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2024/25 James Tarkowski

GrandOldTeam said:
2 games.

Tarkowski with Coady and we sat here;

View attachment 271905


Tarkowski does a job in a low block next to Branthwaite - but we need more from him. Even in an attacking sense - doesn't score enough considering emphasis on set pieces/we aim for him from almost every corner.
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I agree on some of that, but in terms of corners, he wins that back post header quite a lot and drags other players with him.

The Liverpool game last year is a prime example. Instrumental in both goals, dragging Van Dijk out of position.

Any excuse really:
 
Jebus_lives said:
I agree on some of that, but in terms of corners, he wins that back post header quite a lot and drags other players with him.

The Liverpool game last year is a prime example. Instrumental in both goals, dragging Van Dijk out of position.

Any excuse really:
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He's alright for a flick on/keeping it alive but I'm not sure he's the best at attacking headers. Certainly doesn't show in goals scored, anyway. Recall his xG nonsense being up there with Calvert-Lewin's last season.

Think the example you give was a poor one though - Calvert-Lewin scores that with or without Tarkowski. He's certainly not instrumental.

As for "drags other players with him" - he's the centre half that 9/10 we aim for. Players will mark centre halfs at corners.
 
GrandOldTeam said:
He's alright for a flick on/keeping it alive but I'm not sure he's the best at attacking headers. Certainly doesn't show in goals scored, anyway. Recall his xG nonsense being up there with Calvert-Lewin's last season.

Think the example you give was a poor one though - Calvert-Lewin scores that with or without Tarkowski. He's certainly not instrumental.

As for "drags other players with him" - he's the centre half that 9/10 we aim for. Players will mark centre halfs at corners.
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I'm not so sure Calvert-Lewin gets as much of a free header without Tarkowski being there. The entire defence was watching, reacting to Tarkowski all game. Like others have across the season.

He also screens, like an Nba center, well for others (Onana did the same without much fanfare).

Edit: you get a better idea of that here


I'm fairly sure Carragher has described him as the best in the league from attacking set pieces and he's been picked out across lots of pieces of analysis as a big part of our set peice success.

He probably should score more, but just having him there is problematic for other teams. He's a menace to defend against.
 
Jebus_lives said:
I'm not so sure Calvert-Lewin gets as much of a free header without Tarkowski being there. The entire defence was watching, reacting to Tarkowski all game. Like others have across the season.

He also screens, like an Nba center, well for others (Onana did the same without much fanfare).

I'm fairly sure Carragher has described him as the best in the league from attacking set pieces and he's been picked out across lots of pieces of analysis as a big part of our set peice success.

He probably should score more, but just having him there is problematic for other teams. He's a menace to defend against.
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The bold being my point;

GrandOldTeam said:
Tarkowski does a job in a low block next to Branthwaite - but we need more from him. Even in an attacking sense - doesn't score enough considering emphasis on set pieces/we aim for him from almost every corner.
Click to expand...

I think it's very generous to say a centre half we aim for on almost every set piece, does the job just by moving.

I get first phase - but even that, he's got 1 assist per season to his name so it's not as though he's flicking on.

A centre half who manages 1 goal per season isn't the best in the league from attacking set pieces.

Hopefully once Branthwaite is back, and assuming Tarkowski finds some fitness - he gets back to a standard we saw last season. If not, I wonder how loud the calls for OBrien will be...
 
GrandOldTeam said:
The bold being my point;



I think it's very generous to say a centre half we aim for on almost every set piece, does the job just by moving.

I get first phase - but even that, he's got 1 assist per season to his name so it's not as though he's flicking on.

A centre half who manages 1 goal per season isn't the best in the league from attacking set pieces.

Hopefully once Branthwaite is back, and assuming Tarkowski finds some fitness - he gets back to a standard we saw last season. If not, I wonder how loud the calls for OBrien will be...
Click to expand...
In the example given of the Calvert Lewin goal, despite doing a lot of work to enable that goal, he won't have got an assist.

We are one of the most successful teams from set pieces, with one of the highest xG. If the ball goes to him most of the time, and he wins it most of the time, I'd say that him scoring is secondary to the overall outcome.
 

Jebus_lives said:
In the example given of the Calvert Lewin goal, despite doing a lot of work to enable that goal, he won't have got an assist.

We are one of the most successful teams from set pieces, with one of the highest xG. If the ball goes to him most of the time, and he wins it most of the time, I'd say that him scoring is secondary to the overall outcome.
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No, come on, what are you talking about?

If Tarkowski doesn't get 5 goals and 4 assists from set pieces each season, in addition to keeping 15+ clean sheets and marshalling a defence including a combination of Coleman, Young, Keane, Mykolenko and Paterson, then really he should be dropped as he's not a Premier League quality player.

Seems that's what the argument is. You know, I'd actually say that the fact he doesn't score as much as Haaland and defend as well as Van Dijk is why Everton should be dropping him to the bench.
 
He should score more from corners. Guess it keeps happening because it worked in Dyche's first game v Arsenal but scoring on average once a season isn't enough justification to aim all the set plays to him towards the back post.
 
knowing your history said:
He should score more from corners. Guess it keeps happening because it worked in Dyche's first game v Arsenal but scoring on average once a season isn't enough justification to aim all the set plays to him towards the back post.
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Just look at the example above. That's why he's so huge for our set pieces, he takes out two defenders just by sly movement and blocking. They don't always get the plaudits but players doing that kind of work are absolutely massively important - the main problem is the others can't actually score.
 
heatmeiser said:
Just look at the example above. That's why he's so huge for our set pieces, he takes out two defenders just by sly movement and blocking. They don't always get the plaudits but players doing that kind of work are absolutely massively important - the main problem is the others can't actually score.
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The RS game gets mentioned but my recollection that night was Branthwaite winning everything first half and eventually scoring whenever a ball was pinged into the box by Pickford.

Confused their backline so much they didn't bother marking DCL for the second.

It's a good point that with Branthy injured and Doucoure benched there isn't a huge scoring threat generally from set pieces corners. Full backs stay on halfway line and Tim, Gana, Garner is a pretty small CM unit without Onana now. And McNeill and Harrison are the ones taking the set pieces from either side.

I think we'll see O'Brien make a belated prem debut at Villa as going to need someone to stay close to Onana on Villa's set plays with how he's started.
 


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