Does Coleman give Everton a quandry

After a strong start to the season, does the fine form of full-back Seamus Coleman, give the Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti food for thought?

One of the positions that Everton were most expected to seek to strengthen in this transfer window was right-back.

Incumbent Coleman had been under scrutiny since a series of injuries in recent years had blunted his effectiveness and performances. Many, including myself, felt he was perhaps in decline and that maybe his best years were behind him.

And young pretender Jonjo Kenny, despite a solid season in the German Bundesliga, doesn’t convince a lot of observers and fans that he is good enough to succeed the veteran Irish defender as the Toffees new right-back.

So there have been repeated reports in the media since the window opened that the Blues are chasing this right-back or that one.

Over the years, Coleman has proved to be one of the best and certainly one of the cheapest signings the Toffees have made in many a year.

The Irish full-back famously only cost Everton around £60,000 when he joined from Irish club Sligo Rovers in 2009, as Blues fans so often like to remind the opposition! In today’s massively inflated transfer market that really is a genuine bargain.

Since then he had gone on to become one of the most consistent full-backs in the Premier League over the last ten years.

Coleman is not a flashy player but he has always been a really solid and reliable footballer with good defensive qualities. And although he was not a truly creative attacking outlet on the right wing, he got up and down effectively, put in a decent ball usually and always seemed to pop up with more than his fair share of goals.

The Irishman also played with great energy and commitment too, week in, week out and this has endeared him to Evertonians.

However, in recent years his form had become much more erratic with some lacklustre performances and this had put his future in question.

With all that transfer speculation and Kenny’s return from his reasonably successful loan spell at Schalke 04, Coleman was under pressure as this season began.

However, since the start of this campaign, the 31-year-old has been in excellent form, continuing where he left off at the end of last season when the league re-started after the suspension.

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At Tottenham on the opening weekend, he was strong and reliable defensively and generally coped well with the threat of tricky Korean forward Son. He didn’t get forward much himself in that match, but did his defensive duties very soundly.

On Saturday, Coleman had the chance to be more involved in the attacking third, especially after Everton had conceded the opening goal and were looking to quickly get back into the game.

He looked lively and contributed to the enterprising and incisive attacking play that the Toffees produced as they came back from one down to win 5-2.

In fact he was something like his old self again, playing with the energy and stamina that have always been such features of his game. At the moment he is also captaining the team, which is a vote of confidence from his manager.

As the Blues are now having to bring in another central defender, if Coleman could continue to produce these sort of performances and with Kenny as back-up, the club might take a chance and not bring in another right-back. Then Marcel Brands and Ancelotti can concentrate resources on strengthening other areas of the team such as bringing in another attacking player.