Everton 2014-15 Season Review: Seamus Coleman

Player: Seamus Coleman #23

Games Played: 42; Games Started: 41; Goals: 5; Assists: 2; Shots: 23; Fouls: 26; Fouls Suffered: 38; Yellow Cards: 5; Red Cards: 0

Introduction

Coming off a year in which he established himself as one of the Premier League's leading full backs and swept the board at Everton's end-of-season awards, a lot was expected of Seamus Coleman this season. Much as with Everton as whole, however, things didn't quite work out as planned.

While he was an almost ever-present for both club and country, Coleman endured a difficult campaign as part of an Everton defence that conceded 66 goals to last season's 43, and aside from a couple of isolated performances, never looked like recapturing the brilliance he showed just last year.

Coleman did finish the season strongly, though, and in a team that needs some serious revamping over the summer, he remains one of the few players that can be sure of his place in the Everton lineup.

What He Did Well

Despite his struggles, Coleman did still manage a healthy return of five goals in all competitions this season - not quite up to last season's tally of seven but certainly much higher than the majority of other players in his position. And after a pretty poor opening half to the season, his defensive performances improved too, in line with Everton's as a whole.

A record of 16 goals conceded in 19 games after the New Year's Day debacle against Hull City came about as a result of a number of factors - the return of John Stones, the resurgence of Phil Jagielka, the improvement of Tim Howard - but the superior solidity displayed by Coleman at the back was certainly an important contributor.

The arrival of Aaron Lennon, too, appeared to give the right back a new lease of life going forward. Where Coleman's early season forays into the opposition half were shut down either by diligent opposition marking or a complete lack of support from attacking teammates, the addition of Lennon on the right-hand side of Everton's forward line in the January transfer window finally gave the Irishman a complementary partner on the flank. Coleman's involvement in the final third duly increased.

What He Could Have Done Better

A little bit of everything. Coleman's stats declined in pretty much every major category this season over last, both defensively and offensively. Much of this can be put down to him playing in a significantly poorer outfit this time out, but the reality is that he made fewer tackles and interceptions, fewer (and less successful) passes and dribbles, and had fewer shots, scoring fewer goals over the course of the season.

Lapses in concentration seemed to be an issue, too. Several times this season I watched Coleman let a ball run right past him when it shouldn't have, or saw him run straight out of play when trying to beat a man on the wing. These are small, broadly insignificant errors, but they point to a sloppiness that wasn't evident at all last season.

This year hasn't been a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, but Coleman, like most of his Everton teammates, has plenty of things to work on ahead of the next campaign.

Voting

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