Nerves are a thing of the past – Seamus Coleman belongs in big time with Everton
1 Nov 2013 07:42
"We’ve got the best left-back in England at Everton and Bainesy helps me all the time"
Most players who reach the pinnacle of the Premier League will talk about steep learning curves along the way, but Seamus Coleman’s was more daunting than most.
The Everton defender was plucked from the relative unknown of the Irish Premier
League for £60,000 in 2009, and in the subsequent four years has gone on to play in Europe, become his club’s first choice right-back and even captain the Republic of Ireland.
Not bad for a lad who admits he was nervous and tongue-tied when he first rolled up at the Blues’ Finch Farm training ground, ready to rub shoulders with players like Mikel Arteta, Louis Saha and Tim Cahill that he had watched on TV back home for years.
Now, as he sits next to team-mates Ross Barkley, 19, John Stones, 19, and James McCarthy, 22, Coleman is the elder statesman – dishing out the banter and ruling the roost.
It’s a far cry from those first days at a top flight club, and that first game against Sunday’s opponents Tottenham, when he burst onto the Premier League scene with a headline-grabbing cavalier display.
“That first game was something I’ll always remember and if you ask people back home when my Premier League debut was, they’ll always say Spurs but it wasn’t,” he says. “It was actually against Bolton for 10 minutes but that was less memorable!
“That game helped me and then I scored against Spurs to make it 2-1 in January 2011 which was one of my better moments. Hopefully I can play my part in another win on Sunday, whether it’s setting up or scoring a goal. They’re always good, hard games.”
As an avowed student of the game, Coleman has absorbed a wealth of experience during his time in England, and admits his international outings have been particularly instructive.
While he has not been tasked with copying any particular top right-back by club manager Roberto Martinez, he can’t help but observe and learn from the best.
“The manager doesn’t ask me to look at anyone specifically but we played Germany away recently and Philipp Lahm was outstanding for them,” he recalls. “I always knew he was good but then playing against him was something else. He makes it all look so easy and if I can learn from that it’ll make me a better player. He was just so composed and can play centre midfield too – not many full-backs can go and do that.
“Obviously Germany are a top team but because he played in my position I enjoyed watching him.
“Then we’ve got the best left-back in England at Everton and Bainesy helps me all the time.
“I’m always learning.”
Another player learning the ropes at Everton after arriving on Merseyside in the summer is Coleman’s friend and international team-mate James McCarthy.
“I’m close with James and know him from my time with Ireland. I was delighted he joined the club,” says Coleman. “He’s fitted in so easily and been brilliant. He just breaks the play up and keeps it simple. I was saying to him it’s easy to forget how young he is because he’s played so many games at Hamilton and then Wigan.
“He’s a quiet lad and might have been a bit nervous at first but I knew he’d fit in. You’ve got the likes of Jags and Bainesy who will give out banter when they see you and encourage you to give a bit back. You soon come out of your shell. It’s a great changing room.”
Coleman was schooled in the art of team spirit and character-building badinage by another respected former Everton right-back, Phil Neville.
Neville moved on in the summer of course, but the 25-year-old has not forgotten the debt he owes to the Manchester United coach.
“You miss people like him,” he says. “Nev was brilliant with me and was great around the place. He’s got a top job now and I’m delighted for him.
“From day one he was always good with me and the other young lads coming through. If you had a bad game at the weekend he’d be there to have a joke, maybe take the mick out of you but it was all to build your spirits back up again. That was important.
“I remember Bainsey saying to me as well; never get too high, never get too low. Keep a happy medium.”
Source: Greg O'keeffe - Echo
