Seamus Coleman insists Everton did enough to deserve a point in Merseyside derby
Tuesday 20 December 2016 13:19, UK
Everton defender Seamus Coleman was pragmatic following the 1-0 defeat to city rivals Liverpool at Goodison Park on Monday.
The Toffees dominated the opening 45 minutes of the 227th Merseyside derby, but they were unable to get a shot on target despite enjoying the bulk of possession.
After the break the Liverpool turned the game around and the visitors snatched the three points with a Sadio Mane strike almost eight minutes into stoppage time.
"It would have been great to have gone in at half-time with the lead, but it wasn't to be," Coleman told evertontv.
"We had to go back out in the second half and fight and I thought we did well in terms of battling hard, but we didn't produce enough in the final third.
"I thought we did enough to keep them out, but, unfortunately, it wasn't to be our night."
Having come from behind to beat Arsenal in their previous match, Ronald Koeman's side were hopeful of building on that success, but the team will have to regroup after an unbeaten home league record stretching back to April came to an end.
"We've got a busy Christmas period coming up and the Premier League waits for nobody," Coleman said.
"We've got to dust ourselves down and go again."
Everton face further disruption as midfielder James McCarthy and goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg look set to be out for at least some of the festive period.
McCarthy was forced off at half-time with a hamstring problem, while Stekelenburg had to be replaced after getting injured in a collision with team-mate Leighton Baines.
The injuries will be assessed on Tuesday, but Koeman fears the Boxing Day trip to Leicester may come too soon for both players.
"James played well in the first 45 minutes, but he was not sure about his hamstring and we couldn't take that risk," Koeman said.
"With the goalkeeper, it is always a difficult situation.
"We need to recover now. We've had a big, intensive game and we will prepare and see which players are available and, in particular, the fitness of both of those players."
