ThewolfEverton have had a whole host of stars away on international duty this week, seeking to maintain fitness and improve their level free from the pressures of club football.
For some, there is no greater honour than featuring for their country, and that shows in their impassioned performances.
For fans, however, these week-long breaks from the Premier League serve as torture, forced to go without watching their club.
Even Evertonians, who so often suffer at the hands of their team, find these enforced hiatuses so mundane.
It does not help when those from the playing staff who do go away do so with limited success, as well.
Idrissa Gana Gueye struggles for Senegal
After all, all these games represent is more opportunity for injury.
Iliman Ndiaye limped off for Senegal late last week, to exacerbate that fear.
However, having proven his fitness once again by enjoying a bright 30-minute cameo last night, it was his compatriot, Idrissa Gana Gueye, who has instead come under criticism from Senegal’s national media.
Playing 60 minutes in his side’s narrow 1-0 win over Malawi, Seneweb would write: ‘Starting in midfield, the Everton midfielder had a lot of waste and technical inaccuracies in his game. His loss of the ball in the 43rd minute could have been fatal to the Lions without the combined intervention of Malick Diouf and Moussa Niakhaté. In the transitions, Gana tried several passes in the back of the defence, but without precision.’
Who should Everton boss Sean Dyche start in midfield vs Ipswich Town?
With this Gueye underperformance against an outfit like Malawi, ranked 133rd in the world, Everton manager Sean Dyche might now have some thinking to do.
After all, it could represent a far worse eventuality than simply one bad day at the office, instead detailing the ongoing decline of the £80k-a-week former Paris Saint-Germain man.
The Senegal international has seen his season unsettled by the sad passing of his father, and following four straight Premier League starts at first, has found himself now on the bench.
His absence has coincided with a three-game streak of avoiding defeat, with Orel Mangala and Abdoulaye Doucoure instead holding down the midfield.
They will be hard to displace, as Dyche has clearly begun to favour their pairing, and with James Garner now set to be out, that duo seems even more solidified.
Tim Iroegbunam is the only other alternative he might want to employ, but his campaign has followed a similar trend to Gueye’s.
They are unlikely to have forced their way into contention across the last week, especially with the latter enduring such a torrid showing with his national team.
Thewolf
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