Ancelotti sends stern message to Everton star Richarlison with clear declaration

Carlo Ancelotti has told Richarlison: ‘You’ll play where I tell you!’

The Brazilian striker has starred for Everton in recent weeks, scoring a brilliant goal in the derby, and two in the thrilling FA Cup defeat of Spurs.

He has looked impressive in a central role in the absence of main striker and top scorer Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and has hinted that he prefers to play in that position.

But with centre forward Calvert-Lewin returning now from injury, Ancelotti will move Richarlison aside for the visit of Southampton to Goodison on Monday evening.

And asked if the Brazil international would be upset at such a switch, the Blues boss said with a smile: “He likes to play centre-forward, honestly.

"But for the fact that he is young, he plays where I tell him to play!”

Ancelotti’s thinking is clear.

He wants his centre forward to hold up the ball with his back to goal, and he said of Richarlison’s desire to play there:

“I think he cannot play centre-forward because he is really good at attacking the line and to play centre-forward, most of the time you have your shoulder at the goal.

“I think for him, better is centre-left. He has more difficulty to find solutions as a winger but centre-left, for me, is the best position.”

Calvert-Lewin has been a revelation under Ancelotti, producing his best ever goal tally for Everton in a season…with still almost a third of the games left to play.

And Ancelotti explained that he will have an answer for Richarlison, if he does decide he wants to play more centrally.

“If he asks to play centre-forward, and Dominic asks me to play left-winger then, no problem!

“Maybe when he is older, he is going to ask to play centre-forward but, until now, he didn't ask.

"But I think we have to be able to play with them together because they are really strong.”

Ancelotti has both Calvert-Lewin and Allan fit for the visit of Sotuhampton and both are likely to start in a game that the manager says his side must start to show they can produce results at home.

“Talking with them. My players are intelligent, they know we had problems in the past(at home) and we want to solve these kind of problems,” he said.

“We understand that at home, we have to do better. We have the possibility against Southampton and we don't want to make the same mistakes as we made in the past games at home.”

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