Everton midfielder, Idrissa Gana-Gueye was given the role of set-piece taker for Senegal tonight in their World Cup opener against the Netherlands, but it has certainly raised some eyebrows amongst Everton fans.
Gana-Gueye first joined Everton in 2016 from Aston Villa who were relegated to the Championship the season before. He would make over 100 appearances over 3 seasons on Merseyside before joining French Giants, Paris Saint-Germain in 2019.
The 33-year-old would go on to play more than 100 times for PSG, as well as scoring some pivotal goals in the Champions League, before moving back to Everton this summer under Frank Lampard as part of his rebuild of the toffees midfield.
Since rejoining Everton, he has struggled to find his feet, putting in only a few decent performances.
Despite his poor form, the midfielder was still called up by the Senegalese national side for their trip to Qatar for the World Cup.
A few eyebrows were raised early on as he seemed to be playing in a slightly more advanced midfield role by Aliou Cisse, despite playing primarily as a holding midfielder in Everton’s setup.
However, his role would only get stranger. Senegal would win an early corner and, somewhat questionably, Gana-Gueye would be the one to take it. He is not renowned for his set-peice-taking ability at club level and that would show, with the corner not beating the first man.
He would take a handful of other set pieces and most would end quite underwhelmingly.
Everton’s set-piece struggles probably won’t be solved by the midfielder anytime soon.