James Tarkowski left Perry Groves in disbelief after what the Everton defender did in the FA Cup defeat to Bournemouth.
The focus has to be on the Premier League for Everton with survival the main aim, but a home encounter against Bournemouth provided the Toffees with a relatively decent chance of an FA Cup run.
That wasn’t to be, though, with the Cherries taking advantage of a poor Everton performance and securing a place in the next round of the competition in a 2-0 win.
Everton did themselves no favours in the game, in which David Moyes made far too many changes, having handed the visitors both of their first-half goals – the second seeing Tarkowski slammed for his decision-making.
James Tarkowski slammed for mistake v Bournemouth
At 1-0 down, the Toffees had hopes of getting back into the game but a horrid mistake from Tarkowski all but ended those chances, leaving Everton with a mountain to climb.
Jordan Pickford played a short pass out to Tarkowski, who attempted a cross-field pass to no success, directly leading to the second Bournemouth goal.Commentating on the game on talkSPORT 2 (8 February, 4:43pm), Groves said: “Tarkowski and Pickford having a little word with each other. Tarkowski says ‘I don’t want the ball’.
“He’s played a ridiculous pass from his own 18-yard box, tried to go across the field, gives the ball away to [Marcus] Tavernier and in two seconds it ends up in the back of the net.”Focus turns to Premier League survival for Everton
For many, the FA Cup can be seen as a distraction, although that tends to change depending on the result achieved.
Had Everton come away with a place in the next round, it would have provided an opportunity to gain momentum and have a real shot at winning some silverware, although that was not to be the case.The Toffees were certainly not deserving of the win, having failed to compete with the Cherries throughout the clash.
Everton now have to focus on survival. As things stand, they are in an excellent position to do just that, with a nine-point gap and a game in hand.
However, for that to be achieved, performances going forward must be significantly better than the one that was on show in the FA Cup.
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