Everton defender Nathan Patterson is future captain material
Everton battled hard to earn a draw in the Merseyside derby on Saturday and no player embodied the derby day spirit more than Nathan Patterson.
The Scottish youngster was biting into tackles left, right and centre and kept control of the lively Luis Diaz tremendously in what was only his sixth Premier League appearance, as per the Liverpool Echo.
The 20-year-old’s purchase from Rangers in January was met with eyebrows given the £16million price tag that Rafael Benitez paid before he was sacked days later.
But the current club captain, Seamus Coleman, has obviously had a big effect on him and you can see a lot of similarities between the two.
Patterson was never an Everton fan as a kid growing up in Scotland but much like Coleman, he is very quickly becoming an Evertonian through sheer desire when on the pitch and the response of the fans off it.
All the Goodison Park faithful want is for the eleven players wearing that famous blue shirt to give their absolute all every time they step onto the pitch and they acknowledge that they aren’t going to win every time.
Liverpool are a better team than Everton on paper but desire gets you a long way in football and Frank Lampard’s side showed plenty of it on Saturday with Patterson leading the charge.
He is still very young to be handed the armband right this moment but with a year or two under his belt, he could very well be an exceptional long-term skipper for the Toffees.
In training on Monday, Lampard should be making an example of the Scot in the right way and asking the rest of his troops to follow suit for the rest of the campaign.
It’s no good just being fired up for the big derby day though and the same intensity and passion should be demanded for ever single game to come this season.