Ancelotti: Everton can forget about Europe

Everton remain in twelfth place after today’s pathetic capitulation away at Chelsea, somehow still six points off fifth-place and a spot in Europe next season.

However, manager Carlo Ancelotti was disappointed with the effort his side put in in the 4-0 thrashing on his return to Stamford Bridge. This was his first game back at his old hunting grounds in a decade, and was marked with his joint heaviest defeat of his managerial career, and also the first time the Blues did not score in the Premier League since he took over.

Speaking after the game, Ancelotti did not mince his words about the Toffees’ European aspirations for this season.

“Everything went wrong. It’s not difficult to judge this game. It was not a good day.

“We didn’t compete. In the other games we didn’t win, but we competed until the end of the game. Today we didn’t.

“We have to improve of course. Today we were not at the same level of Chelsea, but one week ago we were the same level as Man United. We will see where we are.”

“We think we can compete to fight for Europe over the next season. With this type of performance we have to forget that.”

The veteran manager wasn’t as disappointed with the final scoreline than he was with the effort (lack thereof, really) on the day.

“Lose 1-0, lose 4-0. Zero points is the same. But I’m more disappointed with the performance.

“It was a bad day for us, but I’m sure this team in the next game can show a different attitude.”

“We cannot judge the team on one game, we have to wait until the end of the season. Then we will see where we are. But this club wants to be competitive in the Premier League and Europe.”

With the Blues 2-0 down Dominic Calvert-Lewin spurned a golden opportunity to pull one back, scuffing his shot, but Ancelotti defended his in-form striker.

“He had a great opportunity, but I think he’s doing really well in this moment so there’s no problem because he missed a chance.”

Asked if he had anything to say to his players on their lackadaisical effort today, the Italian refused to throw his players under the bus.

“There are things I can analyse with you. There are things I can analyse with my players.”