There was an ominous sense of dejection among sections of Everton fans after the Toffees’ uninspired 2-0 defeat at the hands of relegation battlers Fulham – and one key tactical choice enraged many Evertonians.
Despite being tipped to make his full Premier League debut in the wake of an injury to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, January signing Josh King found himself again consigned to the bench.
In a curious tactical choice by Carlo Ancelotti, the Everton manager instead opted to play midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson as a being tipped, despite the £9.9 million-valued Norwegian international being a natural forward himself.
Instead, Ancelotti deployed the 29-year-old in the second half as part of a double change which reversed many of the initial tactical plans for Everton after Fulham’s domination translated into goals fired beyond Robin Olsen.
King temporarily piqued jubilation from Everton fans when he had the ball in the Fulham net after some well-worked build-up play culminatied in him scoring from an Andre Gomes cross, but the striker was adjudged to have drifted offside.
Ancelotti’s failure to field King from the start of the game was a source of frustration for many Everton fans, who took to Twitter to voice their fury with the role of King and the overall tactics of the game…
Twitter: @Everton Should of started king maybe we could of actually attacked? (@CharlieEFC16)
Twitter: @Everton Carlo and his negative tactics have come home to roost tonight (@fozzerbluenose)
Twitter: @Everton Stop tweeting (@adxm1878)
Twitter: @Everton @MrAncelotti – game plan: get the ball on the flanks, pass it to Gomes who passes to Keane or Siggy who ha… https://t.co/pitvqHsWIU (@rarunasalam)
Twitter: @Everton Sad thing is not on Everton fan is surprised, every time, not going to win nothing, the club is rotten to… https://t.co/Ja5qFr1KJC (@Efc240578)
