Our Everton correspondent Joe Thomas and head of sport Paul Wheelock debate the Everton partnership that was questioned by supporters following the 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 20: James Tarkowski and Michael Keane of Everton during the Premier League match between Everton and Arsenal at Hill Dickinson Stadium on December 20, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
James Tarkowski and Michael Keane have been stalwarts for Everton(Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
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If Everton do miss out on European football, there will no doubt be a sense of what might have been. Sunday's 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace means the Blues have now dropped six points in their last four matches.
There are reasons for that. In the first three of those matches, it was their inability to hold on in injury-time that proved costly, while at the weekend, both Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Iliman Ndiaye missed big chances to seal the win.
But following the Selhurst Park stalemate, in which Palace twice fought back to earn a point, questions were raised among the fanbase over the centre-back partnership of James Tarkowski and Michael Keane.
Both players are Everton stalwarts and will go down as excellent signings. Also, looking at the individual statistics - WhoScored have Tarkowski (7.14) second and Keane (6.92) fifth in their average ratings for the season, with James Garner (7.18) first, Ndiaye (7.06) third and Dewsbury Hall (6.98) fourth - they are both enjoying strong individual campaigns.
But with the Blues having conceded eight goals since Jarrad Branthwaite was stretchered off in the devastating Merseyside derby defeat, supporters are wondering whether it's time to move Jake O’Brien from right-back into his more natural role of centre-back.
That, however, would mean dropping Tarkowski, who is captain in the absence of Seamus Coleman, or Keane. Our writers have their say...
Joe Thomas
For me, this is a conversation about centre-backs that starts and ends in a different position - right-back. There is no doubt Jake O'Brien is better suited to a role in the middle. For all his determination, speed and strength, he is a square peg in a round hole when playing out wide.
But moving him to centre-back, where he has excelled when provided the opportunity, is so problematic because of the lack of alternatives. Seamus Coleman has struggled with injuries and Nathan Patterson has, I think, been hard done by but successive managers have opted to overlook him and he too has suffered misfortune with injuries.
Both of those issues have been known for years and the failure to address the right-back issue has been bizarre. If neither Coleman nor Patterson are to play then you are left with a hotchpotch of solutions that have ripple effects across the team.
James Garner is a very competent right back but he has been one of the best central midfielders in the Premier League this season - removing him from that position weakens the team in a key area even if Tim Iroegbunam is finishing the campaign strongly.
Moving Merlin Rohl to right back to allow O'Brien to move into the middle is also problematic. He finished the win at Nottingham Forest there and has size and speed - but we saw on Sunday that that was not enough to allow him to stop Tyrick Mitchell picking Jean-Philippe Mateta out in the box for the second equaliser at Palace.
I do think that, for all that James Tarkowski and Michael Keane are having strong individual seasons, their work as a partnership can create issues - the most obvious the need to sit back because of the lack of pace. But I don't think there is a perfect solution here - at least not while Jarrad Branthwaite is injured.
And in fairness to David Moyes, when Branthwaite has been fit he has played, typically in the place of Keane. For all the scrutiny of the centre-back partnership after the weekend I think it has to be remembered that it is injuries, not Moyes, that have prevented him from naming a different centre-back pairing. Where there is culpability is in the years-long failure to find a competent specialist right-back who could allow the Blues boss, when Branthwaite is out, to consider a different approach.
I think O'Brien has been brilliant at centre-back and I want him in that position as soon as possible. When Mateta replaced Jorgen Strand Larsen on Sunday I would have loved to have been able to move O'Brien inside to deal with his physicality. But doing so would have weakened the team elsewhere.
I think the club should be moving towards an O'Brien and Branthwaite partnership - that strikes me as having the potential to be one of the best centre-back pairings in football. That has not been possible so far because of injuries and the lack of alternatives to O'Brien at right-back, though, and I think this debate highlights how the Everton squad still requires work done on it.
For me, the priority position this summer is right-back, something that would allow O'Brien to compete better for the centre-back berth I think he will emerge as a titan in. Until then, I don't think there is a perfect solution and I can understand why Moyes has made the decisions he has.
Paul Wheelock
You could point to Virgil van Dijk's 100th-minute header as the moment that Everton's season of undoubted progress took a turn for the worse.
But it actually arrived 13 minutes earlier to that when the desperately unfortunate Jarrad Branthwaite was forced off the field in tears. Had the England international - and Beto - been on the field, there is a chance they would have prevented the Liverpool captain from breaking Everton hearts.
Branthwaite was missed then and he has been missed in the three games since.
The statistics show that the Blues lose more games and concede more goals when the 23-year-old is not in the team, which sadly and frustratingly has not been anywhere near as often as he would have hoped in the past two seasons.
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David Moyes, then, has turned to James Tarkowski and Michael Keane as his preferred centre-back partnership, and by and large they have been solid.
It shouldn't be forgotten that only three teams have kept more clean sheets than Everton this season while last season their tally of shutouts was bettered only by five sides.
But the nagging suspicion that the Blues look more susceptible to giving goals away when Tarkowski and Keane team up has reared its head since Branthwaite's new blow.
So what is David Moyes to do? Move Jake O'Brien into the centre for the final two games of the season? But that creates an issue at right-back.
Nathan Patterson may feel aggrieved that he's not had more of a chance to solve that issue, especially after playing his part in the wins and clean sheets at Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa.
But there is enough evidence to suggest that Moyes, like Sean Dyche and Frank Lampard before him, does not trust the Scotland international enough to offer him a regular starting spot.
And that's more damning on the club's recruitment than the Everton manager, who admitted in January that the search for a new right-back had been going on for more than a year.
In fairness, the Blues had so much to do last summer. But this summer, there can be no excuses. It has been a priority position for too long now.
And should Everton finally land their long-term replacement for captain Seamus Coleman, that would free O'Brien up to compete alongside Tarkowski and Keane for a place beside Branthwaite.
But we will have to wait for next season until we see that.