Seamus Coleman says the Everton squad are all eager to make an impression on new manager Marco Silva and that they have taken well to the ‘intense’ pre-season training sessions.
The Blues are in Austria for their annual pre-season camp and are preparing for their first pre-season friendly which takes place on Saturday afternoon.
They face ATV Irdning in what will be Silva’s first game in charge.
This type of low-key early friendly has been a constant for new Everton managers over recent years - with both Roberto Martinez and Ronald Koeman - taking charge of their own smaller friendlies before kicking preparations up a gear.
Speaking to EvertonFC.com, Coleman stated: “It’s (training) been great. As you can imagine, the intensity has been high and all the lads are eager to impress and make an impression on the new manager.
“So far, training has been very good and we’ve all really enjoyed it.”
Same faces battling for places
Despite the transfer window being open, Everton are yet to add new faces to their squad.
Instead, Coleman stated that the current squad are working hard to make sure they’ll be in the team to face Wolves on the opening day of the Premier League season.
“We’re going into a new season and we want to do really well,” the Republic of Ireland captain added.
“The manager has come here wanting to prove himself and we all want to prove ourselves as well. It’s going to be a tough pre-season so we have to do everything right to stay in his plans.”
Good vibes only
Being away for a pre-season camp usually allows for more downtime between training sessions, where players can bond and get to know each other that little bit more.
From the outside looking in, the Everton dressing room and team spirit has been fractured over the past couple of months and the clean slate plus the chance to get away for a while may just present the chance to rebuild that.
“It’s (having a good spirit) a big part of what we are at Everton and what we want to be is a close group because if you can be close off the pitch, that would only help things on it,” said Coleman, when quizzed about the teams' bonding.
“It’s nice seeing the young lads come away and some of the lads who’ve come back from loan. It’s nice to see the young lads stepping up and doing really well in pre-season.”
For Coleman himself, this is his first pre-season since breaking his leg on international duty - which ruled him out of the majority of last season.
“Pre-season is where you get your base fitness for the season and missing that is never ideal,” he said.
“Circumstances for me meant I had to miss it last season and thankfully I had some great staff to work with and get me back up to full fitness.”
The defender concluded: “In an ideal world, you want to do pre-season and I had been looking forward to coming back into pre-season. We are training a couple of times a day and becoming as fit as possible.”