Idrissa Gueye

[LAToffee]

Greatest player to don the shirt and completely overrated. Covering my bases.

 

[BlueLlama]

I mean the lad isn't bad but come on, we're massively overrating him. He's just having a purple patch - loads get them, Lennon and Besic last season for example. I guarantee you he'll tail off eventually.

I've also seen him get easily beaten in the air and muscled off the ball a bit too easily on several occasions.

Yes lad, he's not scored or even saved a penalty. Crap basically

 

[ilikecheese]

From 29 July...I reckon this has already been posted, but the fella writing this knew what's up

https://www.umaxit.com/index.php/co...rstood-player-who-could-help-re-spark-everton

Aston Villa’s Idrissa Gueye: A Misunderstood Player Who Could Help Re-Spark Everton

Everton have been on the hunt for fresh midfield talent all summer, and if reports are to be believed, they may just be inching closer to their man. No, it’s not Axel Witsel and no, it’s not Marko Arnautovic: It’s the significantly less sexy, but still very applaudable Idrissa “Gana” Gueye of Aston Villa.

The Senegalese international’s £7 million relegation release clause has reportedly been met, leaving the Villans powerless to stop him from leaving should he so choose. The club’s chairman Dr. Tony Xia, a wildly prolific tweeter, confirmed as much on Tuesday evening.

Understandably, some Toffees fans’ hackles will be raised by the idea that their club have gone from targeting a star man such as Witsel to a player who played 35 games for a team who went down last season with a meagre 17 points, but scratch beneath the surface and the link starts to make more sense.

Gana, as he prefers to be called, was a shining star on a sinking Villa ship in 2015-16. He didn’t appease every fan—though, it should be pointed out that nothing could cheer up some supporters as the campaign was that bad—but what he did add to midfield was an obvious sliver of quality. He’s athletic, he works hard, and while he’s no complete player, there are parts of his game that really do stand out.

His defensive statistics from last season are oft-quoted, and they speak to his strengths: According toWhoScored.com, he managed 4.1 tackles and four interceptions per league game last season over 35 appearances. That’s really, really impressive; second only to N’Golo Kante in both categories.

His ability to clamp down on his marker, steal possession and quickly release a pass to start an attack counted for very little at Villa given the lack of quality around him, but were he releasing those balls to better players—such as Ross Barkley and Gerard Deulofeu, perhaps—his effect on chance creation would be far more tangible. Some Villa fans question what he contributed last season, but the “failings” they see are a product of those around him stinking the place up.

Gana’s not overbearingly strong like Victor Wanyama—in fact, he looks downright skinny compared to the Kenyan—but he’s firm in the tackle and when he pushes forward with the ball, he can swat markers aside with ease. He never tries anything overly ambitious and rarely wastes passes.

This last trait is indicative of his downside: He’ll offer very little in the final third. For Villa he barely threatened the goal—offering only wild 30-yard strikes that came nowhere close to troubling goalkeepers—and assisted just one goal that, when you watch it back, was not in any way “his” creation. The season before, in a weaker Ligue 1, he managed four goals and two assists; his runs into the box to sniff out scoring chances were only slightly less sparing.

Gana is great in two of the three thirds of the pitch football is played on—the first, and the second. In the final third he is a passenger; he is someone who has to pass to somebody else to make things happen. When Villa were searching for some “oomph” to dig themselves out of a mess last season, Gana (among others) could not answer the call.

And there you have his limitations. He has three or four traits that are exceptional, but there are holes in his game too. He is not an all-round midfield solution, but an incisive tackling force that wins the ball back and allows others to ask the questions.

And that brings us onto Everton, and to what they might need. It’s fair to say Koeman values solidity in his midfield pairing far more than Roberto Martinez did, as the former Saints manager would often pair two stronger, disruptor options together behind an uninhibited front four while in charge of the club. James McCarthy, despite questions over his future due to a torrid 2015-16, would form a very Koeman-like partnership with Gana, freeing up Barkley and Co. to do their thing.

That his and Gana’s attributes are not that dissimilar is perhaps not the problem it would have been one year ago—when Martinez was calling the shots, and therefore protecting the defence became an afterthought. The truth is Gana is a very Koeman midfielder—a fact perhaps cemented by the fact he was scouted heavily by Southampton while the Dutchman was in charge—and if the audacious attempts to secure a Witsel or a Willian Carvalho fail, the Villa man would be a wonderful consolation prize to say the very, very least.

 

[Tel001]

I read the other day that Leicester (and I assume Steve Walsh by default) wanted him over Kante, but Gueye wasn't available at the time.

So all the shouts of 'Kante is a player in the Gueye mould' may not be that far fetched.

He was deffo available ... He was giving an interview the other day. He said that him and Kante were on the same train together ... He was signing for villa and Kante for Leicester

 

[Tel001]

I mean the lad isn't bad but come on, we're massively overrating him. He's just having a purple patch - loads get them, Lennon and Besic last season for example. I guarantee you he'll tail off eventually.

I've also seen him get easily beaten in the air and muscled off the ball a bit too easily on several occasions.

Lol ... There are some seriously blind people in this world. If you cannot see that he is a quality player ... You really don't know much about football.

 

[Jags..class]

He was deffo available ... He was giving an interview the other day. He said that him and Kante were on the same train together ... He was signing for villa and Kante for Leicester

He also said that villa was the biggest team at the time so maybe he rejected Leicester for Villa

 

[thigh]

Senegalese Tom Davies

 

[paulbefc]

I have so much time for him helping to relegate Villa, leaving immediately and then upping his game 500% for us.

A hero of English football.

 

[Bluebonic]

I am really excitd by the lad, but we do have to rein in our expectations! Everton have a long and bloody history of building a player up to god-like status then tearing them to pieces after a poor run. Be happy for the lad, the team, the manager and us fans, but dont startputting pressure on him! To be calling him out as world class after five matches is what the other shower do, and we rip them for it?

 

[mill]

He was deffo available ... He was giving an interview the other day. He said that him and Kante were on the same train together ... He was signing for villa and Kante for Leicester

Gueye chose villa so Leicester went for Kante is the story.

 

[ALANSTUBBS]

Turned to the fella stood next to me at the game on more than one occasion and we just laughed and shook our heads in disbelief at the way he plays. Not many players make you do that.

I remember Fellani used to do that to me and my mate. When he used to take everything down on his chest and spray it out. Loved his 2nd season with us.

 

[DownOnTheUpside]

I mean the lad isn't bad but come on, we're massively overrating him. He's just having a purple patch - loads get them, Lennon and Besic last season for example. I guarantee you he'll tail off eventually.

I've also seen him get easily beaten in the air and muscled off the ball a bit too easily on several occasions.

BOOOOO

 

[DownOnTheUpside]

probs been posted like

that is absolutely boss, I hope it catches on just to see 35k people singing GAY IS THE BEST ahahaha

 

[Whistlin' Dixie]

I mean the lad isn't bad but come on, we're massively overrating him. He's just having a purple patch - loads get them, Lennon and Besic last season for example. I guarantee you he'll tail off eventually.

I've also seen him get easily beaten in the air and muscled off the ball a bit too easily on several occasions.

Who's that to the left of your post?
Who's that in your avatar?
It's Idrissa Gana Gueye
Making sure you wipe yer eye
Cos the lad is a 'kin superstar!

 

[Troubador]

Garth Crooks' team of the week on the BBC site hasn't got him in it. Had Henderson and Lallana (snort) as the two DM players.

Just to make matters worse, if you pick your own team, Gueye isn't even among the midfield options available, rendering the whole exercise pointless.