ITV commentator Sam Matterface has claimed that James Tarkowski and Conor Coady have had a major influence on their teammates at Everton.
Tarkowski was brought to the club on a free transfer way back in July at the beginning of the transfer window after leaving Burnley.
He signed on a four-year deal before the Toffees scooped up Coady on a season-long loan after the Wolves captain found himself out of favour at Molineux.
Their loss certainly proved to be the Blues’ gain with the side sitting comfortably in mid-table and boasting the best defence in the league outside of the top four.
Speaking on the talkSPORT GameDay podcast Matterface has now said:
(29:11)”They’re good defenders and they’re good fellas around the dressing room. “From what I understand they’ve raised the levels of everybody around them as well. “They’re brilliant at keeping morale up, they’re brilliant at coaching the other players through matches. They’re just great, great characters to have in a team.”
TIF Thoughts on Matterface’s comments…
Is Lampard doing a good job at Everton?Yes!
No!
|
The tandem have certainly laid solid foundations at Goodison Park this season with Everton hoping to avoid a repeat of their relegation-threatened campaign last term.
Tarkowski leads the way in terms of both clearances and blocks per 90 minutes among his teammates with 5.7 and 2.3 on average this season (WhoScored).
Coady meanwhile, ranks third in both metrics with 4.7 and 0.8 clearances and blocks per game.
It surpasses the leading average at the club in the previous campaign while the latter’s clearances are just shy of last term’s highest.
Nonetheless, considering the club conceded 1.7 goals per game last year and with that tally now at less than one per match it underlines the drastic improvements the duo have helped make on Merseyside this season.