Everton recorded their best win of the season against Aston Villa, and supporters were completely taken by one player in particular.
David Moyes’ side pulled off a brilliant victory in the Midlands, winning 1-0 at Villa Park courtesy of a fine Thierno Barry goal in the second-half.
Everton defended superbly throughout, and every player did their job.
How good was Thierno Barry by the way? 🔥
What made the result so impressive was that Moyes still had several key players missing. But those he called on stepped up. And of course, Villa have been in such amazing form, it really did feel like a home win was highly probable.
Moyes has come in for many plaudits since the game.
But a lot of Toffees players are also being praised.
Jordan Pickford was solid again, and produced another magnificent save in the second-half. The two centre-halves in front of him were immense.
Young Harrison Armstrong again showed he is comfortable at this level, and Barry appears to have arrived for Everton.
But Everton News readers felt there was a clear standout.
- READ MORE: Everton player ratings vs Aston Villa, Thierno Barry one of four 8/10s in big win for David Moyes
Everton news readers adamant James Garner stole the show vs Aston Villa
James Garner has been enjoying a terrific season for Everton and on Sunday he turned in another top display.
With Idrissa Gana Gueye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall both absent once more, the onus was on him to take responsibility – and he certainly did that.
Ashley Young hailed Garner for his composed display.
And Moyes suggested that Garner shouldn’t be far away from an England call-up now, with Thomas Tuchel having been there at Villa Park to watch his latest display.
Everton News ran a poll after the game asking fans via TalkingPoints for their standout player, and Garner won easily, with the results as follows (at the time of writing).
- Jordan Pickford – 11.48%
- Jake O’Brien – 7.16%
- James Tarkowski – 2.75%
- James Garner – 68.60%
- Thierno Barry -7.07%
- Other – 2.94%
A number of fans also left high praise for Garner.
“Garner… get him in the England squad!”
“Jimmy Garner is a HUGE influence on our team. Opposing teams must hate playing against him. He covers every blade of grass, works his socks off. I sincerely hope, we can get a contract sorted out. He is young and worth a 5 year deal.”
“James Garner. We need to tie him up now for a new contract and again for me Jack Grealish holds on to the ball to much. And why doesn’t he shoot more at goal. And what an absolutely fantastic save from Pickford at the end of the game? England number 1.”
- READ MORE: The Everton player who caught Alan Shearer’s eye in David Moyes ‘masterclass’ vs Aston Villa
Garner deserves an England chance
It will be a tall order for Garner to go to the World Cup, but he certainly now deserves a chance to show what he can do at international level.
Garner has shown impressive levels of consistency this season and has been stepped up in the absence of key players.
He’s had to play out of position a few times, but has never let anyone down.
It’s great to see many neutral fans acknowledging Garner’s quality, and hopefully Tuchel will do the same in a couple of months by way of a first call-up for the Everton maestro.
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