Carlo Ancelotti, DT of Everton, confirmed this Friday that he will not have James Rodríguez this Saturday, against Arsenal (12.30 pm Colombian time), for the Premier League.
It will be the third online match that the Colombian will lose, after the absences against Chelsea and Leicester, rivals before which Everton got important victories that have him today in fifth place in the table, 5 units behind the leader, Liverpool .
After explaining that the left-hander is not ready yet, that he is working again but that he will not take any risks and hopes “that he can be ready for the match against United for the Carabao Cup”, the questions were very specific about the physical condition and defensive commitment of who was one of the revelations at the start of the season.
Ancelotti was clear on answering if the team improves without his number 19: “I don’t think so,” he said with a laugh. “It’s true that in the last two games we had the goal at zero, but the most difficult thing was to do it on the first day of the season (against Tottenham) and it was with James. We had a period in which we didn’t we defended well as a team. “
And he added: “Our ability to defend ourselves well does not depend on whether James is on the court or not, it depends on us all being able to defend as a team, to fight, to be focused, to work together in this case.
When asked if he was worried about not having one of his stars in three games in a row, he simply said, “take these games without playing because we have games every three days, that’s the situation, the problem is in his ankle but it’s nothing special, ”he explained.
Ancelotti thus ratifies his total confidence in the Colombian, he seems to rule out that in his return he will have to compete with someone for the position or that his commitment is in doubt, beyond what he finds difficult to fulfill in defensive tasks. With James on the court Everton will play differently and nothing more, not that he plays worse, at least in the consideration of the DT. This makes recovery easier. Thus, with the DT on his side, his best version is expected.