Danny Murphy believes Everton will miss defender Nathan Patterson
Danny Murphy believes Everton will severely miss defender Nathan Patterson after the full-back suffered an infuriating injury on international duty with Scotland.
Patterson has enjoyed a terrific start to the campaign for Frank Lampard’s side and has become a focal point of the former Chelsea boss’s new-look backline.
Murphy admitted the youngster is a “super talent” and wished him the best in his recovery; it’s thought the defender will miss five weeks of action.
Speaking on TalkSport, Murphy raved about Patterson, stating the youngster will be missed massively by Lampard and his Toffees in the coming weeks.
“He’s got that tenacity and passion that the Everton fans love,” he said. “He is a super talent. Five weeks in the bigger scheme of things is not bad, he’ll be right as rain.
“When he first did it you looked at it and thought it could be even longer, so it’s not too bad.
“Everton will miss him, that’s for sure, but good luck to him, hope he gets fit.”
Tremendous.
Patterson has been nothing short of tremendous so far this season; Murphy’s right, Everton will miss the tenacious full-back during his stint on the sidelines.
It’s a shame the youngster has suffered this injury after cementing his spot in Lampard’s starting XI; the Toffees backline was starting to look like a finished article.
Nevertheless, the fact the Scotland international’s injury isn’t as bad as first thought is one positive to take from this whole ordeal.
It would have been hard to see him pushing back into first-team action if the injury had been a bad one; fortunately, it’s fairly minor.
With luck, Patterson could be back before the winter break starts for the World Cup, this will allow him to get some game time before another extended break.
Seamus Coleman will likely fill in for Patterson in the coming weeks; something that Evertonians won’t mind but aren’t too over the moon about.
The veteran has been a loyal servant at Goodison Park but it really did feel like a passing of the torch in recent weeks to Patterson.