I'm a trainer, not a magician - Ancelotti

Published on: 18 May 2021

Only Sheffield United and Fulham have lost more home Premier League games than Everton this season

Manager Carlo Ancelotti says he is baffled by Everton's poor home form in the Premier League this season.

Defeat by bottom club Sheffield United on Sunday was Everton's ninth at Goodison Park.

They are eighth in the table, three points behind Tottenham and West Ham, who occupy the final two European qualification spots for next season.

Asked why he could win three Champions League titles but not fix the problem, Ancelotti said: "I'm not a magician."

He added: "I am only a trainer. It's difficult to explain this double face of the team."

Sixth place would qualify for next season's Europa League, with seventh earning a spot in the Europa Conference League.

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Everton have won 11 games away from home this season, which Ancelotti said was "unexpected".

"If we were able to keep the same results at home [as away] we could win the title," he said.

"It's difficult to explain, but one of the reasons could be that when we don't think that sacrifice on the pitch is necessary, we are wrong."

Ancelotti said he plans to bring in players this summer and that one of those would be wide player.

He said: "We don't need to do a revolution; we have to follow a plan."

Asked if better players would solve Everton's home problems, he added: "We have to improve the quality of the squad in this sense. But you can play football in different ways.

"It's true that I won a lot of trophies, but I don't know how many trophies I won because of the quality, instead of the spirit, of the attitude, of the sacrifice, of the concentration or of the personality."

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Source: bbc.com

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