Time to give Patterson a chance

Nathan Patterson has not had an easy time of it at Everton. Since his arrival in January 2022, Patterson has never been able to string together a consistent run of performances, for one reason or another.

Patterson was only 20 when Everton signed him from Rangers, for a reported fee of £12M. He had played just 13 times in the Scottish Premiership, making only 5 starts. It should not really have required hindsight to look at the deal and think Everton were taking a huge risk.

They felt Patterson could be the natural successor to Seamus Coleman. A marauding right-back who could fill the position for years to come.

Yet, almost 4 years later, Patterson has made only 55 Premier League appearances, starting 29 times in the competition. His tally of goal involvements stands at 3 — all of those are assists.

A big part of Patterson’s inability to nail down a regular place in the team has been fitness; a big part of it has been a lack of trust from managers — something which, of course, injury issues have not helped. Just when it looks as though he may have some positive momentum, or there may be a chance for him to take his chance, injuries have often struck.

The tone was set early. Patterson was not given his Everton debut until 3 March 2022, in a home game in the FA Cup against Boreham Wood. Yet with Everton struggling to break down their non-league opponents, Frank Lampard took Patterson — who was not playing particularly well — off, rather than give him time to get into his groove.

Patterson was finally set to make his first Premier League start a month later, against West Ham at London Stadium. Yet fate had other ideas, with the Scotland international suffering an injury in the warm-up.

We did not see Patterson again that season, as Everton battled to stay up. However, he seemed to have been installed as Lampard’s first-choice right-back by the start of the 2022-23 campaign. Impressive performances against Leeds United and Liverpool stand out, but in typical fashion, he went down injured during the first international break that season.

By the time he returned to fitness, Sean Dyche was in place, and Patterson never did manage to get a run of games under the former Burnley boss. Indeed, there was the infamous slap, however playful the manager meant it to be, during a mid-season training camp in Portugal.

There was some hope that fellow Scot Moyes would be able to get the best out of Patterson. The issue was, Patterson was injured when Moyes arrived in January 2025, and by the time he got back into the fold, Jake O’Brien had cemented his place at right-back.

Patterson got a couple of chances at the back end of last season, but did not impress. He looked incredibly rusty, nervous and completely short of confidence.

It is this writer’s opinion that Everton should have made their mind up on him last summer: it was time to move on. Patterson needed a fresh start and needed to play, and Everton needed to sign their next long-term (or just medium-term) right-back.

Yet Everton hesitated, and by the time a late loan move to Sevilla was in the offing for Patterson last August, there was no time to source an adequate replacement. A huge failing on the club’s part, and no doubt a huge frustration for Patterson.

To compound those frustrations, Patterson’s flaky injury history struck again in October, when it was decided he should receive treatment for a hernia injury. James Garner had, by then, been preferred at right-back when Everton needed a more attacking option there than O’Brien, and it was not until late December that Patterson finally returned.

But since then, when he has played, Patterson has actually offered a much-needed balance to Everton’s defence. The difference between just playing with an out-and-out right-back in that position, rather than a sometimes cumbersome centre-back, has been clear. 

Patterson, now 24, is still lacking in top-level experience, and still looks just as unsure in certain situations as he did at 21 or 22. But when called upon by Moyes in the last month or so, he has let nobody down.

After a shaky first 30 minutes at Nottingham Forest on 30 December, Patterson recovered and played well until he had to be taken off midway through the second half to protect his fitness. 

Yet, for some reason, he was then dropped against Brentford, and did not come on even with Everton desperately chasing the game. Michael Keane, who was carrying a knock, came back in and played poorly, yet the experienced centre-back was kept in against Wolves at home, with Moyes once again preferring O’Brien at right-back.

The three-game suspension Keane served for picking up a red card in the Wolves match gave Patterson a shot, though, and he took it. He did nothing wrong at all in matches against Sunderland, Aston Villa and Leeds United. There’s a case to say he was one of Everton’s most consistent performers in those games.

And back to the key word: Balance.

Everton’s defence looked balanced. O’Brien was impressive at centre-back (his natural position) and, while Patterson did not exactly offer as much as might be wanted from an attacking sense, the back line just looked more settled.

Yet against Brighton, with Jarrad Branthwaite back in the fold, Moyes reverted to type.

Now, in fairness, it seems the plan was for Branthwaite to play at centre-back, with O’Brien moving out to right-back. While frustrating, you can see the logic. Branthwaite is Everton’s best defender and Moyes clearly wants O’Brien in the team as much as possible.

But when Vitaliy Mykolenko pulled out of the squad, Moyes — in this writer’s view — needlessly crowbarred Keane back into the defence.

Sure, it was logical to shift Branthwaite to left-back (he is good enough to play anywhere), but then keep O’Brien at centre-back and play an actual full-back at right-back. Instead, Moyes went with a back four made up entirely of central defenders, and the result was a disjointed and negative first-half performance.

Moyes will claim that Everton came away with a point, but then it is only fair to say that they scored when Patterson was on the pitch. Only used as a late substitute, Patterson offered some width and drive down the right flank.

But it was no surprise to see rumours of Patterson then asking to leave the club on deadline day, as he looks to up his minutes in an attempt to make Scotland’s World Cup squad.

Everton have once again dallied over signing a right-back in the last month, meaning they simply could not let Patterson leave... But then please, let’s see a bit more of him.

Nobody is suggesting Patterson is Everton’s long-term future right-back and, with Branthwaite fit again, the natural place in a back four for O’Brien is out on the right, at least for now.

But Patterson should get some minutes. He does not have to start every game, but Moyes must not be so reluctant to use him. As the manager himself recently said, Patterson has not let anybody down. 

If Everton are to make Europe, they cannot rely on just grinding out results. They need to show some impetus, and adding some threat from full-back is key to that.

They can’t go out and sign a new one for now, but they can at least try to make the most of what they have.

And even if these, as they probably should be, are to be Patterson’s final months at Everton, then he deserves a shot.

 

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