Seamus Coleman has been speaking about Everton's Carabao Cup defeat to Wolves
Seamus Coleman during Everton's friendly with Roma
Seamus Coleman during Everton's friendly with Roma(Image: (Carl Recine/Getty Images))
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Seamus Coleman has admitted he was left hurt by the manner in which his Everton side were knocked out of the Carabao Cup. The Blues were beaten 2-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux last month.
Goals in each half from Marshall Munetsi and Tolu Arokodare fired the Premier League strugglers through to the fourth round. However, Blues supporters were left angered after David Moyes opted to make seven changes to his side for the game.
Moyes left a host of key players, including Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye, on the bench as he offered a first start to Tyler Dibling and opportunities to the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Thierno Barry and Dwight McNeil.
All four of those players were withdrawn before the hour mark as Everton’s wait for a trophy moved into a 31st year.
And Coleman, writing in his programme notes for the game against West Ham United, admitted he felt for supporters following the defeat.
He said: “Every Premier League manager uses the Carabao Cup to give players some minutes. It’s a squad game these days and the players need time on the pitch.
“We did the same, but sometimes, it just doesn't work out. It’s never easy to hit the ground running when you haven’t been playing regularly but there are no excuses from me - the performance on the night wasn’t good enough over the 90 minutes.
“It was a setback I wasn’t expecting and it hurt. There aren’t many opportunities to win silverware and I felt for our supporters who once again packed the away end at Molineux."
Defending his team selection on the night, Moyes said: “Well, we were coming to another Premier League team, so I don't think you can say it's a missed opportunity.
"I don't know if Wolves would have said the same, but we're disappointed.”
Before he added: “[There were] No real reasons. We've got a lot of good players and we've got players in the squad who are getting back to fitness, some of them who are not, so we wanted to give some of them an opportunity to show what they can do.
"The team have been playing at a really good level and it was a chance to see if others could join it.”