Sky Sports pundit slams James Tarkowski for what he did in Everton win at Southampton
James Tarkowski was branded “dreadful” during the second half of the Everton win at Southampton by former Nottingham Forest player Garry Birtles.
In a rollercoaster few minutes after the break the home side went ahead through Joe Aribo, before Conor Coady and then Dwight McNeil scored their first Toffees goals to claim the three points.
Sandwiched in between the two Everton strikes, Tarkowski played a dangerous ball in the midfield which was intercepted, leading to a passage of play where Southampton had a flurry of shots on goal through Che Adams, Stuart Armstrong and James Ward-Prowse that had to be repelled by defender throwing their bodies in the way.
Speaking live on the world feed match commentary on Saturday (1 October, 4.09pm) Birtles, also a Sky Sports pundit, said of the sloppy error: “A dreadful mistake. Was it from Tarkowski? I think it was… You don’t play balls like that there. Dreadful.”
Resiliant
It wasn’t especially pretty but Frank Lampard’s side recorded a second consecutive, and second overall, Premier League victory.
The Toffees had been on top for virtually the whole first half but didn’t make their dominance pay, before some slack defending saw Aribo given too much space to fire past a helpless Jordan Pickford in the second 45.
The immediate reaction will have pleased the manager though, with a first match where they have scored more than one in the league, and two players getting off the mark for the club.
It was an afternoon on the south coast where a number of players did a lot to be pleased with, but either made mistakes defensively or didn’t have enough end product in attack.
Overall it was encouraging to see the side battle to a come back away win and stretch their unbeaten run to six games.
With star man Anthony Gordon only fit to come off the bench after illness, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin still not included in the squad it was Demarai Gray who stood out throughout the game.
He went close on a number of occasions and should have done better with some good chances, but Lampard has this side on a run and a victory without playing their best is a decent achievement.