Carlo Ancelotti may not have had a lot of time to make major changes ahead of his first match in charge against Burnley, but one tactical switch he did make in the win against the Clarets proved to be a masterstroke.
Duncan Ferguson had chosen to go with a 4-4-2 system during his four matches in caretaker charge, with two full-backs and two wide players in midfield.
It looked as though the experienced Italian was going to carry on in that vein even when he named both Djibril Sidibe and Seamus Coleman in his starting XI against Sean Dyche’s men, with the former playing ahead of the latter.
The returning Theo Walcott was among the substitutes after all of this, having been absent for the fixtures against Manchester United, Arsenal and Leicester City.
It quickly transpired that Ancelotti was trying something a little bit different on Merseyside though, with Lucas Digne and Dijbril Sidibe playing as wing-backs with Bernard behind the front two of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison.
All of that meant that captain Coleman was often used as a makeshift third centre-back throughout, and it was actually a tactic that worked really well.
Given the Republic of Ireland international is Everton skipper and Djibril Sidibe is in such impressive form right now, with four assists in his previous seven top flight appearances ahead of the trip to Newcastle United, it may be difficult not to play either consistently given how well the experiment worked on Boxing Day.
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Walcott usually lines up on the right-hand side for the Toffees, with Ancelotti once describing him as having “lots of quality” when he was Bayern Munich manager about to come up against Arsenal in the Champions League.
The 30-year-old Sam Allardyce signing may be firmly up against it now as he looks to force his way into the starting XI, and he needs to take any opportunities that come to him given the successful understanding and partnership Coleman and Sidibe already look to have.
In other Everton news, Carlo Ancelotti dealt double worrying message to one Toffees player this week…
