Saturday 30th Jan v Newcastle
Pickford
Coleman
Digne
Mina
Keane
Doucoure
Sigurdsson
Iwobi
Rodrigues
DCL
Richarlison
we lost 2 nil
They hadnt won for 9 games and were 18th
They'd scored 2 goals in their previous 10 games
We were shite
But we'd kill for a starting line up like that
Unfortunately at least 7 of that side were on £100k/week plus the manager's £250k/week
It was poor and it was unsustainable
We scored 33 goals in Ancelotti's last 33 games - it was certainly not pleasing on the eye despite the relative attcaking riches he had
The football that we played with a full-strength team under Ancelotti was far from bad, in fact, we were very easy on the eye in the opening weeks of that season. Top of the league and looking creative and decent.
Once the very limited quality that we had started consistently picking up injuries, the threadbare nature of the squad was there for all to see. You can hardly blame him for the players that were already at the club when he arrived (and largely a bit shit before he arrived) still being a bit shit when called upon. And the drop off in quality was very evident.
He needed more time and more money, as most teams do in the Premier League. A fully-backed Carlo over a number of seasons might have really been something for us.
Who really knew the magnitide of the disaster that was unfolding behind the scenes though.
and the football was as bad as it is under Dyche
we finished 7th under Koeman but apparently he was shite
we finished 8th under Silva but apparently the Everton fans thought he was clueless
We were consistently top 6 under Moyes but he was a bottler apparently
A lot of our points deductions will be down to the 18 months when Ancelotti was here
having bought three players - when one was out we were dodgy, when two were out we were plain bad and when all three were out we fucking stunk.
Not coincidentally I suspect, the first time the beady eye of the football authorities lighted on us was that winter.
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