2018/19 Idrissa Gueye

[Papa Shango]

I totally disagree. He's been a very basic midfielder for the last year who was only good at one thing, breaking up the play. In the last 2 months, be it Gomes or Silva's coaching, he has found a passing range and is more comfortable with running with the ball. I think this is attributable to the system Silva employs which ensures nobody cowers from the ball and therefore Gana can run with the ball knowing he can find a man. It also helps having Gomes next to him who, like a Barkley or Stones, is pretty happy to receive the ball at any time and will more likely than not retain possession. I'd say he's really improved from about mid September and this is his best form for Everton.

He is the same player, he is just not having to do as much as he had to in the past. The onus is now not on him to both defend and attack.

This whole not being able to pass thing that he was labelled with is because the way we were set up it seemed to be up to him to not only win the ball back, but then to give it off, get the ball back and then try a through ball or something. The last thing is not his game at all, he can do it every once in a while but it is not one of his strengths for obvious reasons. His game is more simple now yet a ton more effective. Last season he seemed to be the only player actually bothering to move or show for a pass. We have loads more players who want the ball now which helps.

 

[Lanolin]

Genuinely amazed that some people can't see that he's always been like this, but is only just being able to focus on what he's good at rather than trying to be something he's not. Football's a team game, you need the right blend of players to see the best of them, and we're starting to get that blend right now for the first time in a long, long time.

 

[Zatara]

I’m not an Everton fan that overrates Gana, he’s a good player and very good at what he does, but has limitations. Even on Sunday he gave the ball away cheaply a few times under no pressure.

An Everton fan put something on Twitter, about tackling midfielders in the prem this season and Gana was top. Of the 15 players listed not one was from the top 6. All mid table, bottom half teams.

That tells you the top 6 dominate possession. And I’f we want to get amongst the top 6 that’s what we have to do. While we did well Sunday, the bottom line is we had 31% possession and 1 shot on target. We are going to have to get very lucky to win a game at the top 6 with 31% possession.

You only have to look at Gomes and Bernard, both are still adjusting to the league and still aren’t match sharp, but they are very comfortable in possession, even in tight areas and under pressure. But we do still have 3/4 players who aren’t. And will panic at times. I include Gana in this, as well as Coleman and Walcott.

Silva long term will want all 11 players to be technically great. And we can go to the top 6 have more possession and obviously a better chance of getting results.

I know I will get stick for this, criticising some of Everton’s favourite sons. But it’s all about opinions and that’s mine.

I don’t think he’s as good on the ball as you, as for uncomfortable, I mean panicking in possession. Like at Bournemouth when we came under pressure in the last 10mins st 2-1. A few times he just kicked the ball straight back to them on the edge of our box. And another time he miss kicked all together when to ball cane acrros our box, I’m not just blaming him for Bournemouth getting a draw. But it’s in this situation you have to keep the balm and take the sting out of the game.

And of course it’s important to win the ball back, but the longer you keep it the less you need to do this.

Liverpool had 53% possession at Chelsea last month.

That's absolutely spot on.

Id say Walcott and Coleman are two who should be under scrutiny before Gana because he can simply be a tackling machine who can (and should) give a simple pass to another player.

Walcott had 65% successful passes the other day...mindblowing.

 

[Nymzee]

Was just musing that it would be nice to have a deep playmaker as an option to mix things up...

None would come to sit on the bench.

 

[Zatara]

None would come to sit on the bench.

Depends on a few factors...age of course...time to acclimatise... if they are able to dislodge any other players and of course they would be rotating rather than bench options.

 

[Nymzee]

None would come to sit on the bench.

Paredes would not sit on our bench let’s put it that way.

 

[yakublue]

That's absolutely spot on.

Id say Walcott and Coleman are two who should be under scrutiny before Gana because he can simply be a tackling machine who can (and should) give a simple pass to another player.

Walcott had 65% successful passes the other day...mindblowing.

I don't really rate Walcott but the problem with using that metric for a player like him is that we want him to be trying a high number of passes that might not come off, because if one does we might score. He's not there to retain possession he's there to create (and convert) chances.

 

[carolinablue232]

Look at Chelsea with Jorginho as a deep DM. Kante box to box (not ideal) and another more attacking central player.

Also compare to Arsenals Vieira/Petit or RS with Alonso Mascherano and Gerrard.

If we could sign the new Pirlo as a deep DM or keep Gana there then its a matter for the coach.

We literally matched Chelsea’s midfield last week and Gana outplayed both kante and Jorginho.

 

[Barnfred 55]

That's absolutely spot on.

Id say Walcott and Coleman are two who should be under scrutiny before Gana because he can simply be a tackling machine who can (and should) give a simple pass to another player.

Walcott had 65% successful passes the other day...mindblowing.

Zat.

I understand where you and @Stephenlloyd are coming from. But where we are as a team at the moment, we need a Gana type player more than we need a Pirlo type player. Yes there will be games at home to teams that park the bus where a deep lying playmaker would be a great option. But I suspect he would spend more time on the bench than on the pitch at the moment, and no decent player will be overly happy with that.

I can't help but think that you are attempting to turn us into City overnight. Whereas we need to take it in small steps. I think it's fair to say that over the next 2 windows our priority should be to make Gomes and Zouma permanent (or bring in alternatives of same quality), a quality striker and a quality right sided forward. If Coleman doesn't get back to his pre-injury levels then he may also need replacing. None of these will cost less than £30m, and some may cost considerably more.

I just can't see a deep lying midfield playmaker on our shopping list at the moment.

I actually believe the long term successor to Gana could well turn out to be Baningime. I don't think he is quite as effective as Gana in winning back possession (but then there aren't many around that are), but he is so comfortable on the ball and also a decent passer. so may be just what we need in 2/3 years time.

 

[TheCount]

At age 29? His touch is suddenly better. Are you certain?

It's hard to be certain of anything in life bruh.

To me, his touch looks more refined and confident.

Do you not think players can improve after a certain age? What age bro?

 

[zook]

It's hard to be certain of anything in life bruh.

To me, his touch looks more refined and confident.

Do you not think players can improve after a certain age? What age bro?

I think it's more to do with the system than Gueye actually making big technical improvements, the previous systems that we used last season asked very little from the midfield in possession (Sigurdsson looked nothing much more than a mediocre midfielder for the most of last season) whereas Silva sets us up to play actual football

 

[buskwhi2]

If players are moving for each other and working hard then everyone should look better.
Gueye is great at what he does. One of the 1st names on the team sheet.

 

[Encoder]

He's great, having a proper ball player alongside him allows him to showcase his best attributes more.

 

[zook]

Being linked to PSG

 

[Deulofeumygod]

Was only a matter of time until big teams noticed how good this lad is.

Hope he can see what a team we are becoming again and stays to see it through.