Tarkowski

[Colburn_Claret]

We know what strange creatures inhabit this board. People finding fault in one of our own, yet outside pundits singing the same players praises. Sky gave him a 9, The Sun has him in the team of the day.
Just exactly what is it that his detractors are looking for, that will make him acceptable as Keanes replacement? He's fine by me, always was. His patience last season was impressive, the way SD keeps them on their toes is impressive. It's early days, one swallow and all that...., but I can see Tarks being one of our outstanding players this season.

[CrosspoolClarets]

Of course people should be respected for posting opinions, good and bad, on boards like this. I just don't get the mentality of immediately posting critical views of an unprecedented (in recent decades) win.

I don't think we can underestimate the difficulty of playing a world class side who are throwing caution to the wind at home, with the crowd up, and letting centre backs roam up front with our centre backs not knowing who to pick up. That's another reason I would never be critical of yesterday.

[ExistentialWanderer]

Tarky was great yesterday - as I've posted on other threads, he looked like he'd been playing Premier League all his life. He's made the step up - remember we signed him when we were Championship.

Sure, there were some things he didn't get right, but that's true of all footballers. Sure, Tarks will want to avoid those mistakes in future, and sure, Sean Dyche will work on those things with him.

Gary Cahill has been playing CH in Premier League for a lot longer. He's also got some mistakes to work on. Same for a lot of the Chelsea players. Morata looks good for £60 million.

We should all be happy clapping - we've taken 3 points at Stamford Bridge. That's all that counts about yesterday.

UTC

Therein is the rub. Cahill made a basic error and has been at this level most of his career. Tarkowski has played a handful of games in the Premier League and people expect him to act like a seasoned Premier League star. Critically we took advantage of Cahill's error with some aplomb and came away with three points. Which has been roundly applauded and positively waxed lyrical over by the media and pundits alike.

[claretspice]

Playing Palace, Bournemouth, WBA and West Ham is one thing. Playing Chelsea is something completely different. Burnley had to do a lot of defending yesterday, even against 9/10 men, and mostly did it extremely well, including Tarkowski.

The one thing I would say about Tarkowski is that he does occasionally seem to get caught out by clever movement, which is probably mainly indicative of the fact he's played the vast majority of his career to date in the lower divisions, and perhaps also partly because he appears prone to the odd lapse in concentration. But one thing that has struck me is that at set plays, he often seems to get caught in a bit of a grappling match with whoever he is marking, particularly from corners (he did it with Luiz a couple of times, and also got done by Dawson for one of WBA's goals against us at the end of last season), and I wonder if that's because he's spent time in teams who have previously asked him to mark zonally.

He's never going to be the finished article now, though. Keane certainly wasn't when he first came into our team. I reckon there's plenty of potential for improvement in Tarks though.

[Bin Ont Turf]

Tarkowski was signed as cover for Keane/Mee. He has been very patient. Now he gets his chance, deservedly. He now needs games to settle in. It's really that's simple. Or shall we just discard him? That sends the wrong signal in my opinion.

I find it weird that some people think that because we need another centre back in that it means throwing Tarky on the scrap heap.

We're a Premier League club, we've lost Keane, we're running with 3 centre backs, 1 experienced and 2 not so.

We need another centre back in, and one which should be seen as being ready for the first team in the Premier League, and not for cover.

[boatshed bill]

Playing Palace, Bournemouth, WBA and West Ham is one thing. Playing Chelsea is something completely different. Burnley had to do a lot of defending yesterday, even against 9/10 men, and mostly did it extremely well, including Tarkowski.

The one thing I would say about Tarkowski is that he does occasionally seem to get caught out by clever movement, which is probably mainly indicative of the fact he's played the vast majority of his career to date in the lower divisions, and perhaps also partly because he appears prone to the odd lapse in concentration. But one thing that has struck me is that at set plays, he often seems to get caught in a bit of a grappling match with whoever he is marking, particularly from corners (he did it with Luiz a couple of times, and also got done by Dawson for one of WBA's goals against us at the end of last season), and I wonder if that's because he's spent time in teams who have previously asked him to mark zonally.

He's never going to be the finished article now, though. Keane certainly wasn't when he first came into our team. I reckon there's plenty of potential for improvement in Tarks though.

Whilst not disagreeing with you on the specific incidents, Spice, it's the whole defence that lets goals in.
They will work on ways of not allowing any defender to get isolated one on one. You will no doubt see an improvement on this.
And we don't play megastars such as those at Chelsea every week.

[ClaretAL]

I remember us going through a stage where we could not defend crosses or corners to save our lives and they were as nearly tied on as a penalty for us to concede , but Dyche turned it around. I dont think there is a better manager in the league to develop centre backs.

[Spijed]

I find it weird that some people think that because we need another centre back in that it means throwing Tarky on the scrap heap.

We're a Premier League club, we've lost Keane, we're running with 3 centre backs, 1 experienced and 2 not so.

We need another centre back in, and one which should be seen as being ready for the first team in the Premier League, and not for cover.

Isn't Kevin Long seen as the other one? Otherwise what was the point of giving him a new contract?

[claretspice]

Whilst not disagreeing with you on the specific incidents, Spice, it's the whole defence that lets goals in.
They will work on ways of not allowing any defender to get isolated one on one. You will no doubt see an improvement on this.
And we don't play megastars such as those at Chelsea every week.

Completely agree with all of this - I'm sure we will improve as a unit and Tarks will improve as an individual with games, and as we both said - we won't play Chelsea (who have been one of the best teams in the league at attacking crosses for a long team) every week.

[warksclaret]

Many goals are down to defensive mistakes-even Arsenal & Liverpool let 3 in each this weekend and look at what these two have spent
Saw the whole game on SKY and thought he was one of our heroes , I think we need 3 top centre halves.Both Mee and Tarhowski likely to pick up a number of yellow cards because of the way they play. Kevin Long being more than adequate cover as the 4th CH

[Bin Ont Turf]

Isn't Kevin Long seen as the other one? Otherwise what was the point of giving him a new contract?

Sorry but you've lost me.

Are you suggesting that I haven't included Long in the said 3 centre backs that we have?

[boatshed bill]

Many goals are down to defensive mistakes-even Arsenal & Liverpool let 3 in each this weekend and look at what these two have spent
Saw the whole game on SKY and thought he was one of our heroes , I think we need 3 top centre halves.Both Mee and Tarhowski likely to pick up a number of yellow cards because of the way they play. Kevin Long being more than adequate cover as the 4th CH

From what he says I'm sure that Sean has full confidence in the 3 CBs available. He promotes the idea of fighting for the shirt.
I'd expect a new defender in, although he may already be here in Charlie Taylor

[ExistentialWanderer]

From what he says I'm sure that Sean has full confidence in the 3 CBs available. He promotes the idea of fighting for the shirt.
I'd expect a new defender in, although he may already be here in Charlie Taylor

I may be wrong but I'd go with the thinking that SD has faith in his three Centre Back's and wouldn't have offered Long and extension if he didn't have faith in him. He may well have been looking at the Chelsea game and seeing it as one of those games where he can gauge just how capable Tarkowski is. Let's face it, Chelsea will be one of the toughest opponents they'll come up against. It was a game we were expected to lose, so maybe Dyche didn't feel the pressure to rush into a signing before that game. He may well be pleasantly surprised at how well Mee and Tarkowski performed.
That said, when SD talks of two players for each position, I am sure he is referring to two left sided centre back's and two right sided centre back's. Not centre back as one position. So I'd think he's looking at one more for left or right. Even better if we can bring in a centre back who can play anywhere across the back line.