Everton manager Sean Dyche has now said that midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye was particularly poor during yesterday’s defeat to Aston Villa.
Indeed, the Everton boss said that the £80k-a-week player ‘didn’t perform as well as he can’, though admitted the midfielder was not alone with his below standard display.
The Senegal midfielder was substituted at half-time with youngster Lewis Dobbin coming on in his place, with the academy graduate one of the few bright sparks in an otherwise miserable afternoon.
Indeed, as per The Athletic, Dyche explained his decision to withdraw the 33-year-old, stating: “A player who didn’t perform as well as he can today,” the Everton boss said of Gueye. “But I could have taken the whole team off. At half-time, it was like, ‘Where do I start?’.”
Gueye is often a consistent midfield metronome for the Blues but his individual display was poor at Villa Park, though as Dyche states, the collective performance was woeful from Everton.
Gana Gueye was only part of the problem, Everton have a lot of work to do
Everton have now lost both of their opening league fixtures of the season without scoring a goal for the first time since 1955/56.
MORE EVERTON STORIES
Indeed, it is a damning statistic and one that further indicates where Everton must strengthen this summer if a third successive relegation scrap is to be avoided.
The Toffees managed just 34 Premier League goals last season and could now be without Alex Iwobi, who went off injured with a suspected hamstring injury at Villa Park, as Dyche confirmed in his post-match interview.
Forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin also had to be withdrawn, though thankfully the 26-year-old avoided a concussion following a collision with Emiliano Martinez, so hopefully he can make a quick recovery in time for the weekend.
Everton are also still without last season’s top goalscorer Dwight McNeil and are yet to play £15m signing Youssef Chermiti.