Carlo Ancelotti elevated his trademark arched eyebrow a fraction higher when asked about it.



“It was a new experience for me,” said the Everton manager, who perhaps thought he had seen everything football could possibly offer. “He forgot the sock and I don’t know… it can happen.”



Ancelotti was responding to the bizarre scenario of having to delay bringing Djibril Sidibe on during last weekend’s win over Crystal Palace when the substitute belatedly realised he was only wearing one sock.



There was a comic surreality to the incident, and afterwards, Ancelotti did not seem likely to lose much sleep over it.



If he was inclined to be more charitable when it comes to Sidibe, it might be because the right-back’s time on Merseyside, and under the Italian’s reign, can so far be judged a success.



Only table-topping Liverpool have taken more points than Everton since Ancelotti took over and the...