Everton loanee Andre Gomes once again produced a disappointing display during his temporary team’s 1-0 defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
There was a lot of excitement when the Toffees brought the Portugal international to Goodison Park on a season-long loan deal from Barcelona on the final day of the summer transfer window, but fans of the Merseyside outfit had to be patient before getting their first glimpse of the 25-year-old as he recovered from injury.
Gomes finally made his first Premier League appearance of the campaign against Crystal Palace in October, and he has made 11 more since then including the defeat to the Seagulls at the weekend.
While he has certainly stood out at times during that period – think the 1-0 derby day defeat to Liverpool at Anfield – he also seriously flattered to deceive during the 6-2 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur last month, where he failed to deal with the threat posed by the likes of Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli for the visitors.
Toffees manager Marco Silva once again chose to go with the 3-4-3 system that had served him so well during the 5-1 win against Burnley previously for the long trip to the south coast, but it failed to pay off.
Gomes started alongside Idrissa Gueye in the middle of the park on a disappointing day for the side, and he was largely anonymous before being replaced in the 72nd minute by Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Silva would have expected the 25-year-old to make an impact from both a defensive and offensive point of view against Chris Hughton’s men, but instead he didn’t make a single tackle, interception or key pass, failed to complete a single dribble and had 48 fewer touches of the ball than the Senegal international next to him, as per WhoScored.
This was a poor day from a player that a lot is expected of – and rightfully so seeing as he is contracted to Barcelona – and proved that the Portuguese midfielder isn’t actually as good as many people think and have said that he is.
Former Wigan & Fulham man, Jimmy Bullard recently showed that he’s still got it! Check out the video below…