By Paul Conatzer
Twitter @Toffeepaul.com
Everton right-back Seamus Coleman doesn’t appear to be himself. He hasn’t been bombing up and down the right wing like he had in previous seasons. And he’s become the target of some questions on Twitter.
He suffered a horrendous double-leg break after being tackled by Wales’ Neil Taylor in March of 2017. The following video shows the tackle in slow-motion.
Taylor was sent off for the tackle in a very physical match that ended 0-0.
Luke Shaw suffered a similar injury in September of 2015. He returned to play in August of 2016, almost a year later.
Coleman came back on 31 January, 2018.
I’m not a doctor and given the fact that sports teams tend to keep the status of their injured players under wraps, all we have to go on about Coleman’s recovery came through Everton.
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Coleman may have recovered physically, but he doesn’t seem the same cavalier swashbuckler, who many considered one of the best right backs in the Premier League.
I couldn’t imagine any manager subbing the pre-injury Coleman and shifting a centre-back to right back as Marco Silva did as he looked for a more attacking formation in Everton’s loss to Manchester City.
Everton started the match with three central defenders in Kurt Zouma (who shifted to right back), Michael Keane and Yerry Mina with Lucas Digne and Coleman as wingbacks. It was a formation that was tailor-made for the pre-injury Coleman.
While Digne continued his solid play, including a nice cross for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to give Everton a brief moment of hope at 2-1. Coleman had little influence on the game. In fact, he hasn’t had much influence at all this season.
Former Everton captain Kevin Ratcliffe believes Everton should stick it out with Coleman and the Irishman will regain the form that made him a fan favourite. Writing in the Liverpool Echo, he said in the www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/ “This season will probably be one that he’s just got to get through, and he’ll be feeling things he’s never felt before – maybe a tiredness as well.
However, I think it’s one that we’ve got to persevere with, because we know what a talent he is and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before he starts performing as we know he can.”
Coleman is still fairly young having just turned 30, so there is still time. I certainly hope that Ratcliffe is right. As I think I can speak for many Everton fans in saying this not how we want to remember Seamus Coleman.