Coleman’s comments on Silva, Liverpool and the Irish national team

Roared on by a rejuvenated Goodison Park crowd, Everton slowed down cross-town rivals Liverpool in their title race in a 0-0 draw yesterday.

While the Blues were limited going forward, an issue that is not new this season, they showed a defensive resilience that has sadly been lacking for long periods this season.

Speaking after the game, captain on the day Seamus Coleman insisted that manager Marco Silva was doing all the right things despite the Blues recent slump, and that the Club’s ownership should give him more time to implement his system and get players to suit that in the door.

“I think managers need time and the manager here is working very hard. It’s not going to happen overnight or one season.

“He needs to get his own players in, implement his own style of play. That goes for all around the league, I think owners need to be a bit more patient.

“I think there’s a lot of emphasis on teams doing badly. It’s something that I don’t agree with.”

Often this season it’s the players that have looked disinterested, especially with the woes the Blues have had with zonal marking at defending setpieces. The Republic of Ireland captain did not shirk the role the players play in this responsibility as well.

“It’s one of the things I don’t like about modern-day football. It always seems to go on the manager’s toes and us players seem to get away with murder a little bit.”

When questioned if he was happy to have slowed down Liverpool’s title attempt, Coleman was more focused on his own side than what the Reds were doing.

“I’m more pleased with the performance and more disappointed we haven’t got the win as I thought they were there for us and we didn’t happen to get the job done,”

After a less-than-inspiring season for the Blues, Coleman’s own position in the Irish national side is under question with how well Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Matt Doherty has been playing.

“Matt’s having a brilliant season in a right wing back position which is something I haven’t played as much as Matt.

”For me, it’s me against me at all time - it’s not me against anyone else. I want to see every Irish player doing, because the more we have doing well, the better chance we have of succeeding at this minute.

“We’ve got lads doing well at the moment who are in form (referencing Portsmouth’s Ronan Curtis and Preston’s Alan Browne).”