goals in their first 11 matches.
Carlo Ancelotti had been forced to swap between multiple different lineups, with his four centre-back options, Michael Keane, Mason Holgate, Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey, rotated. He tried a back four and a back three, with midfielders at wing-back in the absence of Lucas Digne and Seamus Coleman.
Against Chelsea he changed again, reverting to the back four, but this time with Godfrey and Holgate at full-back. It was a defensive move and the Toffees struggled to keep hold of the ball, with Chelsea enjoying 72% possession, but it prevented their opponents from having any success playing through the middle. Everton were solid throughout, restricted their opponents to clear cut chances and won the game 1-0.
Chelsea managed just 10 shots across the 90 minutes and according to FBRef, generated 0.9 expected goals. InfoGol’s shot map shows that Lampard’s side only had four shots from inside the area, with a poked effort from Kurt Zouma the highest-quality chance they generated in the entire match.
Despite being out of position at full-back, Godfrey and Holgate were excellent at breaking up play and cutting off Chelsea attacks before they had even begun. The young defenders completed 5 and 4 interceptions respectively (via FBRef), while the team as a whole completed 26 clearances.
With Allan providing an excellent defensive shield, making five tackles and four blocks, Keane and Mina were not exposed in one on one battles, while they sat fairly deep in order to nullify the threat of Timo Werner in behind.
A Chelsea player was caught offside just once during this match, but as a team, they managed just six passes into the penalty area (via FBRef).
Going forward, it is unlikely that Ancelotti will stick with four centre-backs due to the obvious restrictions it places on the team in an attacking sense. However, for this game, in particular, it worked.
In other Everton news, the subtle adjustments Ancelotti can make to unlock the Everton attack