Frank Lampard believes the arrivals of Conor Coady and James Tarkowski have added old-school core values to his Everton squad.
There is a real sense of renewed optimism around Goodison Park this season, with the immediate threat of relegation some way back in the rear view mirror. Despite losing their first two league games against Chelsea and Aston Villa, Lampard's side embarked on a six-match Premier League unbeaten run in which they conceded just four goals - making them, at the time, the best defence in the league - before Sunday's 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester United.
That defensive record has typified a steeliness around the blue half of Merseyside, with Amadou Onana and Idrissa Gueye adding grit to a historically vulnerable midfield. But it is further back, in defensive pairing of Tarkowski and Coady, that Everton's old-school fighting values are personified - something that Lampard made a conscious effort to introduce to the squad over the summer.
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"[They are] a really good group of lads in the main, but there was something for me that was missing in terms of a bit of leadership and direction," Lampard told Michael Calvin's Football People podcast. "And it's not a huge criticism of the lads - they are what they are - leaders look different in the modern day.
"But the ones you've mentioned there in terms of Conor and Tarky (Tarkowski) they look like a bit of a throwback, in terms of how they train and how they affect others around them. The modern world is moving very quickly, so trying to keep hold of these things [is important], because I think it can get lost in the young player.
"I think sometimes their surroundings, their friends, the agents, the this and that, a lot of the talk around them outside the workplace is not positive. And so to bring them in here and for them to sense a value of behaviour in something from myself and my staff and experienced players in the building is a big deal.
"And then they follow, we hope, and that's definitely been a change that we've been able to make this summer with personnel, and sometimes changing personnel is the only way."
Coady - who was ironically thrown aside by Bruno Lage at Wolves in the summer amid concerns he cannot play in a back-four - has been outstanding since signing on-loan, going on to captain the side in the 1-0 win against West Ham in September. Conversely, Burnley were desperate to keep hold of Tarkowski, but with the Lancashire club looking doomed for relegation and the 29-year-old's contract set to end, Everton were able to present the case that Goodison would be the best move for his future.
Despite only becoming teammates this summer, the pair have forged an iron-clad partnership ahead of Jordan Pickford and set in place the core values that Evertonians demand of their club.
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