Carlo Ancelotti is demanding more bravery on the ball from his Everton team – and the Italian is convinced his players have the “skills and quality” to adopt a more progressive passing game.

Ancelotti has been in charge only six games and already demonstrated his tactical flexibility and ability to think on his feet.

Everton have used a three-man defence in a handful of games and reverted to that system to protect a one-goal advantage against Brighton & Hove Albion earlier this month.

Ancelotti, though, insists he has one preferred model and is encouraging his players to flourish within that shape by being bolder when they have the ball at their feet.

“The shape is clear, without the ball it is 4-4-2,” said Ancelotti.

“It is the best shape to defend, in my opinion.

“With the ball, it changes a little bit.

“In this moment we are not playing so vertical, we are playing a lot of balls back instead of forwards.

“There we can improve, we can play more vertical.

“It is true we want to build up [from the back] but when you have the possibility to play forward, you have to play forward – quick.

“If you are slow at the back, you have less possibility to find space in your opponents’ half. There, I think we have to improve.

“Sometimes when you say to a player, ‘We want to have possession’, they think possession is the target.

“The target is not possession.

“The target always is to score goals. Through possession this is the idea, our style that we want to achieve.

“There are a lot of games where the winning team is the one with the least possession.”

Ancelotti will take charge of his seventh Everton game inside 27 days following his appointment as manager last month when Newcastle United visit Goodison Park on Tuesday.

The Blues drew 1-1 at West Ham United on Saturday for a 10th point from five league matches under the former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich boss.

The condensed schedule has hindered Ancelotti’s’s ability to work extensively with his players on the training ground.

He has nevertheless seen enough of them first-hand to know they own the technical and tactical smarts to implement his positive instructions.

“I am not going to ask something from them that is impossible,” said Ancelotti.

“The work of the manger is to look at the players you have and give them the right ideas to put in place on the pitch.

“Technically, this team has good quality. They have skills and ability.

“If you want to play football at a certain level, you have to be brave.

“You don’t have to be shy.

“So you have to take responsibility... we have a young squad but players with strong personalities.

“We have players with experience like Fabian Delph and Theo Walcott who can help the young players have more courage.

“I like the players who take responsibility on the pitch.

“I told the players after the end of the first half against West Ham, 'If you are shy, you cannot play football. You have to do something different'.”

Until now, Ancelotti – who was also quizzed on Everton’s long-term prospects of featuring in the argument at the Premier League summit, currently occupied by Liverpool – has sought to refine his side during matches.

“We have to improve playing games and you can do this,” said Ancelotti.

“We have to put across some new ideas and see how they work on the pitch.

“It did not work in the first half against West Ham. We analysed this and will try to improve for the game on Tuesday [against Newcastle].

“Most of the time now we have to use videos to explain to the players how we want to play.”

He added: “We want – and I think we are going to – compete as soon as possible against them [Liverpool and other top teams].

“This is our target.

“The Club and myself are clear about our ambition and what we have to do to be competitive in the Premier League against Liverpool and the other teams.”