Two ways through which Everton can cover the loss of Seamus Coleman
According to Liverpool Echo, Seamus Coleman is set to miss Everton’s weekend clash against West Ham in the Premier League. Coleman is the latest addition to Everton’s injury list after suffering a foot injury in Ireland’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of Wales in the UEFA Nations League.
Everton do not have the best defensive records in the League, having conceded six goals from their opening four games. Although the Toffees have played some aesthetic and free-flowing football in the final third, they haven’t been able to win games consistently, due to their sloppy defending.
Four out of the six goals conceded this season have come from crosses or aerial balls played into the box. New signing Yerry Mina is yet to make his debut as the Colombian continues to nurse his foot injury and Michael Keane is expected to be out of action for a further couple of weeks due to the skull injury that he suffered in the game against Bournemouth.
Everton have some good defenders in their ranks but have been hit hard by injuries to their key men at the back. Here are two ways in which Everton can cope with the absence of Seamus Coleman.
Use Jonjoe Kenny as a like-for-like replacement
The 21-year-old youngster was a part of England’s U20 team that won the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2017. He has been at Everton since 2014 but spent time on loan at Wigan Athletic and Oxford United in the early years.
However, 2017/18 proved to be the youngster’s breakthrough season at Goodison Park as he went on to make 19 appearances in the Premier League.
While he is yet to make his first bow this season, the 21-year-old has been a part of the matchday squads. He played the full ninety minutes in Everton’s 3-1 win over Rotherham in the League Cup.
Kenny has shown a lot of promise upon his progress to the first-team. This should be the perfect time for Silva to hand him his first start of the season in the League. He has shown good composure and movement in the attacking and the defensive third.
Change to a 3-5-2 formation
This is certainly a possibility on paper but considering Silva hasn’t experimented with a back-three before, it isn’t a distinct surety.
The manager can opt to use Kurt Zouma and Mason Holgate at the back with Frenchman Lucas Digne who is quite proficient enough to play as a centre-back in a back-three.
The defenders haven’t done a great job so far and Silva should make sure that the lacklustreness at the back is not exposed by the likes of Marko Arnautovic and company. One way in which he can shield his rearguard is by using Morgan Schneiderlin and Idrissa Gana Gueye/Tom Davies as the central defensive midfielders.
