There were two Everton players who disappointed the editor the most last season, both of whom were former fan darlings. In this article, Rong Xiaodi first talks about the regrettable one, and then talks about the other one who still has the opportunity to get lost.
So which player is deplorable? The answer is André Gomez, who has not been able to get rid of his injuries. The biggest feature of this sub is that while having a broad field view and excellent passing skills, it can also dribble the ball alone, which is of great help to the pace of turning defense into attack. His height of 1.88 meters and strong body are also extremely rare among players who are the core of the midfield. In his first season with Everton, the sub-range of activities is extremely large, you can see his figure in the left, center and right of the midfield, and when holding the ball, he will also use his body shape advantage to cross the ball forward, so that he can make better passing choices in more threatening positions, which Eventon fans are happy to see.
Andre Gomez's performance in statistics is not outstanding, because the former coach Marco Silva pays attention to forward passes and crosses in terms of playing style, so this sub is slightly deficient in terms of the number of passes and success rates in terms of midfield brain, but not bad in terms of number of passes and success rates (average 1.5 times per game, success rate of 73%). However, this son's bad habit is that he relies too much on his own physical fitness to protect the ball when he crosses the ball to get rid of the enemy defender, covering up the shortcomings of lack of speed and flexibility. However, this also laid the groundwork for his serious injuries.
On 3 November 2019, Andre Gomez was tackled from the side by Son Heung-min in a game against Tottenham, with his ankles twisted. Afterwards, Son Heung-min was sent off the field with a red card, but for Andre Gomez, this flying shovel was a turning point in his player career, so that he could no longer rely on physical fitness to play the ball as before, and also made his actions more blunt so far, so that this son could not show his inherent playing style and advantages, and magnified his shortcomings, which is the main reason why xiaobian believes that he has difficulty returning to the past.
André Gomez is a midfielder with strong and equally strong weaknesses. Although these advantages have made him the most dazzling player in the midfield line when playing, the speed and flexibility of this son have always been criticized. After the major injury, the range of motion of this sub was significantly reduced, and the way of using the ball habit was also changed, reducing the solo dragon pool style dribbling forward, and more cards were assigned in the midfield to try to adapt to the physical transformation and reduce the load on the ankles. However, in the use of the ball in midfield, it is necessary to have a good ability to control the rhythm, and also need to have a sense of crisis and reaction to resist the pressing. Unfortunately, none of these categories are the strengths of André Gomez.
Last season, even in the first round of the season, Andre Gomez contributed, but has lost the light of the past, and its role has become to provide a stable point of play to the frontcourt players in the midfield, strengthening the ability of the midfield to use the ball. By mid-season, when Everton was injured and his play changed to stability and no longer emphasized possession at the foot, André Gomez became very weak in his role. Do you want to defend? Andrei Gomez reacted slowly, his feet were inaccurate, and he was either easily twisted by his opponent like a scarecrow, or he could only hinder his opponent's progress with fouls. When he holds the ball, he is not good at facing the force, in the case of reduced flexibility, when facing the bag clip, most of the son can only pass the ball backwards, and even because of the pressure of the opponent to pass the ball or be forced to lose the ball, and then the opponent counterattacked, because Andre Gomez was more vulnerable than ever after the position of the game, so he lost possession of the ball is more dangerous for the team. Last season, he was hit back several times after losing possession, which led to a lot of thrilling shots in the defense.
Yes, it is difficult for Andre Gomez to gain a foothold in the Premier League, but that does not mean that this son is useless. Its passing ability and vision are still there, but the midfield line needs to have players and their cooperation to provide short passing options. However, under Benitez's 4231 formation, the son's defensive ability does not meet the requirements, and the salary is extremely high, which may become a victim for Everton, who is eager to "slim down" to meet the requirements of the FFP (UEFA Financial Fair Play Principle). It is only hoped that Andre Gomez can regain his shine in leagues with higher technical requirements such as La Liga or the Portuguese Super League.