Several Everton fans have criticised Carlo Ancelotti’s choice of substitutes in the club’s draw with Newcastle on Tuesday.

Moise Kean, Everton’s best player on the day and the Man of the Match, was withdrawn with the score at 2-0 in place of Seamus Coleman.

Tom Davies came on for Bernard, another of Everton’s brighter players on the day, to play on the left with ten minutes to go, while Oumar Niasse came on for a brief cameo in place of Theo Walcott.

Despite being 2-0 up with 90+3 on the clock, the Toffees would go on to draw 2-2 with the Magpies, after centre-back Florian Lejeune scored two added time goals in two minutes.

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Much of the provoked ire from the fan base has been directed towards both Niasse and Davies, who directly played a part in Newcastle’s second goal. The Senegal striker first needlessly lost possession in the middle of the park, before Davies gave away a needless free-kick in a dangerous area that led to the equaliser.

Taking to social media, a number of Everton fans pointed the finger at Ancelotti for making poor substitutes, an issue that fans have had on more than one occasion under his tenure so far.

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I won’t deny that Ancelotti’s substitutions were uninspiring, but it is worth mentioning that the Italian was hardly spoilt for choice. Everton have such a Frankenstein squad right now, with the long injury list essentially making it impossible to bring on players who can deliver with an impact. Many of the current players on that bench aren’t up to the required standard, and it isn’t Ancelotti’s fault that they are all he currently has to work with.

That being said, he could still have made better choices. Why was Oumar Niasse needed? Everton had a 2-0 lead at that point, Dominic Calvert-Lewin remained on the pitch and Moise Kean had already gone off. Couldn’t Anthony Gordon have come on instead? Ancelotti did make some choice decisions, but ultimately he didn’t have a lot of wiggle room.

Essentially the next few months will be for Ancelotti and Marcel Brands to build up their list of summer transfer targets, and for Ancelotti to draw up his own list of players he wants to get shot of in the summer. Aside from an outsiders chance to qualify for the Europa League, Everton don’t have anything to play for this season, and so this result, while disappointing given the context, doesn’t really matter all that much.

What does matter is that Ancelotti has noticed which players downed their tools, and which players act as leaders both on and off the field. There will likely be a lot of change in the summer, and Ancelotti only needs to collect as much information between now and the end of May to ensure that he is in the best position possible to make the hard decisions before next season begins.