Everton Evolution: Analysis of Ancelotti’s ever-changing shape in victory over Liverpool

The 25th game week in the 2020-21 Premier League featured the Merseyside Derby with Liverpool hosting local rivals and top-4 challengers Everton at Anfield. It hasn’t been a smooth 2021 for both of them with Liverpool suffering 3 consecutive losses both at home and in the league. 

Ancelotti’s men have also had a mixed 2021 with suffering 4 defeats in the league since the turn of the year. The battle will be crucial for both of them in their bid for a top-4 spot. This tactical analysis will discuss the tactics deployed by both managers. Let’s begin the analysis.

Lineups

Jurgen Klopp made one change to the lineup that suffered a loss against top-4 rivals Leicester City last weekend with James Milner making his way out for Thiago. He went with a 4-2-3-1 shape later in the second half with the introduction of Xherdan Shaqiri.

Ancelotti has been shuffling and changing his formations for a while after suffering a sudden blip in form. He went with a 3-5-2 system for the derby after going with systems like 4-3-3 and 4-3-1-2 in recent games. Sigurdsson made way for an extra centre-back while Pickford replaced Olsen to take the number 1 spot.

Ancelotti’s shift to a back-3 provides Everton defensive stability

Throughout his tenure as an Everton manager, Ancelotti has never particularly tinkered with his formation and has maintained the 4-4-2 system. To shore up their defence, he went with the 3-5-2 formation for this fixture. Similar to his 4-4-2 system, he set his team up in a zonal manner. Despite setting in a back-3, the Everton centre-backs were not told to follow their markers, Liverpool forwards, very high. When Mane dropped, Holgate decided to stop following him as Mane entered Davies’ zone.