‘TARK A CHANCE GARETH’
JAMES TARKOWSKI will face Manchester United tonight with his former boss Sean Dyche wondering what Everton’s no-nonsense central defender still has to do to get into England’s World Cup squad.
Dyche (below) signed Tarkowski for Burnley from Brentford, worked with him for six years, and is mystified by his ongoing Three Lions snub.
Dyche said: “I think I’ve always made it clear I think a lot about
Gareth Southgate, but I always found it a head-scratcher when I was at Burnley how Tarky didn’t figure more than he has for England.”
Tarkowski’s old Burnley partnership with Ben Mee was rated within Premier League circles as one of the best. But two-cap Tarkowski has not figured for England again since being named among the standbys for the 2018 World Cup finals.
He has now carried his steely, uncompromising defensive outlook into an Everton side which was struggling until his link-up with Conor Coady – also 29 and someone who HAS been in Southgate’s thoughts.
Dyche added: “Tarky takes great pride in defending. I imagine he finds the same enjoyment in it as the top Italian defenders. You can see that they take great pride in halting an attack.
“He will be reliable, consistent, he’ll block and defend properly. And when you work with him you notice he is a very big physical specimen but able to move his feet quickly and see things quickly. He is a top pro as well.
“When his contract was running down last season he just parked all of that to one side and was playing as hard as anyone to make sure we tried to keep Burnley in the Premier
League. What a massive credit to him, when he could have been looking over his shoulder and thinking, ‘I could do with not getting injured here’.”
Tarkowski, 30 next month, knows that he will have almost certainly missed the international boat for good if he doesn’t get the call for Qatar.
Dyche said: “I understand that Gareth has probably been looking at younger players, looking to shape for the future, but on form as a centrehalf, you would like to believe Tarky is in the thinking for Qatar.
“The traits he has got might be deemed in some quarters as ‘old fashioned’. Tarky will head the ball properly, he will attack the ball, he is hard but fair.
“But we all know there are a number of centre–halves out there being described as the ‘next big thing’ – and they can’t defend.”