Football journalist Greg O’Keeffe has criticised Andre Gomes for ignoring the Everton fans after the club’s most recent defeat.
In their last outing, Frank Lampard’s men suffered a comprehensive 4-0 loss in the FA Cup away against Crystal Palace. The former Barcelona man started the game in the middle of the park but evidently failed to impress and was handed a dismal player rating score of 2.76 on BBC Sport.
With that appearance in mind, O’Keeffe slammed Gomes, saying that he has looked like a ‘pale shadow’ of the player he once promised to be when he first turned out for the Toffees.
Speaking on the All Together Now podcast, he said (15:59): “I mean, he’s [Gomes] not a starter, shouldn’t be anywhere near our starting XI – obviously, there were circumstances that dictated he had to be on Sunday.
“But when you need him, he never steps up these days, does he? He is a shadow, a pale, pale, pale shadow of the player he fleetingly suggested he might be in that season on loan.
“But yesterday, I watched him walk off straight [away]. Most of the players went over to the away end and obviously, you know, got a difficult reception. But they did it, Lampard more or less forced them to. And then off they went off the pitch.
“Gomes was straight down the tunnel. Head down. Didn’t want to know.”
TIF thoughts on Andre Gomes and Everton…
With Everton’s form being so poor of late – indeed they have lost five of their last seven games in all competitions – their players probably owe it to their fans to thank them for their support, especially when those fans have had to travel great distances to get to the games.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see why O’Keeffe angrily noted Gomes heading straight down the tunnel after the full-time whistle had blown.
Shoul Andre Gomes be sold in the summer?
Yes
No
The midfielder has only started five league games in the Premier League this season and after performances like that, mixed in with his behaviour, it doesn’t seem like he will force himself into the reckoning over the coming weeks.
That will at least be of some comfort to O’Keeffe who asserted that the player should not be ‘anywhere near’ the club’s starting XI.
In other news: Everton 25 y/o drops potential cryptic post amid Lampard snub