Danny Murphy feels Everton ace Seamus Coleman was ‘naïve’ with his defending of Darwin Nunez for Mohamed Salah’s goal. The winger put Liverpool ahead in a 2-0 win on Monday.
The Reds broke the deadlock on 36 minutes, just 16 seconds after James Tarkowski had hit the post. Salah swept past Jordan Pickford to complete a rapid counter-attack after Nunez spun Coleman on the edge of Alisson’s box. He left the Toffees defending four against two.
Nunez flicked a quick one-two with Salah from the edge of the Liverpool area after Dwight McNeil’s shot ricocheted clear. The Uruguay striker’s pass into the Egypt forward removed Coleman from the move as he would then surge clear of the Republic of Ireland right-back.
Coleman jogged back as Idrissa Gueye shielded Nunez on the wing. But Cody Gakpo and Andrew Robertson were darting through the centre alongside Salah. Vitalii Mykolenko also drifted across to Nunez to leave the Reds’ trio open and Pickford helpless as he rushed out.
Nunez’s cross would thus find Salah in the centre for a simple finish with Pickford caught in no man’s land. Gakpo would then get a goal in the 49th minute to finish another counter-attack. Coleman was also unalert to the Dutchman’s presence miles open at the box post.
Murphy calls Coleman ‘naïve’ for how Nunez and Liverpool hit Everton
Coleman continually glanced over his shoulder while jogging back after putting pressure on Robertson. But the 34-year-old never attempted to run over to Gakpo and, instead, drifted into the area. He also then made no attempt to intercept Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross.
Sean Dyche had given Coleman his 11th start and 14th appearance of the Premier League season at Liverpool on Monday. But his role in Nunez assisting Salah for the Reds’ opening goal particularly frustrated Murphy. Coleman has only helped to three clean sheets so far.
“Coleman has got all the experience,” Murphy said on talkSPORT (13/2, 20:51). “He knows that if Nunez skips past him, Liverpool are clear on goal. He’s got to take Nunez down, take him down [and] stop the counter-attack. It’s naïve!”
Despite Coleman’s troubles defending against Nunez for Salah’s goal and also for Gakpo’s, Dyche is unlikely to axe the Everton captain after losing at Liverpool. The Toffees boss has no alternative with a menial ligament injury still stopping Nathan Patterson from training.
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