James Tarkowski has regularly stepped in to captain Everton this season but has now admitted one thing the defender finds ‘really not easy’ about playing for the Toffees.
The 31-year-old has earned the armband in all but one of the Blues’ first six Premier League games this term. It is even the third season that Tarkowski has spent at Everton since joining in a free transfer from Burnley in July 2022, where he endured relegation also as the skipper.
Each of the centre-half’s seasons on Merseyside so far have also featured a relegation fight, and another could follow this term. After finishing in 17th place during 2022/23 and in 15th place in 23/24, the Goodison Park squad sit 16th in the table with four points after one win.
James Tarkowski admits the pressure of playing for Everton is ‘really not easy’
Had Tarkowski joined Everton earlier in his career, rather than at 29 years old, the defender is not sure he would have coped with the pressure of playing for the Toffees. With his 32nd birthday approaching on November 19, he can now handle it but it can cause others to wilt.
Tarkowski particularly feels the pressure of playing for Everton can be too much of a burden on young players who ultimately crumble. But as the two-time England international is now in the later stages of his career, Tarkowski shares the big expectations supporters crave for.
“Honestly, I think if I was younger, I think I would have struggled because I know that can be difficult,” Tarkowski admitted to the official Everton website. “It’s really not easy to deal with it and play under it. But, where I am now, I really enjoy it.
“I enjoy the pressure, I want it. I like having the pressure of going out every week and being expected to perform to a certain level. I want that from myself – I expect it from myself.”
Everton have not won a major trophy since the 1995 FA Cup
Everton are a club starved of success, which only fuels the desire of their supporters to have big targets and to perform at a higher level that Tarkowski feels some players cannot handle. It is now 29 years since the Goodison Park team brought a major trophy back to Merseyside.
The last title added to Everton’s trophy cabinet was the FA Cup in 1994/95 when they edged Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley. Since then, their only trip back to the final saw Chelsea win 2-1 in 2008/09. Everton have never won the EFL Cup and last made the final in 1983/84.
Tarkowski cannot help bring a first EFL Cup to Goodison Park before the Blues say farewell to the stadium, either. Southampton dumped Everton out on penalties in the third round when Sean Dyche rested Tarkowski. Everton will start one last FA Cup run to remember in January.
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