A few Everton fans have baulked at an official club post on Twitter, celebrating the attacking form we have seen from the first-team since Carlo Ancelotti was appointed as Marco Silva’s permanent successor.
Ancelotti signed a four-and-a-half-year deal to take charge of the club on December 21, and has since overseen victories over Burnley and Newcastle United that have promoted the Toffees to tenth in the Premier League table.
Across those two fixtures, we as a club have recorded a total of 43 shots, which is more than any other top-flight side have managed over the same period.
However, not every Blues fan has rushed to congratulate Ancelotti for the tactics he has brought to Goodison Park that have allowed us to register as many efforts on goal, as some were left underwhelmed by the reality of only seeing three of our 43 shots result in the ball finding the back of the net.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s match-winning effort in the 80th-minute of our Boxing Day clash at home to Burnley came from the 22-year-old’s fourth of six shots, per WhoScored data, and was only one of two on-target efforts from the forward.
As a team, we registered 21 shots against the Clarets altogether, but only five of the efforts forced Nick Pope into action, as eight hits went wide of the goal and eight were blocked.
Is having 43 shots in 2 games a good thing for Ancelotti?
Yes, absolutely
Not with only three goals
It was a similar story on Saturday when we beat Newcastle 2-1, as we registered 22 shots at St. James’ Park but only managed to direct nine on target with seven sailing wide and six blocked.
This time it was Moise Kean who recorded the most efforts of any Toffees player with five to Calvert-Lewin’s four, though it was the former England U21 striker who found the net to take his tally for the term to eight in 18 games.
Here are some of the messages shared as fans reacted to the club’s post celebrating Ancelotti’s Blues for taking the most shots of any Premier League side over the last two fixtures…
Don’t get carried away we were playing sides not at there best
— Neil Heron (@BlueNeil69) December 29, 2019
Not good to have 43 shots and only score 3 goals 🤔
— Anthony Shepherd (@a_shepherd99) December 29, 2019
All well and good, but we need to be getting a lot more shots on target 👍
— 🏴 🇬🇧 Mick 🇬🇧 🏴 (@BornABlue1878) December 29, 2019
And our % is dismal. Pls dont put such posts unless it means our team is giving 100% effort in all departments. Sick and tired of premature great stuff under new managers and then poor managers getting the bru t because team cannot keep up the tempo all season long!
— Ravi Arunasalam (@rarunasalam) December 29, 2019
But only 3 goals
— Soggy 💦 Jeff (@LP666LP) December 29, 2019
But only 3 went in 😂 Everton that
— EvertonHub (@everton_hub) December 29, 2019
Shame we only scored 3
— Alfie Taylor (@Alfiergt03) December 29, 2019
In other Everton news, a £55k-p/w man is expected to leave Goodison Park in January.