‘Ancelotti won Everton that game’ – Carragher hails belated Merseyside MOTM winner
Jamie Carragher has awarded the man of the match award from last weekend’s Merseyside derby to Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti.
The Sky Sports pundit was so caught up in Saturday’s game that he forgot to pick a man of the match while commentating.
On Monday Night Football, Carragher was asked to belatedly award the accolade and he elected to give it to Ancelotti.
Carragher said, “I watched the game again yesterday morning when I got up and their man of the match was the manager, Carlo Ancelotti.
“And the reason I say Ancelotti won Everton that game, is that he took the emotion out of the game, with the team he picked. So when that team came in, Evertonians, getting ready for the game, their heart sank. No Calvert-Lewin, and no Allan.
“Ancelotti, again, ended up saying this is three points for our European ambition, forget Liverpool.”
We’ve heard worse shouts.
Every player in Blue was magnificent against Liverpool with a special mention for Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane who were exceptional all evening.
It was always going to take a special manager to break our derby hoodoo and it is very impressive that The Professor managed to mastermind an away derby win before breaking the Goodison aspect of our terrible record.
What’s even more impressive is that we have now gone unbeaten against Liverpool this season which certainly hasn’t happened for a while.
Ancelotti resisted the urge to play Allan and DCL from the start which managers past may not have done.
He played the game like it was any other.
This is the difference between Ancelotti and the barrage of poor managers before him, he understands how to play the big games.
We’d expect nothing less from a man who’s won multiple champions leagues as a player and a manager.
In other Everton news, Jarrad Branthwaite is attracting interest from a number of top Premier League clubs.