Ancelotti: Everything went wrong in Chelsea defeat

Everton boss, Carlo Ancelotti, has admitted that both the team’s strategy and the players’ attitude were wrong in the 4-0 defeat to Chelsea

It was Ancelotti’s first return to Stamford Bridge since his departure as Chelsea boss in 2011, but it resulted in the joint-heaviest league defeat of his managerial career, equalling a 4-0 loss against Atletico Madrid as Real Madrid manager in February 2015.

“It is not difficult to analyse this game. We were not good enough defensively, we were too open and with the ball, we made a lot of mistakes with passes so it is not a good day.

“We were too slow, we lost a lot of duels in middle and we were not in the game. Usually, we are used to playing a different game but today, we were not good enough. We didn’t fight and everything was wrong, the strategy, the fighting spirit, the attitude.

“But what we can do is learn from our mistakes because it is the first game [since his arrival] where we didn’t compete. Usually in the other games, we didn’t win but we competed until the end of the game.

“We have to be focused, to analyse the game with what we did wrong… We have to look forward to another game [against Liverpool on Monday Night Football] that will be difficult but it can give us motivation because it’s a derby and try to do our best. Everyone will take their own responsibility and try to do better.”

One of the surprises of the day was a second successive start for 18-year-old Billy Gilmour, who followed his sensational FA Cup performance in midweek with another star turn against Everton.

There was plenty of praise from Frank Lampard as he discussed Gilmour’s full Premier League debut, saying: “With Billy, I always felt that the more he trained with us, the better he got very quickly so for me, when he plays, he’s just going to get better.

“I’m not going to jump the gun because it’s two outstanding performances in, but when you watch his intelligence and his receiving of the ball, even for the second goal with how he swivels on the ball, he’s always checking his shoulder, he plays a simple pass but he plays it right and with the perfect weight and he’ll put his foot in.

“The confidence of him today and his personality, it’s been a great start for him. I’m not too worried about him because I know what he’s like as a boy, he’s a good one and he’ll know the right things. He has a big future, I hope.

“He’s receiving the ball in difficult areas of the pitch where if you don’t move it quickly, our play could break down or if you give it away in those areas, it’s dangerous. You need confidence to do that and Jorginho and Billy have it.

“The most pleasing thing for me with Billy today was that he showed those balls in the first half but when he stepped up and played as one of the higher midfield players, he instantly took it on board, arriving in their box and playing balls higher up the pitch.

“He showed that he can do both, which is a great thing for me in thinking about how the midfield looks at times.”

Chelsea added more points to the board in their race for Champions League football and remain in fourth, with Everton also keeping themselves in the hunt for a spot in Europe next season.

However, Lampard has remained cautious about a potential top-four finish, saying: “It can change very quickly [being in the top four] as it has this season. We can’t look around too much, we just have to worry about ourselves.

“We have to keep ramming home the point that we’re in the driving seat in terms of fourth position but it means nothing if we take our foot off the accelerator and after the last two performances, we have a little template that we need to carry on with.

“There’s still a long way to go. Manchester United are in great form, their acquisitions in January have given them a nice spring in their step so they’re going to challenge but so are quite a few teams. Even if it looks like a small cushion, I don’t feel that way. I feel like we need to focus on ourselves and get ourselves right and fight to the end for it.

“It’s in our hands and when I described us as underdogs, I was looking at it in the big scheme with quite a few games to go and points to fight for. I’m not going to jump in and say we’re favourites [for fourth] because there is a lot of work to be done.

“At times, we’ve had inconsistencies for different reasons and we have to fight against that ourselves and hope we can get enough points. I don’t know whether we’re underdogs or not but it certainly doesn’t feel like we’re favourites because there’s too far to go.”

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Speaking about Everton’s European hopes, Ancelotti said: “We think that we can compete to fight for Europe for the next season, we are still there and of course, with this kind of performance, we have to forget [it].