Carlo Ancelotti says learning about the character of his players is “the most important part of my job”.

The Italian scarcely had his feet under the table before leading Everton into a match against Burnley three days after his official unveiling as manager last month.

There was subsequently little let-up in Everton’s calendar, leaving Ancelotti scant time on the training ground to discover more about the individuals under his charge.

An 11-day gap between Everton’s draw with Newcastle United last week and this Saturday’s visit to Watford, then, is affording the 60-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain boss a precious opportunity to understand what makes his players tick.

“Learning about the players’ character is the most important part of my job – you need to have different relationships, considering the character of the people,” Ancelotti told evertontv.

“I want to have an open relationship with the players, I don’t want to be above them or below them.

“I would like to have a relationship at the same level, so I have no problem to manage these kinds of things.

“I have experience and know everyone has different characters and you have to build relationships considering this.

"There is discipline in a team, there are some rules and everyone has to respect those.

"That is another part of my job [to specify rules].

"After that, the relationship has to be individual, then you build a relationship with the team as a whole.

"The most difficult part of the job is to build a strong relationship, to convince the players of what they are doing.

“I am used to speaking with players every day, to know how they feel, how they accept my style of training.

“It is normal for a manager to have this kind of relationship with his players.”

Ancelotti has claimed 11 points from his six Premier League games as Everton boss.

Those fixtures were condensed into a 27-day period which also included an FA Cup third round meeting with Liverpool.

Ancelotti nevertheless opted against wholesale changes to his team for any game, save for the five alterations he made for his second match, at Newcastle United, before immediately returning to the same XI that started his debut fixture, the 1-0 Boxing Day victory over Burnley.

Twice a Champions League winner with AC Milan – and mastermind of Real Madrid’s success in the same competition in 2014 – he concedes the man-management strand of his job has changed beyond recognition in the 25 years since he started with Reggiana.

While adapting to suit his environment, however, Ancelotti has remained true to the personality shaped growing up in the northern Italian city of Reggiolo.

“The easiest part is to be myself, I have no difficulty being myself,” said Ancelotti.

“I had my leaders. The first one was my father.

“After that I had managers who managed with different characteristics.

“You have to be yourself when you manage a team.

“I am not a dictator, I am not a surgeon.

“I like to have a good relationship with my players and for them to be professional.

“I can control the players at the training ground but not in their private lives – and I don’t want to.

“They have to be professional because they have a responsibility to show their best to all the people who support them with a lot of passion."

On handling a 25-strong group of players jostling for first-team positions, Ancelotti added: “Man-management has changed a lot. It has become more difficult because when I started training I had only 16 players.

“Now I have 25 players and most of them want to play in the games.

“You have to manage this because you need to keep the players motivated.

“The players who are not going to play influence the intensity of the training, they have to be motivated all the time if they don’t play.

“I understand that sometimes I have to be patient with them.

“Sometimes at past clubs their behaviour was not so good, not so professional, but I have to understand the fact that if the player does not play it is frustrating for him.

“I have to pay attention to this.”