Carlo Ancelotti says Everton will revise their approach to tackling Manchester United for Saturday’s Premier League encounter at Old Trafford.
Everton visit United aiming for a fifth straight away victory – and eighth from 11 league games on the road.
The meeting with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, perhaps, represents Everton’s toughest away test yet, however.
United have twice won at Goodison Park this season – a league match in November and the following month’s Carabao Cup quarter-final – and are fresh from toppling Southampton 9-0 on Tuesday.
Everton manager Ancelotti insists his ploy for the weekend – when the Italian will continue his rotation policy after both James Rodriguez and Michael Keane were rested for Wednesday’s win at Leeds United – is designed to make life for the hosts as awkward as possible.
“We played two games against Manchester United at home and lost both,” said Ancelotti.
“There is something we have to change, for sure.
“If we follow the same way we played [in the Goodison games], we are going to lose.
“We tried to plan a different strategy and we will see how it works.
“The mental aspect is really important but we have to practically try to do something different – to create more problems than in the past games we played against them.
“United is a fantastic team, with a good mix between experience and talented young players.
“The players know it will be difficult but I hope it will be difficult for United to play against us.
“I am going to rotate other players, this is a normal way I have to manage my squad.
“To avoid injury and to give more motivation to others."
Ancelotti stopped short of giving away details about his team selection – save for confirming Robin Olsen will retain his place in goal in the absence of Jordan Pickford, who is nursing an abdomen problem.
There is a very good chance of Ben Godfrey being included in Everton’s starting XI, however.
The defender returned from a one-match break to deliver a powerhouse centre-half performance against Leeds.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Ancelotti reiterated his surprise at Godfrey’s seamless acclimatisation since joining from Norwich City four months ago.
Everton have kept clean sheets in three of their past nine Premier League games and only once in that period conceded more than one goal in a match.
“When you defend well, it is because of the sacrifice of the team, the sacrifice of the strikers and midfielders,” said Ancelotti.
“When the team is able to work together defensively, we have better results.
“Ben is doing really well, it was a surprise for me – I knew him but not a lot.
“I found a really fantastic defender because he has all the qualities a defender needs.
“He is powerful and has a lot of energy, he is tactically intelligent and really aggressive in the duels.
“The personality he has, the focus he keeps in every moment of training and games: this is what surprised me.”
Everton are in the formative stage of another hectic spell in their campaign and this month alone have Premier League games against Fulham, Manchester City and Liverpool – in addition to Wednesday’s FA Cup tie with Tottenham Hotspur.
They go into the weekend only four points outside the top four, with games in hand on every team above them.
And Ancelotti – who called the introduction of concussion substitutes this weekend a “really important” step for Premier League football – insists he’s armed with a squad to negotiate the congested calendar.
“At the beginning of the season when we played every three days… we won all the games,” added Ancelotti.
“When we started having days to prepare, we had more difficulties.
“With our squad, we are able to manage the games every three days.
“It is still a dream to play in the Champions League.
“This is a really important period, it is true we have two games in hand but also true that we have to play against really strong teams: Aston Villa and Manchester City.
“We are looking at this [top-four potential] but it doesn’t change the target, which is to reach the European positions for next season.”
