Gueye 'very close' to signing new deal

What he cannot do is, pass long or short, shoot, or dribble. He needs to play alongside a play-maker. He's perhaps too limited for the very best sides, but he could get into most of the top four sides and not look out of place.

Hang on to him!

Garbage comment.

Of course he may improve with better players around him, he may graft throughout the five years and continue never to really let anybody down, or he may attract a sizeable fee on account of good form and a long contract. Who knows?

One thing we do know is that he's loaded for life, pretty much regardless of results.

He has his limitations but don't they all?

Pieanaar - very skilful and could dribble, but couldn't pass
Gravesen - very skilful, could pass, could dribble, but no brain
Cahill - not very skilful but had the brain.
Rooney was the one who had everything, even though he was only 17.

Isn't it better to have a limited player, who therefore plays just one position, but does one position well, rather than be shunted around like Calvert-Lewin and not able to hone the skills needed for one particular position?

Is Baningime another Gueye and, if so, can we afford to play them at the same time?

This boy is an excellent defensive midfielder, had more interceptions last year than Kante.

What he doesn't need is a Schneiderlin beside him in the team; he needs a ball playing midfielder who's comfortable going forward.

I'd drop Barkley deep with him. I remember he played there against QPR a few years back and dominated the game.

He's one I'd be keeping all day long.

As a club and as a fan base, we are to nice, too accommodating, too lovey-dovey. There isn't enough ruthlessness here. We lap shite up like a donkey with a sack of carrots.

I will tell you how good Gueye is. He couldn't get a game for a relegated Aston Villa side. How many clubs that finished above us or just below us would have Gueye in there squad? I would say none. No but dopey Everton who will sign him back up for 5 more years.

Jesus wept... this joker wouldn't get a game for the worst Red Shite side I've ever known.

Pleased he has signed, it's difficult not to like a player who works that hard for us, but fuck me, he has his flaws. I just wish he realised he could be so much better if he stayed on his feet.

In the sole season that Gueye played for Villa, he played 35 out of 38 games.

Can you please explain how “He couldn't get a game”?

You are entitled to your opinion but don't make up facts to back it up.

Steve Ferns I love most of your posts analysing tactics etc but did you really mean the above. What has the game or Everton come to when we accept a player who can't do those basic things.

I have one serious reservation about Unsworth and that is that he might be too much of a Kenwright man and led by the clown.

We will all live the little blue bubble but may not actually be ambitious enough to win anything. Hope I am wrong but feel that the fan base has already fallen hook line and sinker for the next act of his long running show.

“I will tell you how good Gueye is. He couldn't get a game for a relegated Aston Villa side”

Tony, he played 35 league games. I think he actually only missed one through injury. So, check your facts.

He is a great player; who has been like many others, transformed into detritus by Koeman, at times; by his lack of game plan and unbalance; playing alongside Schneiderlin has seen him deteriorate, almost beyond recognition.

Unfortunately he is not alone in that bracket. Young Lookman played with a composure defying his tender age, was then treated like an outcast at times, when we needed him most.

I am so glad that Koeman has been relieved of his duties, let's get back on track, with the players we have until January; when we can get a striker and a defender or two. In the meantime; Unsy can steady the ship; get players confidence back; and start playing as a team again.

Idrissa Gueye is as good as you would want at performing his role. Top 4 quality. Sorry Ian, I don't get your point.

Gueye is the prince of tackles; I've lost count of how many times he has stolen the ball and broken down an attack... but yeah, he got sent off once so obviously he is a total liability.

Some fans will remember midfielders at Everton FC the likes of Alan Ball, Colin Harvey, Howard Kendall, Peter Reid, Sheedy, Bracewell... later players like Kanchelskis Gravesen and Arteta. All top players who are miles ahead of the current crop.

Now, Everton fans think Gueye is good enough to take us forward!!!.Gueye might be oayk for a Stoke, WBA type club but to keep him here for what could be 7 years is pathetic.

Tell me guys how many goals or assists does Gueye have since he arrived here? In fact he can't get a strike on target and is a red card waiting to happen.

Absolute joke trying to support Gueye as a top player. All I want at this club I are top players. Gueye and Co are far from it.

Gueye was the second best tackler in the league the season Villa went down. Only Kante made more interceptions than him.

His stats have been just as impressive for a lot of his time at Everton. By my recollection, this is his first real dip in form, and he's still always giving 100%.

Fans like you make me sad.

I hope any new deal includes a clause fining him every time he shoots from outside the box as well.

Sign him up for 10 years.

And signing England's record goalscorer, Ajax's captain and the lad with the most assists in the Premier League for 㿙m.

I would like to see Besic given some playing time and certainly would like to see more of Vlasic and Baningime. Gana and Schneiderlin may have suffered like others from the Koeman malaise although individual performances should not have been affected if they are true professionals.

I might be old fashioned but I expect footballers to be able to do those basic elements of the game.

Oscar (35) this site is about airing our views, we won't always agree and that's the beauty of the site. Your final comment aimed at passionate Evertonians is uncalled for.

Edit: Zidane said of replacing Makelele with a better footballer like you and Tony suggest: “Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?”

If you want to accept bang average players then expect to watch your team struggle in the bottom 3 of the table. That's the harsh reality. Look were we are.

It's nothing personal, my views on Gana it's just that I want a better standard of player at the club. I've seen nothing this season to justify handing out bumper contracts to any players.

We were told Barkley wasn't good enough for Everton yet Gana and Morgan play every game. Keep lapping it up if you must. I demand more, mate.

Just to be clear I was commenting on you saying Gueye could not pass,shoot or dribble, I didn't say it. I was merely amused that it's okay for a footballer not to be able to do such basic things.

Let's hope Unsworth can get the best out of him until we get the new manager in.

Probably not but could Gueye beat me at Hopscotch?? Pathetic reply mate. Seriously lame.

Could we sign any of them? No chance. If we sold Gueye, Arsenal are already interested (which is the reason for the new deal) and after Matic and Dier turn us down (and Busquets – the only player who is better than Gueye at being Gueye and can pass and dribble) who would we sign?

Okay, so he doesn't cross the ball or do defense-splitting passes or long racking passes but that's clearly not his job. The point is, of course he can bloody well pass.

Maybe we should turn it around and say how many tackles, interceptions and blocks does Hazard do? Not many? Oh, he must be shit then...

Okay, teams need players who can put themselves about, but not those who rack up cards on a regular basis, possibly affecting an important result, so I feel a 5-year contract is far too much for him, a couple of years maybe would suffice. Just a thought.

I don't see where the improvement is coming from. Why are we not craving midfielders who best men with pace and score goals? When did Everton become spoilers? Is this the sum of our ambition – to break play up and spoil?

God give me strength... no wonder we are in such a mess. Nil Satisfaction we should rename our motto.

And no, he does not need to be able to pass, shoot and dribble. And he can do this as well as Makelele could. Gueye was best last season when he got the ball and got rid of it quickly to feet.

The team-spirit has been rock bottom! So I would expect that to seep into everything, even the performances of those who worked well within a prior team of yesteryear that no longer existed in spirit well before RK got the sack.

Perhaps the fact that last season he made 33% more key passes (0.8) per game than Kante (0.6) may be the closest thing to that stat.

And Koeman managed every game. Next.

But against the top sides he does the job he does and does it better than anyone else we have or could currently attract atm. Hence, an extended contract works for me.

Is Gueye the reason we are in the bottom 3? I think it's pretty clear we are in the bottom 3 because we have had no pace and width in the team and nothing up front. It doesn't matter how good the rest of your team is, if you can't score goals, you'll eventually start shipping them as well.

Gueye is a modern day Dog of War. Big Joe and Unsie are going to love him. You might as well get used to it, mate – his job will be getting the ball and giving it to others. All top teams need one of these, in my opinion – this has been the case in any era of football.

I've called Ross out over not signing, but the more I see of how we are operating now, the whole club stinks the place out.

Oh the hilarity... Tommy Grav – The ninjas favourite cheerleader. What a fraud he was. A proper blag hardman.

But those eyes, my word those eyes. Ha ha ha. Have a word with yourselves. Tommy Grav.

I think I know in what direction my opinion would sway to. Somebody who knows what they're talking about, as opposed to somebody on this forum who hasn't got a clue what they're talking about.

I prefer 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1. This allows you to play with even more adventurous players like Hazard who would have to play up top in a 4-4-2 as he doesn't track back enough for 4-4-2. But in a 4-2-3-1 he's balanced out by a Gueye.

Gueye does his job excellently for me. Of course he has good games and bad. But he's not the problem. It's the lack of width, pace, speed of transition and our back to front speed.

Far too many sideways backwards players at Everton these days.

As with so many talents who come to us or come into the first team, something seems to get paralysed and they stop expressing themselves naturally. If Unsworth can release players from that disease then all hail.

In one tackle, he easily gets the ball but then follows through, also in a part of the pitch where the tackle wasn't needed. Will he learn? Doubt it.

What makes him far inferior to Kante is his work on the ball... he commits passing errors and turnovers that Kante simply doesn't. Kante triggers offense -- Gueye does not.

But he does his job very, very well and leaves absolutely maximum effort on the pitch every game. Glad to see he'll be staying with us.

The foolish red against Arsenal was the first of his career.

I'm a meathead former hockey player, so I have a big, big soft spot in my heart for players who put in hard challenges and a lot of tackles admittedly.

But to say Gana is crap? I'm seriously stunned. I think he's fantastic.

Every team needs a Gana in my opinion. Someone who will break up play and get you the damn ball back! And he covers more ground than anyone I can remember in a blue uniform in the 10 years I've been watching.

I do have some hesitations though. Any time a Tony Marsh, Darren Hind, or the like has reservations about anything football related and I disagree with them? It usually takes about a year and I end up saying, "well, they were right!"

I dunno... for me he's wonderful. I could watch him play all day long. Glad we signed him.

For what it's worth, I think we should wait at least a few more games to see how Gueye performs for Unsworth (assuming he gets a ahem ahead of Beni that is). It may be that he was suffering with the Koeman impact that seems to have at least some negative impact on other players.

Another side to this is that an extended contract probably increases his transfer value. Arsenal were rumoured to be interested in the summer so this could be another reason for the contract negotiations although 5 years seems excessive to me, why not 2 or 3 - how long does he have on his existing contract?

He is not Kante who, in my view, is the most underrated player in the Premier League. Idrissa is not a millions miles off.

Teams are a sum of the players and he is such an important cog. I was made up with this news. Sign him up. Hard worker, great tackler, does things within his ability which he understand his own limits.

The Makele argument. He played next to Zidane or another creative or offensive centre midfielder. Two Makele's wouldn't have worked.

Gueye is a great energy and expert ball winner but he is not an offensive centre midfielder which he has been asked to develop.

Him and Schneiderlin don't work too negative.

Can he operate in a 3 man midfield in the forward positions I think not good enough creatively.

Summary. Holding midfielder on his own.

Agreed. Also he had to guard Alex Sanchez. No easy task on a yellow.

Agreed. Also he had to guard Alex Sanchez. No easy task on a yellow.

,Turned on,BlueKfrog,1,00:31:45,,110.23.11.243,probation,18950,10/28/2017 00:31:45,EFC_Fan,probation,, 864684,35729,toffeeweb,28/10/2017,Mark Riding,Kmr.efc@virginmedia.com,,,,,1,00:40:28,,86.190.51.78,ok,19935,10/28/2017 00:40:28,noharmdone,reader,, 864685,35729,toffeeweb,28/10/2017,Peter Gorman,peteg88@hotmail.com,"I am well aware about this being a forum, about sharing opinions, all opinions being valid etc. but for some fans to refer to Gueye as 'crap' means the penny has finally dropped with me that some people are simply just full of it.

Does anyone think that playing a No 10 in that position is the answer? McCarthy and Schneiderlin are not in the same class.

As has been repeatedly said his ability with the ball is very limited. You need more than a one dimensional footballer.

A new contract means resale value, 5 years is long, but he'll still only be just turning 33 at the end of it, only just turning 31 running into the last 2 years, It makes sense, he was excellent last season and ain't been that bad this season in a rather thankless role. Yes, he's made mistakes this season, but who hasn't?

I thought that back when there were people rating him as the best thing they'd ever seen. I still think it now there are people rubbishing his ability.

I often wonder if I have no real opinions, or could it be that this website has people who jump to extremes just for a reaction.

BTW, Tony – Gueye isn't a bad player. He's no Makelele – don't be fooled, Claude was much better on the ball than given credit for.

Gueye performs a role, and if you set your team up to play to its strengths, he'd be more than useful. Ideally, you want him to win the ball and get it to someone who can pick a pass, which is sadly nobody in our midfield.

Seeing how rusty Jimmy Mac was against Chelsea shows we need him regardless.

I do not advocate playing defensive midfielders at home against teams like Bournemouth, Burnley etc. When did this mindset take hold within our football club? I always thought Goodison Park was supposed to be a fortress were we outplay or simply batter teams?

Tell you what, Dave: keep Gueye and Schneiderlin in there defending the back 4 and why not throw an extra defensive midfielder in for good luck. Let's just totally shit our selves in games and raise the white flag before we kick-off.

I prefer Everton to go out and outplay teams – not sit back afraid like Koeman and Moyes had us playing. Gueye is 28 years old in terrible form this season and we offer him 5 more years? Jeez... welcome to Dad's Army, Idrisssa.

Great news this. His dispossession for Rooney's goal on Sunday is exactly what we need right now seeing as counter attacks look our most likely way of scoring.

You seem to be arguing to someone in your head who said they like negative / defensive football, particularly at home.

I agree with you (not him) about the need for a new positive attacking mindset that will make Goodison Park a fortress again. But I doubt if there is a team in Europe who do not have players in the role or interchanging into the role of 'defensive midfielder'.

It seemed bizarre that you have labelled Idrissa Gueye a carthorse and crap – hence the question about your opinion on players in a similar defensive midfield role who you thought would take us to the higher level.

While I agree that there is a need for a defensive mindset in certain games surely not when we play minnows at Home? This season we have started games with 5 defenders and 2 holding midfield players and wonder why we are shite going forward.

I thought Gueye was poor from January last season until present day. Koeman was sacked for being poor in 9 league games yet Gueye gets another 5 years here? I don't get it.

We at Everton are too soft. There is no way Gana Gueye would get a game for any of the clubs who finished above us last season and there lies the problem. We are too easily pleased with our expectations having been dumbed down by the Moyes years..

I want better quality than Gueye, I don't rate him. I don't see anything more in his game other than being a spoiler. So he tackles... big deal – who doesn't expect tackles from a midfielder??

Low expectations can be a problem but so can a lack of understanding of how players can flourish with great coaching within good systems (eg, Fabien Delph... Eric Dier).

I'm disappointed you didn't mention your favoured players such a crap Idrissa Gueye could aspire to.

My final opinion is that he will be a player who is a good asset to squad over the next few years – and who knows, with the right coaches in place, a vital one.

Gueye would suit a high tempo Unsworth team IMO.

However, I do wish he had another string to his bow but moving the ball forward with any authority once he has dispossessed somebody is severely lacking in my eyes. If you give a player a new 5-year contract, to me, that means his name should pretty much be on the team sheet week-in and week-out and to be honest I am not sure whether he even makes my first 11.

I have to say I would sooner Gueye than Schneiderlin at the moment but I would sooner play Davies maybe with McCarthy or maybe Rooney who all show much more offensively. Then you also have the new lad Beni Baningime who played the other night who Rhino rates highly. Gueye for me is just a one-trick pony and so offering the lad a new 5-year deal now is somewhat perplexing.

The team tomorrow is going to be very interesting to see if he goes with the team that played against Chelsea or he brings back the likes of Keane and Gueye. I think Vlasic deserves to at least be on the bench so we could have a few big-name signings not making the squad. It just has to better than what has been served up so far this season.

Sorry Davey, I luv ya, but are those the qualities we're looking for in players who are gonna challenge the cocky arrogant in-yer-face twats who play for the top six? I thought we were gonna break out of our "plucky little Everton nice guys" stereotype?

You can be humble off the pitch, I suppose, and a nasty bastard on it. I suggest Unsworth's future as manager depends on that sort of division in his own case.

I had a thought that "humble" could be shorthand for our new manager to say "a player who takes my instructions without any backchat and does just what I want him to do"!

But I'm disappointed with the results and position we are in. We need someone like Ancelloti to bring the team back on track

Always good to hear of Toffees from around the world.

An objective opinion is seen as a weakness. It does not help rational debate.

David Moyes was given pennies for transfers. Are we any further forward since Moyes left? We were struggling before he came. Walker and Smith come to mind. Moyes offered stability with limited finances.

Let's not put our current situation down to Moyes. We are in trouble because the previous two managers were not good enough.

Idrissa does a great job. But in this team he's forced into doing more than he's comfortable with.

In my opinion, Kante is the exception. He's a defensive dynamo who can also damage teams with the ball at his feet.

Tony Marsh you're a cretin.

These guys I mention are quality footballers Gana Gueye is bang average a 6/10 at best..Any cretin can see that.

Actually, I wouldn't even call him a midfielder.

Off topic but I've seen a report that says we are readying a £30M bid for Alexis Sanchez. Do Arsenal have a no. 10 by that name? Or a 19yr old who would be one for the future.

Probably shit journalism but the cynic in me thinks it is more spin from Moshiri and Kenwright. We wouldn't exist on Alexis Sanchez' wish list of places to play football. We have plenty of good footballers in our squad let's get them playing well first then we can look at grabbing bastards from other clubs.

Get the managers situation sorted. Give some positive news on Bramley-Moore. Stop using Jim White as your press officer and buy a centre forward who can hold the ball up in January.

They all can for that matter.

Thursday and Sunday are going to be interesting to see the next reaction.