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.
