No Premier League team can beat Everton's seven clean sheets and James Tarkowski says they had to rely on the lessons Sean Dyche has taught them after being thumped by Manchester United
James Tarkowski says Sean Dyche has given Everton self-belief
James Tarkowski says Sean Dyche has given Everton self-belief (
Image: Getty Images)
James Tarkowski claims Sean Dyche has given Everton unshakeable self-belief to cope when they are questioned.
Everton came under fire following their 4-0 rout at Manchester United at the start of the month and some fans wanted Dyche out because they have lost patience with his no-frills football. The Blues have responded by stuffing Wolves and drawing with Arsenal and Chelsea - all without conceding.
No Premier League side can top Everton’s seven clean sheets and Blues skipper Tarkowski says it all stems from Dyche. Tarkowski, 32, who has known his former Burnley boss for nearly nine years, said: “I feel like under this manager, we’ve been like that for a lot of the time.
“You’re always going to go through patches when you lose games and people will question us, but we always have belief in what we do. We’ve kept probably the most clean sheets in the league now, so it shows how well we are working defensively as a team.”
Tarkowski knows Everton need to score more and they have failed to find the back of the net in nine of their 16 Premier League games and only Southampton have fewer than their 14 goals. “We always know we need to get more goals,” he said. “That’s what we expect of ourselves and hopefully they will come.”
Everton have been beaten in just two of their last 12, after losing their first four, and Tarkowski admits he felt “undercooked” at the start of the campaign. The Blues played just four pre-season games and Tarkowski said: “As a whole team we had a broken pre-season. We just felt a little bit undercooked when we came into the season.
“I felt personally undercooked and I think the team looked that way. Now we have got our fitness levels there, everyone is working as units. I always think there is a feel-good factor here, unless we’re going through a tough patch, but we are a team in decent form.
Sean Dyche has endured an up-and-down season as Everton boss (
Image:
PA)
“We have lost two in 12 games and have seven clean sheets in that period, so we’re a team going in the right direction. We look strong and teams are struggling to break us down. Then we have got a top-class goalkeeper and when we need him, he makes saves for us.”
New executive chairman Marc Watts watched Sunday’s draw against Chelsea and Tarkowski is delighted with The Friedkin Group’s takeover. “I think as players we’re a bit more shielded from it because the manager has to speak every week and answer questions about it,” he said.
“It’s all done and there’s a nice, positive feeling around the place. People are all excited about what’s ahead with the new stadium and ownership now all sorted, so let’s hope for a good few years ahead for the club.”
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