More praise for ‘meticulous’ Silva, this time from captain Coleman.

Everton unfurled an array of setpiece routines at Goodison on Saturday as Marco Silva lived up to his word of being excited for the Blues’ home opener. Seamus Coleman stepped in as captain with Phil Jagielka suspended for his sending off last weekend at Wolves, and the Irishman heaped more praise on the manager on the club website.

“Since the manager came in he’s been very keen on us pressing as a team, getting the ball back as quickly as we possibly can and playing forward passes and attacking football.

“He’s very demanding but that’s what you want from your manager. Like I’ve said many times, I want to win things at this Club, so I want demanding managers, and he most certainly is that.

“He’s very dedicated to his job and you could see that after two or three days because of the work rate he puts in to every little detail.

“He’s made me more aware of certain things. He’ll show you clips from games and what he wants you to do, or what he thinks you’ve done well, and that’s great.

“He encourages you to get forward but there’s no aimless bombing down the flanks or anything like that - you’ve got to know when to go and you’ve got to make sure we’re set up properly [for you] to go.

“It’s very enjoyable and I hope we can have a successful season.”

Coleman also added the freekick routine that led to the Blues opener via Theo Walcott was all planned by Silva.

“It was all his idea. As I said, he’s very detailed and, as far as I’m concerned, he’s a great manager and those little details are the difference between us drawing that game or winning it.

“I think he might have seen a weakness or whatever in the opposition team to do it and we worked on it.

“It’s great for us players to see someone putting that effort in and then to see it come off.

“Sometimes they’re the most rewarding goals - the ones you work on.”

The captain also added some thanks to the fans that made for a raucous environment at Goodison Park on Saturday, especially during a spectacular first half.

“If we can get that crowd with us as they were for the whole game for the rest of the season we can have a very good season, especially at home.

“And I think it’s the way we need to play. It’s tough going but the manager’s working us hard, I feel like we’re getting fitter all the time and, like I’ve said, it’s really enjoyable.”

Can’t wait to see more of this in the season ahead.