Stephen Kenny will be one man who's been very pleased by what he's seen since the Premier League returned last month. Irish players are in form and getting game time across the division. That list of players also includes the Irish captain Seamus Coleman who's been in invigorating form since the restart.
Man of the match in the Merseyside Derby, Coleman has thrived under new Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti, playing both in his traditional right back slot, and as part of a central three when the Italian switches to a back five. Everton's form since the arrival Ancelotti has been superb and they take on Jose Mourinho's Spurs team tonight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium well fancied to take three points.
For Coleman though, a captain at club level as well as internationally, he's seen it all before at Everton in his 11 years at the club. Speaking to the media ahead of the Spurs game, he was keen to point out that the inconsistency and false dawns need to stop at the club.
I don’t want to be having these conversations year after year when you have a decent run of form and all the rest.
You don’t want to be just speaking after a good few games saying, ‘Ah, we are doing well.’ I want us to be consistent. I want the club to be back challenging for Champions League places and whatnot.
Carlo Ancelotti has not put pen to paper on a contract at this club to be with a mid-table team. He wants to be successful. It’s up to the players to keep driving it on. If we are not good enough then I’m sure this manager will see it and bring his own players in.
Coleman believes a mindset at Everton among the players has needed to change. A good run of form is not enough. They need to kick on and believe they can continue it, especially against the bigger clubs.
We need to start building a belief or a mindset within the squad where we need to go to Tottenham and expect to win, with the support and guidance of a top manager. There were great spells through all the managers we had but as a club as a whole, we just need to find that belief.
We need to show up and start getting results that maybe have passed us by before. I think Monday will tell a lot about that. Tottenham are off the back of a difficult result but they’re a really good team with good players and a good manager.
It’s up to us now to go away to one of those teams and come back with three points to show the mindset has changed and that we are really pushing in the right direction.
As Irish fans, it's always refreshing to hear such an honest, winning mentality from one of our great players, and great pros.
For tonight's game, Coleman looks set to be the only Irish player involved. Troy Parrott has returned to full training for Spurs after his appendix operation but it's thought tonight's game will come too early for him to be considered.
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