Football fans up and down the country hate international breaks during the season, as they all believe that a key player will come back injured. For us Evertonian’s watching Scotland vs Ukraine last week, I believe I heard a collective sigh when Nathan Patterson was stretched off and today the extent of his injury has been released.
The right-back who has had a fantastic start to the season is set to be out for around six weeks and will see a specialist on Tuesday after suffering an injury in Scotland’s 3-0 win against Ukraine in the UEFA Nations League last Wednesday. – Paul Joyce [The Times]
On the opposite side, Vitalii Mykolenko went down injured in the warm-up and was not risked as a result, but don’t worry. He played the full 90 in Ukraine’s 5-0 win over Armenia on Saturday evening.
Club captain Seamus Coleman whose only game time this season was in the cup at Fleetwood Town came on as a second-half sub on Saturday but was on the losing side as his Republic of Ireland lost to Scotland 2-1.
On Friday night, Alex Iwobi got on the scoresheet as Nigeria drew 2-2 against Algeria in a friendly.
Summer signing James Garner got some minutes under his belt, coming on in the 71st minute in England u-21’s UEFA U21 Championship qualifier 2-0 win over Italy, with Anthony Gordon also coming on from the bench.
Amadou Onana was an unnamed sub for Belgium on Thursday as they beat Wales 2-1, but the midfielder did start and played 75 minutes on Saturday in a 1-0 defeat to the Netherlands.
Away from international football, it was confirmed that Brazilian midfielder Allan has left the club and joined UAE side Al Wahda, which was reported here on Saturday.
With the news Patterson is due to be out for 6 weeks, we may see him in action before the start of the World Cup, but is it worth risking him knowing he can have a good break and come back fully fit in December?
How much of a blow do you think it is? Is Coleman a suitable backup for the Glaswegian?
Let us know in the comments, or get in touch through our Facebook and Twitter @EFCVital with your reasons why.