Coleman On Heavyweight Pre-Season Challenges

Seamus Coleman says Everton’s premium list of pre-season opponents illustrates manager Marco Silva’s determination to hit the ground running this term.

Right-back Coleman headed the decisive goal as Everton stepped up preparations for the new campaign by completing their Swiss training camp with victory over eight-times French champions AS Monaco on Friday.

Silva’s team, who also shared a goalless draw with FC Sion during an eight-day stay in Switzerland, are poised for meetings with another pair of European high-fliers before the Premier League kicks off next month.

After Wednesday's game at Championship side Wigan Athletic, Everton are due to tackle aspirational La Liga side Sevilla on Saturday, when the Blues will also face hosts Mainz in the three-team Opel Cup.

It is back to Germany the following week to play four-times Bundesliga winners Werder Bremen.

The testing programme – implemented at the behest of Silva and Director of Football Marcel Brands – is designed to give Everton the best chance of picking up this term from where they signed off in 2018/19.

“The games we are playing says a lot about what the manager expects from us,” Coleman told evertontv.

“I’m sure he would have picked the pre-season along with Marcel.

“And they would have wanted good opposition for us because they want us to be ready for the big games when they come.

“It’s a tough pre-season but we need to show we are ready to go when the competitive games begin.

“The results in these matches are important because we want to win every game we play – we want to build that mentality.

“We finished the season very strongly and want to go into this season the same way."

Coleman’s swashbuckling contribution was one of the driving forces behind Everton’s productive form in the closing months of 2018/19.

Bursting forward from full-back, he stooped to head the season’s final Goodison Park goal in a 2-0 victory over Burnley.

The Irishman repeated his trick to settle the game against Monaco, Coleman continuing his forward run after passing infield to Bernard and perfectly positioned to nod home after a deflected shot from Oumar Niasse looped towards goal.

Coleman, entering his 11th full campaign with the Club, similarly wants Everton to use last season’s strong finish to fuel a positive start this time round.

Everton open the new season at Crystal Palace on 10 August and will travel to Selhurst Park with memories still relatively fresh of a blistering run which featured convincing successes over Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

“It’s important we remember what we did in those games… to believe how good we were at times last season,” said Coleman.

“We started well, then had that sticky period – but we finished the season strongly and feeling very confident.

“We will remind each other of those results and how we were playing and I’m sure the manager will be doing that as well. We played some big teams towards the end of the season and were comfortable and kept a lot of clean sheets.

“We want to beat those sides when the pressure is on and I really believe we are capable of doing that.”