He’s done well to come this far considering the state of his foot this time last year. Seamus Coleman’s blistered foot was such an infected mess that it was considered career threatening by Everton’s medical staff.
Having glistened in both his handful of appearances for Everton and his part in Blackpool’s promotion charge, he is now looking very lively in our pre-season tour of Australia.
After years of waiting for a good right back, it appears that we may have got even more than we asked for; this boy is ruthlessly direct – like a mouthy child that spouts awkward home truths – and he has the fearless effervescence of youth. Coleman, an explosive and skillful player, is a full back itching to roam higher up the pitch.
Attacking full-backs can be very effective when everything clicks. Baines was the perfect example of this as his relationship with Steven Pienaar ripened, but I’d love to see Coleman cutting even deeper into the opposition than Baines has on the other side.
When Phil Scolari first came to Chelsea people were falling over themselves to praise his attacking full backs – and just before this summer’s World Cup one famous journo was openly declaring that only a team with truly accomplished full backs would win the tournament.
Although it may sound stupid – and premature – to compare Coleman with some of the best that international football can offer – that’s exactly what I want to do.
Right backs can be very hard to find, especially at Goodison – where Hottiger, Burroughs, Jackson, Barrett, and even Hibbert have all auditioned and ultimately failed to get the right back position. After Inter Milan (stupidly) sold Roberto Carlos to Real Madrid they went through twenty-eight left backs while the Brazilian was starring at the Bernabeu.
Roberto Carlos was also used in a very attacking manner at Real Madrid, especially when Capello took charge there. The Brazilian was part of an ingenious routine which flummoxed the opposition continually. Hierro would pass the ball out of defence to a charging Roberto Carlos, who – through a number of clever movements and screens from his teammates - proved virtually unstoppable. The purists at Madrid looked down their noses at this tactic but it was hugely successful.
Interestingly, Capello also employed a very attacking full back when he won the title with Roma, using Cafu so high up the field that he was often level with Batistuta. Another important factor to note, in both these examples, is that Capello used well drilled and stamina laden players like Redondo and Delvecchio to close down any open spaces. Everton, a team brimming with hard workers, and also a unit that closes down space, could be perfect for a really attacking full back.
Moyes is blessed with a squad that is enormously hard working and also very versatile. As Coleman attacks – players like Jagielka, Heitinga, and Neville could easily cover for him. This could be an excellent option for Everton, especially if Moyes really gives him license to attack – the last time we had a player who scared the opposition on the right it was Andrei Kanchelskis – if Coleman can get anywhere near that level of performance I’ll be ecstatic.
The problem that we have (which I dont see as a really bad problem)
Is that Neville plays his best football as Rb and if you play Seamus in Rb then we have to play Phil in Midfield and it doesnt work (but as the captain he has to be on the field)
Moyes has a headache there which I dont envy at all
Drop Neville, make Jags captain and Coleman fits into RB.
Neville is a great captain!
Since he has come to the club look where we have got, consecutive top 5 finishes, European football 4 out of 5 seasons, Broke the big 4, not to mention the players think he is brilliant and his man management skills are second to none.
I agree Coleman is great and will be one of the best young Rb’s in the country but I think he needs more playing time and would heartily accept another loan from someone like blackpool, you cant say that Seamus has done enough to get in the team in front of Hibbert and Neville, he has only had a few good games for us blues like Euro-nothing games and a couple of pre-season friendlys which he has been aguably the best player but that doesnt mean he can go straight into the side
it is a dilema, but we stuggled as an attacking force last year at home agaisnt some of the poorer opposition . The early season home form stoke. wolves and final games against Portsmouth, west ham, fulham were crying out for more attacking flair and coleman could have provided this, the sputs game at goodison was memorable i’d like to see more. wouldnt play him in all games he needs to learn to defend as well, but again lesser teams he will give us an option. Phil may need to be rested for a few gamaes to allow this to happen
I have been thinking about this for a while why not make Coleman a right winger, he is great going forward and could track back well to cover the right back position when phil is on an overlap. This way he gets the freedom to go forward more
Coleman needs to learn more about defense to play in our current formation. If we changed to 2 defensive midfielders [ the Brazillian way ] ie Felliani & Rodwell that would get the best out of him.