Everton: Danny Murphy destroys James Tarkowski on talkSPORT after footage emerged this week
Everton defender James Tarkowski was destroyed by Danny Murphy during the Toffees’ clash with Crystal Palace for his appearance on a reality TV programme.
Sean Dyche’s side managed to move out of the Premier League relegation zone with a 1-1 draw with the Eagles on Monday (19 February) as Amadou Onana’s late header cancelled out a superb strike from Jordan Ayew.
Defensively, Tarkowski once again impressed at the heart of the Toffees’ backline, but talkSPORT pundit Murphy slammed the centre-back, suggesting that his appearance on the reality show ‘Married to the Game’ will distract him from Everton’s relegation battle.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Monday (19 February, 20:18) he said: “I really don’t want to start commenting on that, I might lose my radio platform. On a serious note, I think that when you are a footballer, you should very rarely drift from that focus of what you’re doing.
“Dabbling with other things takes your focus away and can affect your performance. I don’t care what anybody says, I’ve seen it so often.”
Is James Tarkowksi focused on Everton relegation battle?
While it is fair to question whether or not players are always focused on the footballing side of their game, there has been very little in Tarkoski’s performances this season to suggest that the Everton defender has been distracted.
While the Toffees have been struggling towards the bottom of the Premier League table this term, the English defender has been one of Dyche’s best players consistently thriving alongside Jarrad Branthwaite in the backline.
If his television commitments are playing on his mind, the 31-year-old is managing to hide it excellently as he was once again superb against Palace and played a huge part in keeping the away side away from Jordan Pickford’s goal.
Hopefully, Tarkowski will be able to keep these performances up for the remainder of the campaign as he could play a huge part in their push to avoid the drop into the Championship this term.
In other Everton news, Phil Jagielka has been left baffled by Manchester City’s FFP development amid the Toffees’ charges
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