Gavin Buckland has been speaking on the Royal Blue podcast about how poor Seamus Coleman is currently playing.
Coleman played the full 90 minutes as the Toffees were beaten once more at the weekend, and his performance did not go unnoticed.
It has been a simply disastrous season since the opening few games for Everton, who have won just once in their previous 10 league games which have included defeats against the likes of Watford, Crystal Palace and Brentford.
Should Everton sack Benitez?
Yes!
No!
Someone who a lot of players may look to for advice and encouragement is Coleman, given his age and the experience he has in the Premier League and at Goodison Park, so he will know how to handle adversity. However, he has not been leading by example, especially when he appeared to have a rush of blood for the third goal Everton conceded on Sunday evening.
Buckland did not hold back when speaking about Coleman and his performances.
“It’s a wider discussion point maybe for another day, but I’ve got real problems with Coleman at the moment.
“I do feel sympathy for him but his whole body language – for their third goal, it wasn’t exactly cool thinking by the skipper was it really? He appears to be burning a short fuse, which is probably down to frustration with his own form.”
TIF Thoughts on Coleman…
It was criminal over the summer that Everton did not sign a new right-back as they only have 33-year-old Coleman in that position, with the Irishman not starting more than 21 league games since the 2018/19 season. Meanwhile, his backup is Jonjoe Kenny, who has never established himself at Goodison Park.
Expecting Coleman to be able to perform at the level required under Rafael Benitez at his age was madness from everyone at the club and surely it should have been an obvious area to improve, instead of signing two backup goalkeepers and a 31-year-old Salomon Rondon, amongst others.
Coleman has been a magnificent servant for the Toffees, having been signed for £63,000 and made 363 appearances for the club, but now he’s into his twilight years, a successor must surely be identified in January.
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