Séamus Coleman was hugely impressive on a rare start for Everton on St. Stephen's Day, as the Toffees came away from the Etihad Stadium with a big point.
36-year-old Coleman has largely had to accept a bench role this year, with ex-Manchester United man Ashley Young establishing himself as the club's first-choice right-back since the summer.
With Young suspended for Thursday's clash with struggling Manchester City, Coleman was thrown in against the defending champions. His defensive solidity in the draw showed why the Everton captain remains so highly rated at the club.
Though Bernardo Silva opened the scoring for Manchester City, it would not take Everton to equalise against the ailing defending champions, with a clever finish from Iliman Ndiaye levelling things up.
The crucial moment came shortly after half-time. Erling Haaland started this season in electric form, but the Norwegian striker now has just two goals in the Premier League since October.
He would once again struggle on Thursday, and his penalty miss after 53 minutes was the biggest chance City had to re-take their lead.
And STILL nothing will go right for Manchester City! 😱
Haaland's penalty is saved and he's offside as he heads in from the rebound 😬 pic.twitter.com/KeXmCmmbCr— Premier Sports Ireland (@PremSportsIRL) December 26, 2024
The penalty miss was preceded by some typical antics from goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, but more notable was the interaction between Haaland and Séamus Coleman.
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Séamus Coleman gets in Haaland's head before crucial penalty miss
As Haaland prepared to take the penalty, Coleman approached the City striker and began speaking to him.
As players crowded the box, Coleman was separated from Haaland. However, when referee Simon Hooper cleared the penalty area, Coleman remained and continued to chew the ear off City's superstar striker.
Eventually, Haaland grew frustrated and pushed the Irish captain away, with Hooper booking Coleman for his antics.
Coleman and Pickford clearly got in the head of Haaland, as he saw his spot-kick saved by Pickford before nodding in the rebound from an offside position.
At full-time, Coleman spoke to Amazon Prime's punditry team pitchside and was naturally asked to comment on his interaction with Erling Haaland.
The Everton veteran had a brilliant response, keeping his lips sealed on the finer details of what he might have said to his counterpart.
No comment, listen...'Merry Christmas!'
We came here looking to get a point and you'll do anything you can sometimes to win. There was no swearing or anything like that.
Coleman then laughed as the punditry team joked that he had been practising his Norwegian in the lead-up to the game.
Despite coming in and doing an excellent job at the Etihad, Coleman was also typically modest and praised the man he replaced in the starting line-up. He would also joke that he had been unable to believe that Young had chosen this of all games to be suspended for.
I had a little joke with Ashley. I said, 'Of all the games you could have given me, you've given me Man City away?!'
Listen, Ashley is an example for me. He's three years older than me and the way he's been performing has been unbelievable. I'm sure he'll be back in Saturday. What a top professional, we're really lucky to have him.
Though he may drop back out of the Everton starting lineup, Séamus Coleman certainly proved his evergreen value on a big Premier League day for the Toffees on Thursday.
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