Nathan Patterson: This may be the real reason for Everton shunning teenager – pundit
Noel Whelan has suggested the ongoing fight for Premier League survival could be the reason behind Everton defender Nathan Patterson’s lack of action.
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, insisted both the 19-year-old and the club will be “disappointed” by the full-back’s slow start to life at Goodison Park.
Patterson made his maiden Everton start as they dispatched Boreham Wood in the FA Cup fifth round last Thursday (3 March), but was substituted at half-time.
As quoted by the Glasgow Times (5 March), Lampard insisted the substitution “wasn’t necessarily a slam” on the youngster, claiming he did “okay” during his debut.
He added that Patterson wasn’t “breaking the lines” of Boreham Wood as instructed, allowing the non-league side to “sit back”.
Whelan insisted the “know-how and game management” of players like Seamus Coleman makes Patterson’s omission an easy choice.
He told Football Insider‘s Ewan Kingsbury: “It’s difficult, isn’t it?
“It’s been such a tumultuous time for Everton, it’s really not been easy. Mykolenko has struggled for minutes similarly on the other side.
“They’ve gone for experience rather than these younger signings, because of the know-how and game management they will possess. They’re probably that little bit better under pressure as well.
“That will take precedent over a new signing at times. If they’re sitting pretty in eighth, then you’d see a lot more of players like Patterson and Mykolenko.
“It’s great to see Patterson get his debut, they’ve worked hard to get him so it’ll be disappointing for player and club to have his action be so limited.
Patterson joined Everton in January for a reported potential fee of £16million.
The defender had played just 27 times for former side Rangers.
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