Ally McCoist laughs as Jeff Stelling names underrated Everton star as ‘manager’s dream’
Everton fell just short against league leaders Liverpool on Saturday, but have still made a positive start to the season.
Everton have enjoyed a start to life at their new home in The Hill Dickinson Stadium with two wins and a draw.
Iliman Ndiaye has produced great output for Everton, with new signing Jack Grealish also starting to flourish.
Everton take on Wolves on Tuesday night, and it will be interesting to see if one player in particular makes yet another starting line-up for the Toffees.
Jeff Stelling full of praise for James Garner as Ally McCoist offers his take
While discussing what defines an ‘underrated’ player on TalkSPORT, Jeff Stelling picked out versatile midfielder James Garner.
“James Garner, a manager’s dream.” To which Ally McCoist laughed as he also had the Everton midfielder noted down as he then hailed Garner.
“Old school Jeff, throw him a jersey and he puts it on, he’ll turn around look at the number and say ‘that’ll do me I’m playing there’ brilliant.
- James Garner joined Everton in 2022 on a permanent deal from Manchester United
- He’s since racked up 90 appearances for the Toffees
- Still only 24, Garner keeps improving year on year
“It’s perfect on a weekend, it summed him up perfectly on the weekend, [Moyes] played Mykolenko, who did well, but you’ve got to go try to sneak a point.
“What do you do? I’ll put Garner left back where he played the previous week and try to get a more attacking-minded perhaps midfielder.”
Stelling then added: “I wonder about mentality as well because you have to have a special mentality, because you’re going out there every week and are a seven or maybe eight out of 10 every week, but every week the headlines are about somebody else!”
Garner is recorded as the second goalscorer at Everton’s new stadium when he scored the second of the afternoon in the 2-0 win against Brighton.
However, Garner has never been known as a goalscorer and has been respected for other aspects of his game.
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James Garner for Everton this season in numbers
Garner has played multiple positions for Everton, including defensive midfield, left-back, and right-back. His willingness to adapt has been a key part of Moyes and Everton’s tactical flexibility.
He is one of the only players to play every single minute for Everton this season.
| Matches Played | Minutes Played | Average Rating |
| 5 | 450 | 7.24 |
A hard tackler and a player who never stops running, it’s no surprise to see him pick up such praise. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before Garner is trusted with the Everton armband.
Moyes has touted Garner for an England call-up, with the new England squad set to be announced for the October international break.
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