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Everton captain Phil Jagielka has rejected suggestions that their high fair play ranking is down to them being too nice. Roberto Martinez's side are in contention to win a place in next season's Europa League via the UEFA Fair Play rankings. England will get one place in Europe via that route, with Everton third in the domestic fair play standings. Former Toffees midfielder Lee Carsley wrote in Liverpool's Sunday Echo that it is a sign that they are not making enough tackles. Jagielka himself has not received a single booking on Everton duty all season -- with his only yellow card coming during England's 3-1 win over Slovenia in a Euro 2016 qualifier in November. The 32-year-old centre-back, though, insists that he and his teammates are not soft touches. He told the Daily Post: "I think we could add an edge. It's something to look at. "I don't think perhaps for the whole season we've been as tough to play against as maybe we could have been. "But I wouldn't use the phrase 'too nice.' "The players we have and the style we play in don't allow us to be as aggressive as we maybe have been in the past. "We're trying to balance it. You won't get many footballing teams that go around getting 4 red cards in a game. "People can make their comment and I accept them but there are reason behind it. "I understand Cars [Lee Carsley] was a defensive midfielder who enjoyed that role and liked to put his foot in. "I know what he means, but we won't worry about why we haven't had more bookings. "Stats can be misleading. Would you prefer us not to be high in the Fair Play league because we've given away 10 penalties and had three people sent off? "Sometimes it's not as simple as old fashioned good, honest tackles which get you a booking. "Maybe someone has been out of position and pulled someone down for a red card. There's nothing clever or big about that. You've let yourself and your team down." Everton have had four players sent off this season -- defender Antolin Alcaraz away to Hull on Jan. 1, winger Aiden McGeady in an FA Cup third-round replay at West Ham on Jan. 13, midfielder Gareth Barry in a league match at Chelsea on Feb. 11, and centre-back John Stones in a Europa League game away to Swiss side Young Boys on Feb. 19.
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