Jarrad Branthwaite is Everton’s star defender: Sean Dyche explains how he has become a key player this season | Football News

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the only goal of the game as Everton earned a hard-fought 1-0 win away to West Ham United on Sunday but the striker was not the player of the match. That honour belonged to Everton’s young defender Jarrad Branthwaite.

He was even the catalyst for the goal, outmuscling the hulking figure of Michail Antonio with an exceptional piece of front-foot defending to sustain the attack. At the other end, he was instrumental in Everton keeping their first away clean sheet of the season.

Indeed, it had been more than two years since the Toffees had won a Premier League game on the road without conceding. Everton remain a work in progress but the return of Branthwaite following a loan spell at PSV has been more significant than any signing.

At West Ham, particularly as the pressure mounted in the closing stages, he was the one who repelled them. When the final whistle was blown, Branthwaite had made 10 clearances in the match – more than twice as many as any other player on the pitch.

As well as his physicality, he has injected pace into the back line and shown composure in possession too. Speaking exclusively to Everton boss Sean Dyche about Branthwaite at the club’s training ground, it seems it was only ever a matter of time for him.

« He was very unfortunate in pre-season, » Dyche tells Sky Sports.

« He missed two-and-a-half weeks of pre-season. That would have maybe given him the opportunity to push on and start the season. » As it was, Branthwaite only had to sit out the first two fixtures, both defeats. He has been a fixture in the team ever since.

« Once he got fit, he has taken the chance. »

Suddenly, Jordan Pickford appears better protected, the left-footed Branthwaite proving an ideal foil for James Tarkowski. « You have got Jordan behind him and Tarky next to him, » says Dyche. « They are good players to have around you and experienced players. »

Branthwaite, still only 21, remains a relative novice among such company but this felt like a coming-of-age performance in what is proving to be a breakthrough season for the player, albeit more than three years on from his Premier League debut for Everton.

He had a taste of it during the pandemic and there was a goal against Chelsea in 2021. But prior to this recent run in the side under Dyche, his only Premier League appearance at Goodison Park with supporters inside the stadium had resulted in an early red card.

His time on loan in Eindhoven has improved him. Branthwaite played more games for the Eredivisie side last season than he has for either Everton, boyhood club Carlisle United or Blackburn Rovers, where he spent half a season on loan early in 2021.

Branthwaite himself describes his PSV move as the best thing that he could have done. His head coach there, one Ruud van Nistelrooy, called him the complete defender. His pass completion rate of 87.2 per cent ranked among the highest in the country.

Dyche had tracked his progress in the Netherlands. « We had good reports, » he reveals. « I spoke to him a couple of times on the phone. Nothing heavy. Just to let him know I was here and get a little feel for him. » Enough to encourage him that the door was ajar.

Branthwaite has now kicked it open.

Interestingly, Dyche suggests that he is drip-feeding information, wary of overloading him. « We are still keeping the coaching level quite low, just letting him learn as he is going. » Having already faced Arsenal and Liverpool, that on-the-job training is coming fast.

For now, the focus is on « pointers, positional things, tactical things, those understanding aspects » that many might miss but can actually make the difference at the highest level. « Little details that I know as a centre-half because I was one, » adds Dyche.

« A lot of it is about just being alive in that defensive zone. Not just the first press but that second press. Are you pressing to win a ball? Once it has been passed, are you driving back into the key areas? Things like that. You want to fast-track that learning. »

Tactically and technically, Branthwaite is improving. Physically, he is now a force at Premier League level. Mentally, he has everything needed to succeed. « He is working hard at his game. He is listening. He has been very open-minded and is enjoying his football. »

The latest proof came in his match-winning display at West Ham.