Martin Keown raves about what ‘dominant’ James Tarkowski did for Everton v Brentford on Match of the Day
Martin Keown raved about the “dominant” performance of Everton captain James Tarkowski against Brentford on Match of the Day and was particularly impressed by one moment from the centre-back.
Sean Dyche’s men earned a first Premier League win of the campaign by running out 3-1 victors at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday (23 September) with Abdoulaye Doucoure, Tarkowski and Dominic Calvert-Lewin all on target.
It was Tarkowski’s headed assist for Doucoure’s brilliant opener that caught the eye of MOTD pundit Keown, who waxed lyrical about the defender’s showing.
“He’s so dominant. He really is and with (Jarrad) Branthwaite next to him I think that frees him up a little bit to really dominate,” he said on MOTD (23 September, 10.48pm).
“He’s a player I’ve always quite liked in terms of his ability and the way he dominates. Honestly, he’s so dominant at the back there and they haven’t been doing the basics recently but now they are with him.
“I mean look at that for an assist, I mean it’s a wonderful finish but he’s so dominant when the ball comes in.”
Leading by example
There has not been a great deal to shout about at Everton this season, especially with mounting off-field problems taking their toll.
On the pitch, the results have not been great even if performances have generally been much better than last term so far.
But finally a much-needed, and much-deserved, victory arrived at Brentford on Saturday with Tarkowski putting in a real captain’s performance.
He was dominant in the duels, picked out some good passes from deep, and finished the game with an assist and a goal from centre-back.
At a time when Everton need people to step up and deliver, Tarkowski certainly did that and hopefully the performance of the team can have a galvanising effect moving forward.
One win does not solve all the issues of course, but it was a very good starting point and Dyche will have been extremely encouraged by what he saw. Long may it continue.
In other Everton news, the Toffees are “vulnerable” to January sales if the 777 Partners takeover gets blocked.