Everton defender Seamus Coleman a major doubt for Republic of Ireland clash v France
Everton are sweating over the fitness of captain Seamus Coleman ahead of their clash with Tottenham after it emerged he’s a doubt for Ireland’s clash v France.
The right-back has been in excellent form in recent weeks since the appointment of Sean Dyche as manager, helping the team earn 11 points from the last 20 available.
But after suffering a slight thigh strain in training with his national team, he now seems likely to miss the France clash on Monday night (iNews, 27 March) which immediately makes him a doubt for Everton’s next game against Spurs a week later.
“No, he is not ruled out. We will have to see how today goes. We train today,” he said.
“We have to see on that today and see how it goes. I wouldn’t like to get drawn into percentages, but certainly Seamus is a very good player.”
Problem
While Coleman is far from the top-level right-back he used to be years ago, he still brings an incredible leadership quality to the side and his performances in recent weeks have been excellent.
It says a lot that he was able to keep his place in the side despite the return to fitness of Nathan Patterson, and that’s because Dyche must value the things he brings to the team.
Should he be unavailable for the game it would be a huge blow no doubt, but because Patterson is available again Dyche can use it as an opportunity to get him back in the team and flying again.
Thankfully defence is one position that we have options in, so it may not be as big a problem as it could have been.
Everton will be better off having Coleman available as we battle against relegation, and he will have more than a week to recover, but Dyche will have options. With Spurs having their own problems, it may not be the end of the world.