Ahead of Burnley making their first trip to Hill Dickinson Stadium, we look back at a classic Everton home match against them
Seamus Coleman reacts towards James Tarkowski during the match between Everton and Burnley at Goodison Park on September 13, 2021
Seamus Coleman reacts towards James Tarkowski during the match between Everton and Burnley at Goodison Park on September 13, 2021(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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Evertonians now love a bone-crunching challenge from James Tarkowski but back on September 13, 2021, things were rather different.
Indeed, looking back on the game at Goodison Park some four-and-a-half years on, it’s just one of several curiosities surrounding Everton’s 3-1 comeback win over Burnley. Not only was Tarkowski lining up for the visitors, alongside another future Blue Dwight McNeil and Everton old boy Aaron Lennon who came off the bench, the hosts were managed by ex-Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez against Sean Dyche who would take the reins at the Blues in 2023.
Although the hosts had to come from behind after a goalless first half, with visiting captain Ben Mee heading his side in front on 53 minutes on what was his 200th appearance for the Clarets, the result ensured they extended their unbeaten run under the former Kop Idol to five matches with what was their fourth win in all competitions of the fledgling campaign.
The Spaniard, whose appointment as Carlo Ancelotti’s successor was the most controversial in the history of the most passionate city in English football, peaked too early having crossed Stanley Park though. A 3-0 drubbing at Aston Villa followed five days later and Benitez would be sacked after little more than half a season in charge on January 16, just 24 hours after a 2-1 defeat to bottom-of-the-table Norwich City.
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With just one win from his last 13 Premier League matches in charge, a run that chairman Bill Kenwright described as “unacceptably disappointing,” it was on-the-field results rather than past employment at Anfield that cost Benitez his job. However, despite his fleeting tenure, he was still in charge long enough to bomb James Rodriguez and Lucas Digne out of the club after falling out with the duo and then splash out around £28million on full-back pair Vitalii Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson in his final month in charge.
This game proved the high-water mark for Benitez at Everton though as a three-goal blitz in the space of just six second half minutes – a similar rate of scoring to when his Liverpool side fought back against Ancelotti’s AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final – turn the encounter on its head. Former Burnley player Michael Keane nodded the Blues level against his previous employers on the hour mark before a couple of Benitez’s summer signings put them in charge.
Andros Townsend, who had played for the Madrid-born gaffer at Newcastle United and had been snapped up on a free transfer by Everton after his Crystal Palace contract expired, put the hosts ahead with a stunning first goal for his new club on 65 minutes with a 25-yard strike. Then, just a minute after that, another bargain buy, Demarai Gray, who had been brought back to England for £1.7million following a brief spell in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen, capped the win as he tucked the ball past Nick Pope for what was his third goal since arriving.
With the result secure, Benitez was able to bring on another of his Magpies old boys Salomon Rondon, who had also turned out for him at the now defunct Chinese side Dalian Professional, for his Everton debut with nine minutes to go. It was the man the Venezuelan replaced though who was at the centre of the night’s big talking point with Tarkowski.
Fellow South American Richarlison, who had just returned from winning an Olympic gold medal with Brazil, having finished the tournament in Japan as top scorer, escaped punishment from referee Martin Atkinson for body checking Mee. The match official might not have taken offence by his actions, but it seemed that Tarkowski did as he sought reputation with a full-blooded challenge by the touchline in front of the Bullens Road Stand with many home supporters in the crowd incensed along with captain Seamus Coleman.
Richarlison of Everton is challenged by James Tarkowski of Burnley
Richarlison of Everton is challenged by James Tarkowski of Burnley
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Again, the man in the middle from Darlington did not even award a free-kick, let alone get a card out, but others were left unhappy by Tarkowski’s robust reaction. Benitez said: “I saw the tackle, I think the tackle is quite strong. “When you know the ball is there, but behind the ball is the ankle, you can get one or the other or you can get both. But it is quite dangerous, these kinds of things you have to be careful of.
“One thing is to be physical and challenge – that is ok – but the other one is that these kinds of tacklers are quite dangerous for the integrity of the opponent.”
Gary Neville didn’t hold back though in chastising Tarkowski when speaking alongside Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football. The former Manchester United stalwart said: “This for me has no place in football.
“If it had been given a red I don’t think you could complain if you’re Burnley and I don’t think we would of complained. I think it’s reckless, I think he knows he’s going to do him and knows his follow through could hurt him.
“I think it does endanger him and I think Tarkowski goes to do him as in leave on him. I think it has to be a yellow card.
“That has to be a yellow card, 6ft 2ins centre backs, 13-14 stone clattering on the touchline, which me and him (Carragher) have done in our careers and got yellow cards for. That tackle I’ve done 100 times, that challenge even back in 1997 is a yellow I think.
“That not being a yellow card, made me think a little bit, let’s stop a little bit. The refereeing has been brilliant, I’m with Sean Dyche, the game is in a good place, but that challenge cannot be encouraged.”
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