Stood in the Goodison Park tunnel, James Tarkowski once again found himself reflecting on an Everton performance. It is not uncommon for the Blues defender to address the media after games. He is someone who will front up whether it was a good result or a bad result for his side.
Here, Tarkowski was reflecting on a 0-0 draw with Chelsea. A game in which his side had the better chances and, on another day, might have nicked all three points.
Tarkowski found himself on post-match media duties following the 0-0 draw with Brentford at the back end of November. Everton had been booed off that afternoon after they failed to break down a Bees side that had played the whole second-half with 10-men.
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Next up was a run of fixtures that had been described by many as daunting. A trip to Manchester United followed by a six-pointer against Wolverhampton Wanderers and then four big beasts in a row – Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea - before the month concludes with a home game against high-flying Nottingham Forest.
On that November night, Tarkowski spoke of his belief that his side was more than capable of picking up points in the above games. He believed his side had the ability, even though some supporters didn’t, to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in.
December, though, got off to the worst possible start as the Blues were hammered 4-0 by Manchester United at Old Trafford. But since then, Sean Dyche’s side have picked up five points in the three games that have followed. Three clean sheets have also been secured in those games.
It is a far cry from what we witnessed from Tarkowski and his team-mates at the start of the season. But as the Everton skipper fielded questions from reporters, one of his answers hinted at why the Blues had such an underwhelming start to the season - and why things appear to be much different now.
“As a whole team we had a broken pre-season,” the centre-back replied when asked if he was delighted with the way his side was getting back to their defensive best. “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.
“We look strong, and teams are struggling to break us down, and then we have got a top-class goalkeeper, and, when we need him, he makes saves for us.”
Everton, along with Liverpool, have now kept seven clean sheets in the Premier League so far this season, and although goals continue to be hard to come by for Dyche’s side, Tarkowski believes it won’t be long before things fall into place.
"Yeah, two tough games, there was a lot of talk about this run before we entered it about how tough it was going to be, but we have picked up two clean sheets and two points," he said.
“It would be nice to start winning games, but if we keep defending the way we are, then we will do [so] in the coming weeks.”
Before he added: “You are 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 have kept probably the most clean sheets in the league now, so it shows how well we are working defensively as a team. We always know we need to get more goals; that is what we expect of ourselves, and hopefully they will come.”
Tarkowski also took heart from the way the Blues performed against Enzo Maresca's side. Not only had Chelsea arrived at Goodison Park on the back of five straight wins in the top-flight, but they are also being tipped to challenge Liverpool for the title.
“The conditions were difficult today," he said. "The wind was swirling in every direction, so it was tough to play, and these are a team who are flying at the minute.
“Everyone is talking about these being title contenders, so yeah, it was difficult, but I felt we created a couple of good chances; it was just a shame we didn't take. We kept ourselves in the game, and I thought [in the] second half we were quite comfortable.
“I still want to walk off that pitch with three points, but we understand who we are playing against. This is a team who are flying at the minute, with top, top players.
“It was always going to be a difficult day, but we actually made a couple of good chances, the two best chances in the game, so we are competing right up there with a team like this.
“We just move forward and recover because we know we have another tough game coming up in a few days' time.”