Should eat some but very much doubt they will. Tarkowski has been IMMENSE.

My hand is up on this one, didn't think he was ready for a regular place a centre back.

I was very wrong, he has been outstanding.

MOTM without a doubt .

Four year contract needed NOW.

England squad beckons on this form.

I was thinking the same thing throughout the game. He is outstanding at the moment.

jedi_master wrote:Four year contract needed NOW.

England squad beckons on this form.

Some on here will sneer but you are absolutely right. The `bigger` clubs will be taking note.

Some of you may remember my conveyor belt analogy, where Tarks was now off it and into our starting 11 and that we needed another 1-2 to put back onto the belt ready for when Tarks/Mee leaves.

I think this is going well so far, but we need to be looking for someone now who can take his place and be moving forward to our starting 11 in 1-2 seasons time. I think Long may fall off this conveyor belt and not reach the end of it, so we need to be ready.

Wait till he gets a run in midfield

Well I was always impressed with him, Mee is still an unsung hero. Even if his passing is wayward.

Burt wrote:Wait till he gets a run in midfield

Mock people may but I think he could play the Cork role if needs ever be. He has the brain and certainly the physicality. Our `back 6` is excellent.

Sharpness, anticipation, confidence all improved with being a regular starter, he is looking very good.

We should not forget that both him & Keane had a certain blonde centre back alongside them.

Stockbrokerbelt wrote:We should not forget that both him & Keane had a certain blonde centre back alongside them.

Mee is still the first name on the teamsheet for me BUT there are a few others knocking on his door!

I apologise for doubting JT magnificent display today.

I wanted a marquee CH signing but it fell on deaf ears. I'm not sure if we'd sign anyone better than Mee and Tarks though.

We haven't missed Keane as much as I thought we would.

Never ever doubted tarks. We still should gave signed a cb as cover.

boiledclaret wrote:I wanted a marquee CH signing but it fell on deaf ears.

We all did, even the OP if he's being honest.

It was seen as an assassination of Tarky on here by some, yet we had four centre backs last season and had to play all four.

Now we have three.

It would appear that SD thinks Taylor could do a job in cental defence in an emergency.

Wasn't impressed with his preseason display and had a few doubts but still thought he deserved his chance. Since the start of the season he has settled into the back 4 and gone from strength to strength. Could be better than Keane was.... Time will tell. UTC!!

Never doubted him. What a man, a proper defender, built like a brick **** house. We still desperately need another centre half to fill in should Mee or Tarks get injured or suspended. Playing with fire not getting another in, really silly not to get someone in the transfer window and we will be very lucky if it doesn't back fire.

He looks a mile better than Keane but I wont get carried away until he moves to a more open footballing side like Keane has then we can see how he does.

I'd rather he stayed with us as we develop our style of play.

This open football you're talking about has been toss for Everton this season.

Absolutely superb, again.

Absolutely superb, again.

Reminded me of John Terry today.

The fact that only City and United have conceded fewer goals speaks for itself. In addition the loss of Heaton looked like it could be a season-changer but so far Pope has been superbly protected at the same time looking highly capable when called upon.

It seems now that SD chose not to bring in another CB rather than tried to but failed. He's made several references to Long mirroring Tarkowski's improvement and development and Taylor is usually mentioned as defensive back-up generally, not specifically as left back.

Superb from Tarkowski and Mee again today. For a team that is called upon to defend more than attack (so excluding City and United) doubt there's a better defensive unit in the PL.

There are some choppers on this thread.

http://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboar ... ks#p441018" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Should have been playing all last year.

Where?

Flat Stanley wrote:Never doubted him. What a man, a proper defender, built like a brick **** house. We still desperately need another centre half to fill in should Mee or Tarks get injured or suspended. Playing with fire not getting another in, really silly not to get someone in the transfer window and we will be very lucky if it doesn't back fire.

Don't you think Dyche is well aware of all his positions and options?
In the event of I jury to JT, I suspect Long and Taylor would prove more than capable in filling his position

Did anyone seriously doubt Tarky? I thought it was mainly fishing with assorted clowns being caught in the nets?

He's been superb and simply immense today

Mee and Tarks = heaven.....

We have a back four who know how to defend. This is really rare in this day and age. There was a moment in the first half when Tarkowski didn't dive in against Niase, the commentator commented about this and stated a lot of defenders would have dived in. My initial thought was this is very basic defending, however my second thought was this is what we are so good at (the basics) and what differentiates us from other teams.

Chris Wood had a great game. The way he held the ball up was fantastic.

James Tarkowski completed 12 clearances, four tackles and three blocks

not a bad afternoons work!

I liked Keane (wonder how he feels tonight?) , but will Tarka be ahead of him soon - for England - and will he be worth more?

I was impressed today with Tarkowski's quickness of his feet when he gets in a tackle or adjusts for a block. He seems to have all the skills of a solid centre back with an ability to make a good long pass too.

I'm not sure what sort of clubs would be interested in him though as central defenders at many of the Premier clubs are more about ball playing and I haven't noticed Tarkowski or Mee being particularly proficient in this area.

I say what I see. Last season he wasn't good enough. The last few weeks he has been superb and I couldn't be happier.

amazing stat taken from Sky
Burnley pair James Tarkowski and Ben Mee have made more blocks between them (30) than 16 of the other 19 Premier League teams this season.

" In the event of I jury to JT, I suspect Long and Taylor would prove more than capable in filling his "

I don't suspect you are wrong, I know you are. Taylor is not a CB, he is an attacking full back/wing back/leftside midfielder. Long is 4th choice CB at best and we all know it don't we?

Hell fire we are 6th in the PL on merit and we don't have the back up we may need at CB. For me it was always about signing the next Tarks now as he is doing what I expected and if he carries on as he is he won't be here next year.

We are risking it all if Mee or Tarks are out for any length of time.

Best compliment I can give him is we haven't missed Keane (and no disrespect to Keano intended)

Tarks just gets better and better with each game.

Is there a better back 4 in the PL at the moment (collectively not individually) ?

I always think central defenders get hyped up pretty quickly. A few good displays and some good old MotD analysis - and the fact that he's English - could soon have Tarky in the £30m bracket IF he keeps up this form. He's certainly being noticed across the punditry panels. I'd expect he is on a reasonably modest contract from when we signed him but hopefully he's grounded enough to stop about for a bit now he's back the north.

summitclaret wrote:Long is 4th choice CB at best and we all know it don't we?

I don't. I think Long is 3rd choice centre back. If Mee or Tarks get injured, Long comes in.

But I agree with you about Taylor - he's never seen centre back in his life. He's about as much a centre back as Barnes is.

We shouldn't be surprised that Tarks has developed into the player he has - Dyche had no doubt that he'd seen enough of him ages ago to trust him to step in.
We shouldn't be surprised also that he received some stick on here for his perceived failings in the first game or two - I don't think there's hardly one player in the squad that the all-wise, all-knowing moaners and doubters have not criticised at one point or another over the last few months.
Heaton, Lowton, Taylor, Mee, Tarks, Defour, Hendrick, Vokes, Wood, Arfield - just one after the other who are either simply not good enough, overpriced, have cost us games and shipped points needlessly or are bogged down in a boring system.
We have some odd "fans" on here.

He’s certainly knocking on the door of the England squad on this form. No doubt about it. You can’t ignore performances like these. I thought Mee defended as well in the main but made a couple of errors which could have been punished on another day.

I don't recall there being many doubters of his ability. Most people fancied him to step up. The issue was/is the lack of cover for him or Mee in the event of injury or suspension.

That said, Tarkowski was a colossus once again today, and I'm sure it's not going unnoticed.

It's time for us to buy the next up and coming centre half in January, because if he carries on like that, we won't keep hold of him for long. He's looking top drawer right now.

His development from just the Chelsea game has been very impressive. In that game he got caught out on many occasions on simple things like losing his man at set pieces. He hasn't since, he's figured it out very quickly !!

HiroshimaClaret wrote:Should eat some but very much doubt they will. Tarkowski has been IMMENSE.

Oh im gobbling the pie down and loving every piece. Sorry mr Tark. I panicked and wanted an instant international replacement with premiere league experience for Keane.

And here you are.

Bin Ont Turf wrote:We all did, even the OP if he's being honest.

It was seen as an assassination of Tarky on here by some, yet we had four centre backs last season and had to play all four.

Now we have three.

NOT AT ALL. I always had a very good feeling regards Tarkowski and his ability to play alongside Mee. What I advocated was another Tarkowskiesque signing, who could if needs be, step up to cover an injury and play, but otherwise happy to be part of the squad and wait his turn.

I wanted a `marquee` winger, if anyting

JohnMcGreal wrote:I don't recall there being many doubters of his ability. Most people fancied him to step up. The issue was/is the lack of cover for him or Mee in the event of injury or suspension.

That said, Tarkowski was a colossus once again today, and I'm sure it's not going unnoticed.

It's time for us to buy the next up and coming centre half in January, because if he carries on like that, we won't keep hold of him for long. He's looking top drawer right now.

Oh you will find there were plenty saying he wasn`t up to it.

There's quality.

Then.

There's Tarkowski.....