Coleman says Everton must build on early promise in Ancelotti era
Coleman said the Merseyside club must ensure the momentum does not fizzle out, having experienced false dawns under former managers Silva, Ronald Koeman and Roberto Martinez.
Everton have shown promise under manager Carlo Ancelotti but the challenge for the team will be to become consistent and push for European qualification, skipper Seamus Coleman has said. Italian Ancelotti, who took charge in December with Everton close to the drop zone after Marco Silva’s sacking, has steadied the ship and lifted them to 11th in the Premier League with 44 points from 32 matches. Coleman said the Merseyside club must ensure the momentum does not fizzle out, having experienced false dawns under former managers Silva, Ronald Koeman and Roberto Martinez.
“I don’t want to be having these conversations year after year when you have a decent run of form,” defender Coleman told the British media.
“You don’t want to be just speaking after a good few games saying, ‘we are doing well.’ I want us to be consistent. I want the club to be back challenging for Champions League places.
“Carlo Ancelotti has not put pen to paper on a contract 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’re not good enough I’m sure this manager will see it and bring his own players in.”
Everton visit 10th-placed Tottenham Hotspur on Monday and Coleman backed his team to show their winning mentality.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Pullin)
