Alan Pardew and Graeme Souness slam Seamus Coleman after Everton lose 3-1 at Crystal Palace
Alan Pardew and Graeme Souness were unhappy with Seamus Coleman’s involvement in Conor Gallagher’s opening goal against Everton at Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace beat Everton 3-1 on Sunday (12 December) with a Gallagher brace sandwiched by a James Tomkins goal, with Salomon Rondon scoring his first Blues goal from the bench.
“As Graeme pointed out, it’s a terrible clearance, but it goes there and Gray should do better,” Pardew said of the first goal on Sky Sports, where Coleman’s clearance was met by a poor touch from the summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen.
The Sky Sports duo then had their say on Richarlison’s reaction when he was substituted early in the second half for Rondon.
Pardew: “I can understand why he was slightly bemused when he came off, with my manager’s hat on I don’t want that reaction from him because he was obviously upset and he was gesturing, he did it all the way from the walk. You don’t want to see that.”
Souness: “He’s entitled to be disappointed but as a manager, you don’t want to see that reaction.”
Coleman loses composure
The Blues captain had a role in both of Gallagher’s goals at Selhurst Park.
To be fair to the 33-year-old, the first one was more down to Gray and his poor pass backwards, something the winger acknowledged as he put his hand up after the goal.
However, it was Coleman’s reckless blast towards him that led to the poor pass – the Republic of Ireland full-back should have kicked it into the stands to allow the Blues to regroup, or put less pace on the ball towards Gray.
Another example of Coleman losing his cool was in stoppage time when he elected to play a free-kick with an opponent in his way.
The ball didn’t go far as a few seconds later it ended up with Gallagher arcing a super striker past Jordan Pickford to secure the three points for Palace.
A lack of competition for Coleman looks to be dragging down his standards.
In other Everton news, Richarlison posted a two-word Instagram after his sub fume v Crystal Palace.
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