It was needed.
Everton played some attacking, exciting football under Roberto Martinez, but also leaked goals and were accused of lacking a more direct, plan b option when their possession based game failed to ignite.
Martinez’s replacement is already showing signs of being more direct, when needed, than his predecessor, according to Seamus Coleman.
The Republic of Ireland defender made his first appearance since Euro 2016 in a friendly against Barnsley last Saturday, and it sounds as though Everton are already making the transition into a new tactical outlook under Ronald Koeman.
“Every manager is different and I wouldn’t say there’s any right or wrong but when you play in a regime for a certain amount of time you will pick up habits that stick for a little while,” Coleman told The Liverpool Echo.
“I’m sure this manager now will be wanting to get his good habits into us and we’ll have to forget some of the others that we had.
“That’s part and parcel of changing managers, but then of course it’s different when you go away in international duty so you’re used to change.
“I’ve only been back a week and I’m still coming to terms with what he (Koeman) wants and what he doesn’t want but you can definitely see just from the (Barnsley) game that he’s not afraid to mix it up.”
Koeman played winger Gerald Deulofeu as a striker in the first-half of the game against Barnsley, and the former Southampton manager hinted that this could become a feature of the side next season.
“We had a lot of pace up front with Gerard. Maybe this is a new position for him but I know he played there for Barcelona B. Because he is very fast, we created a lot of danger from that.”
“A full-back has two options – play the ball back to the goalkeeper or play it down the channels [to the forwards]. I don’t like the first option. When you have Gerard with that speed up front, and good passes to pick him out, that makes it difficult for the opponent.”
Deulofeu had a tendency to hug the touchline last season, cutting off chances for Coleman to overlap on the right-wing. However, if the Spaniard was moved up-front, it could be beneficial for Coleman, enabling him to push-on and showcase his attacking strengths.
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