James Tarkowski has come out and admitted that Everton sacked a manager who was actually really undervalued.
Throughout his three-year career at Everton, James Tarkowski has been coached by three managers, with Frank Lampard his first.
Sean Dyche then replaced Lampard in January 2023 and managed to steer the club towards Premier League safety.
Now, Tarkowski is a key figure under David Moyes, who has really taken the club forward following Dyche’s sacking at the start of the year.
Although, speaking on the Peter Crouch podcast, the Toffees defender explained why he believes Dyche deserves more credit.
Everton centre-back James Tarkowski.
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
James Tarkowski defends the job Sean Dyche did at Everton
Speaking to former Tottenham Hotspur and England centre-forward Peter Crouch, Tarkowski was asked if Dyche was undervalued at Everton.
“Yeah, I mean, probably a little bit (undervalued),” the Everton defender said.
“Yeah, but the way he’s just left Everton recently, maybe doesn’t look great, but I’ve said to you earlier that the work he did beforehand to keep us in the league for one and sort of keep us there again the year after, unfortunately he didn’t get the time to sort of go and do the work he wanted to do beyond that.
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“But yeah, probably undervalued in terms of some of the work he’s done.”
Michael Keane also believes Sean Dyche was underrated
Speaking to talkSPORT last month, Michael Keane made a similar point to Tarkowski, labelling Dyche a ‘fantastic’ manager.
“Sean was a fantastic manager. He’s been amazing for me personally at Burnley and when he was here as well,” the 32-year-old said.
“I think he had a really difficult situation when he came here. The club was in a bit of a mess and he did unbelievably well to keep us safe for a couple of years.”
Whilst Dyche certainly should be commended for retaining Everton’s Premier League status in those difficult times, his final few months were really concerning, and the change probably needed to come.
Moyes proved that by going on a great run last term, keeping them up by a whopping 23 points.