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Give that man the captain’s armband already!
Seamus Coleman is the first player to speak out after the appointment of Marco Silva as Everton’s manager earlier today, and the Irishman urged his Blue teammates to do better under the Portuguese boss. (via the Belfast Telegraph)
“(Ireland teammate) David Meyler has had him and said he’s a great manager, so it’s up to us now at the club to kick on and try to do really well because we’re chopping and changing managers quite a lot, so it’s up to the players now to step up and make sure this manager stays in the job.
“It’s always very easy for us players to hide behind managers. We have had three or four now and maybe we get away with a bit of the stick that’s flying around because it’s always on the manager’s toes, whether that be Roberto, Ronald, Sam, Moyesy before that.”
"It's about time us players step up to the plate. We've not been close to winning anything for a long time."
— eir Sport (@eirSport) May 31, 2018
Seamus Coleman spoke of his respect to Sam Allardyce and laid down a marker to his @Everton teammates earlier this afternoon before Marco Silva was confirmed manager. pic.twitter.com/QDaRP4tlZz
Readily admitting that the players avoided a fair bit of criticism in the maelstrom that surrounded Sam Allardyce, Coleman wants the Blues to step up as we usher in a new era at the club with Marcel Brands taking over as Director of Football as well.
“It’s about time us players now step up to the plate. We’ve not been close to winning something for a long time and at Everton that’s what we want, that’s what I want.
“I’ve been there a long time and, if I leave without having won anything, I’ll be very disappointed. As a group of players, no matter who the manager is, we need to take responsibility.”
Couldn’t have put it better ourselves, Seamus. The fullback went on to add that the goal remains to break into the top six of the Premier League.
“The top six have been great. They have top players, top managers and it’s going to be very hard to break that.
“We have always been probably short financially and it looks like we’re starting to get that back now, so we have to aim for trying to break that top six because that’s where you want to be.
“You want to be up challenging there and going on last season, we were a little bit off that. But with the new manager coming in and maybe new players, it can be an exciting time again.”