Andre Gomes had one of his better games for Everton yesterday as the Toffees dispatched Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 at Goodison Park in the FA Cup fourth round match.
Gomes has been a very frustrating figure for the past year or so at Everton and he is a player who certainly divides opinion among supporters.
The Portuguese midfielder has plenty of natural ability: he’s good technically, can carry the ball well and is also capable of creating plenty of chances with his range of passing.
Too often though over the past twelve months he has very rarely exhibited any of those qualities, especially since his serious injury against Tottenham in November 2019.
That injury seemed to have taken its toll and undermined his confidence and willingness to compete, despite his remarkably quick recovery.
Perhaps the speed of that recovery was part of the problem but it wouldn’t be that surprising if a player was a little hesitant at first after returning from an injury that serious.
However, he’s not recovered anything like his best form since, which anyway Evertonians hadn’t seen much of in truth for a while even before the injury.
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The ex-Barcelona player in fact produced his best efforts for the Blues when he played in a central midfield two alongside the relentless ball-winner Idrissa Gueye.
Gomes seemed to enjoy sitting deeper and and was more able to better influence games as well as getting forward intelligently from there.
At any rate his best games in a royal blue shirt did seem to come when Gueye was operating beside him and he’s certainly one player who hasn’t been nearly as effective since the Senegal midfield dynamo left for PSG.
Gomes played in the team that Carlo Ancelotti started using at the start of the season and although he had a few decent games early on he lost his place soon after. It looked as though he was never going to be able to recapture that form.
Last night Ancelotti used a fluid and flexible formation that shifted from 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1, similar to that used by Marco Silva but generally discarded by the Italian since he took over.
This might have been a deliberate tactical tweak or simply a pragmatic decision based on available players. Either way it worked well, albeit against a Championship team that in truth was completely outclassed by the Toffees.
Abdoulaye Doucoure played the role Gueye used to do alongside Gomes in central midfield. The Frenchman had another solid and consistent match and his natural energy, work-rate and defensive qualities make him well-suited to doing that job. He will be badly missed on Wednesday when the Blues play Leicester.
The Portuguese was also strong in the challenge and kept the ball well. To illustrate his greater confidence and effectiveness, it was Gomes who found half a yard of extra pace, drove forward from the edge of the area and then produced a great ball across the box for Everton’s first goal.
The Blues boss has shown himself to be very willing to experiment with systems and tactics to get the best out of his squad and now he has another variation he can turn to as he tries to cope with injuries during the rest of the season.