Sue Smith left baffled by Everton star James Tarkowski live on air v Crystal Palace
Sue Smith was left baffled by a piece of defending from James Tarkowski as Everton ran out 3-2 winners over Crystal Palace on Saturday 11 November.
Sean Dyche’s side extended their unbeaten run to four matches in all competitions as goals from Vitalii Mykolenko, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Idrissa Geuye moved them away from the Premier League relegation zone heading into the November international break.
But there were still a number of nervous moments for the Toffees as Palace twice pegged them back, with Smith left confused by Tarkowski’s decision to not clear his lines during the build-up to Odsonne Edouard’s second-half strike.
Speaking on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday (11 November, 16:35) she said: “It’s Edouard with the equaliser, I’m not too sure what Tarkowski is doing, he just seems to leave it.
“The ball gets delivered from out wide, Lerma does well gets up, good header, Tarkowski just leaves it, and falls to Edouard, it’s a good first touch. He looks onside to me and Tarkowski leaves maybe thinking that he’s offside but he’s just got to clear his lines.”
Worrying moment
First of all, the most important thing for Everton on Saturday was securing all three points and they did exactly that with a free-flowing attacking display at Selhurst Park that was an excellent watch for the neutral and the Toffees who made the journey to London.
But there were still several shaky moments for the Toffees, including the questionable moment from Tarkwoski in the build-up to Edouard’s strike. Supporters will have come to expect the defender to clear his lines in those crucial moments of matches.
However, it is the first error leading to a goal that the 30-year-old has made in the Premier League this season, saw Dyche will be hoping that it was just a momentary blip from his captain and not a sign of things to come following the international break.
Other than that momentary lapse, Tarkowski was excellent against Palace, winning the most tackles of any player in the match with three and winning almost every duel that he entered coming out on top of 10 of his 13 battles in the contest.
Hopefully, Tarkowski can return from the international break full of confidence, especially considering his mistake didn’t prove costly.
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