James Tarkowski

James Tarkowski
Image from: zimbio.com

James Tarkowski





Current Club: Burnley.

Previous Clubs: Oldham Athletic, Brentford.

Loan Clubs: N/A.





International: England 1 cap.

Trophies Won: N/A.





Tarkowski is what can best be described as a 'whole-hearted' type of player. He does give his all in every game. You will never be disappointed by a lack of effort from him. Unfortunately he lacks the technical qualities to make the most of his efforts. Positionally he has a tendency to drop off far too deep, usually waiting until he is forced into the penalty box before making a last ditch tackle. Which is why he gives away so many penalties. Far too many penalties.



He is very strong and good in the air, but is extremely suspect positionally and can often be caught wrong side when heading away a clearance due to his poor reading of the game. What he does particularly well, which goes hand-in-hand with being whole-hearted, is to throw his body in the way of shots. Of course that can be a problem at times as well, as sometimes the deflection can make a shot more difficult for a keeper to save or take it past him before he can react.



On the ball he is a weak link, he does not have the technical quality to play out from the back. He needs to just move it on quickly and simply to better players. However that suits the style of play at Burnley, as they do not ask the defence to play it around, they want it moved forward quickly to try and catch opponents on the break.



One on one, Tarkowski is at his best, he deals well with players, as he is like a limpet and sticks to them, not giving them any space or time to create. The dropping off he does ensures they cannot just knock it past him and go, but obviously, as I mentioned before it does leave him in danger of giving up penalties. That is why he is best suited to a team like Burnley, where he is never asked to get outside of his comfort zone and try and play out from the back and they are set up to deny space behind.



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