3 replacements for James Tarkowski along Everton's backline | OneFootball

Saturday's match against Manchester City was not an ideal one for Everton, as they fell 2-0 to the visitors at Goodison Park.

To further add to the day's frustration, however, was the injury suffered by defender James Tarkowski early in the second half of the match. The club confirmed the injury just after the conclusion of the contest:

This is a big blow for the squad as it enters the final days of this season, and truly disheartening for Tarkowski, who has been a rock at the back since arriving at Everton on a free transfer back in 2022.

It's made all the worse since it feels likely that the England international may miss the final match at Goodison Park depending on the severity of the injury.

In either case, Everton will need to press on for some period without him, so they'll need a solution to cover his spot next to Jarrad Branthwaite. Here are three options given the current squad.

Michael Keane slides into Tarkowski's spot

When Tarkowski went down during Saturday's defeat to City, David Moyes called upon Michael Keane to take the centerback position for the remainder of the game.

For an in-game change, this certainly made the most sense. It doesn't ask anyone currently on the pitch to shuffle to a different position and essentially keeps the game the same tactically.

And it is an option that Moyes can use if he wants to maintain the rest of his starting XI as it has been for much of his tenure, with fullbacks Jake O'Brien and Vitalii Mykolenko flanked by Tarkowski and Branthwaite along the backline.

That said, while Keane has had his moments, he has been prone to major gaffes when employed as a centerback during his time at Everton and isn't as steady as Tarkowski. This can impact Branthwaite next to him, who might be asked to take fewer risks if Keane is beside him.

As far as the disruption of the shape, this makes the most sense. But it doesn't necessarily get your best available eleven on the pitch to begin the match.

Move Jake O'Brien inside, sub in another right back

Jake O'Brien has been a revelation playing out of position at right back since Moyes slotted him in as the starter against Tottenham in a 3-2 victory for Everton on January 19, but the 6'6" Irishman is clearly a centerback when you look at his frame.

And the likelihood is that someone is going to come in for Jarrad Branthwaite over the summer, which means O'Brien will be back in his normal position for the 2025/26 campaign.

So why not take advantage of a bad situation and see what O'Brien looks like in his natural position, even if the pairing of him and Branthwaite isn't likely to happen much past this season?

From there, you can use the combination of Ashley Young and Seamus Coleman (they have to get the captain into the starting XI for the final match at Goodison, right?) to fill in at right back.

It isn't ideal, but it feels like this is where O'Brien's future with the club will be anyway, so maybe this is the time to make the transition back to centerback for the Irishman.

Go with a back three

This is the most unlikely of all the options, but it is worth exploring.

With Dwight McNeil coming back from injury and working back up to fitness, is there a world where Moyes goes a little outside of his comfort zone and throws out another shape altogether?

He could use O'Brien and Mykolenko (or even Keane in this setup) as the outside centerbacks with Branthwaite in between the two, running the show.

For wingbacks, Moyes could slot in McNeil next to the Ukrainian on the left and someone like James Garner or even Nathan Patterson on the right side, with Idrissa Gana Gueye roaming the middle of the pitch in front of the centerbacks.

In front of Gana would be either Doucoure or Charly Alcaraz as a central midfielder/no.10, with Jack Harrison and Iliman Ndiaye flanking either Beto or Armando Broja as the center forward.

Again, this is a pretty outside-the-box idea, but Moyes does have a history of adding this to his locker when tactics call for it, most recently during his last spell at West Ham.

The downside, of course, is that it may expose Everton's centerback depth to further scrutiny, depending on the personnel.

Either way, a change will need to be made to cover for Tarkowski and these options seem like the best ways forward.