Sometimes, a simple problem can be solved by a simple solution. Everton, during a traumatic 2021/22 campaign, conceded 66 goals in 38 Premier League games; a seemingly never-ending series of ricks and blunders very nearly snapping a 71 year stay in the top-flight.
Thanks to the inspired additions of James Tarkowski and Conor Coady, however, Everton’s defensive issues have been all-but resolved.
They are conceding on average just one goal a match now. Compare that to last season – 1.7 per game – and you can see the immediate impact Tarkowski and Coady, two old-school, experienced, vocal central defenders, have made at Goodison Park.
“I’ve known him since we were about eight or nine and we just hit it off straight away,” Tarkowski tells BBC Radio 5Live of his long-time friend and now centre-back partner Coady. “He’s a great lad, great to have around the place and it’s been brilliant to play alongside him.
“The moment he walked in, it was like he had been there for years. He has got so much confidence in himself, and rightly so. He has been different class since he came in.”
West Ham and Nottingham Forest wanted Everton’s Michael Keane
The inevitable by-product of Everton’s new-look partnership, of course, is that Michael Keane has gone from regular starter to benchwarmer under Frank Lampard.
The England international has played just 22 minutes of Premier League football all season. And that is unlikely to change, unless Tarkowski or Coady are unavailable for whatever reason.
Keane’s form, like many of his Everton team-mates, dipped alarmingly during the unhappy Rafael Benitez era last term. In fact, no outfield player in the division committed more errors that led directly to opposition goals than the £30 million signing from Burnley. If Keane has lost Lampard’s trust, then he really only his himself to blame.
According to The Sun and the Daily Mail, Everton rebuffed offers for Keane over the summer, following enquiries from both West Ham United and Nottingham Forest. With Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey struggling to maintain fitness, Keane remains a useful and potentially invaluable back-up option. He will be Lampard’s first port of call in case of injury or suspension.
Such a role is unlikely to keep Keane content for long, however.
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