Everton star makes admission about squad following disappointing Wolves defeat

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Everton were soundly beaten by Wolves yesterday, and put in a disappointing performance as they were outclassed by the home side.

Sean Dyche’s side had no answer to the rampant hosts, who scored three, and could have added more, consigning Everton to a third consecutive defeat.

Everton faced a hectic fixture schedule in December, playing eight games including tough ties against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as a Carabao Cup tie against Fulham which they lost on penalties.

With injuries mounting, there have been questions about fatigue, and defender James Tarkowski has now admitted that his side ran out of steam by the time the trip to Wolves arrived.

James Tarkowski hints at Everton fatigue following Wolves defeat

Speaking via club media after the Wolves defeat, Tarkowski claimed that Everton’s strong run prior to recent games showed that they have quality, but the fixture congestion has had an impact on the team.

“We’ve been on a hell of a run – performance-wise, but these days come,” he said. We’ve been performing well and physically, asking a lot of ourselves,” he stated.

“Today, it just looked like one step too far. I’m not saying that’s accepting – it’s not at all. We have fans who pay money to come to watch us and expect us to give it our all, which I think we do, to be fair. We just didn’t perform well.

“If you’re off it, you’ll get done, like we did today. But also, in the two games before this, we’ve actually played really well against two top teams and probably should’ve come out of either of those games with a point or more.

“The results are there to be looked at and show we need to improve, but the performance levels have been pretty good overall.”

Everton will benefit from a rest

Everton were impressive in victories over Newcastle and Chelsea, but it is clear that fatigue and injuries, with Abdoulaye Doucoure a particularly big miss, have played a huge part in recent results.

Whilst the performance at Wolves was a poor one, there was promise in both defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

Everton have just three games in January, one of which is an FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace. Given Everton’s precarious position, the Premier League fixtures will have to be prioritised, and there is a two week gap between games against Aston Villa and Fulham in which they will have a good chance to recover their energy and welcome back absent players.