Journalist hails ‘exceptional’ Andre Gomes, says he embodies ‘stunning’ result of Sean Dyche demand at Everton

Andre Gomes was “exceptional” against Tottenham and shows the “stunning” results of Sean Dyche’s demands for high standards throughout his Everton squad, Liverpool Echo journalist Joe Thomas has said.

Portugal midfielder Gomes came off the bench in the 2-1 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday (23 December), scoring his side’s goal and was unfortunate not to grab a couple of assists.

Thomas namechecked the likes of Ben Godfrey, Michael Keane, Lewis Dobbin and Beto as those on the fringe of the XI to have contributed in the absence of first-team regulars in recent games, as well as Gomes.

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And he puts that down to Dyche and the demand he places on the whole squad to be at the top of their game.

Writing for the Liverpool Echo (27 December), he commented: “In his (Gomes’) first competitive minutes under Dyche, the midfielder scored one and could have had two assists had it not been for the intervention of VAR and the work of Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. Despite the narrow defeat it was an exceptional return for the midfielder, whose season to date had been ruined by injury.

“But he has spent months trying to build and maintain standards even among those who are not playing and the consequences have been stunning – with Gomes the latest player to show he has something to offer Dyche.”

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A team effort

Abdoulaye Doucoure, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Ashley Young, Seamus Coleman, Jarrad Branthwaite – that’s just a quick look at some of the players who have missed time for one reason or another for Everton over the past month.

Which is why it is so impressive that the Toffees have continued to produce such excellent performances. Sure, they were beaten by Spurs but four straight wins preceded that defeat and they were desperately unlucky not to take at least a point home from north London.

Dyche deserves huge credit for instilling the same standards throughout his squad, even among those who have not featured regularly and especially for players like Gomes, who many would have expected to depart Goodison Park in January.

There is a real unity among the playing squad right now at Everton and at a time when the games come thick and fast, as well as the struggle with injuries in an already thin squad, that is something they will need to ride the wave.

In other Everton news, Michael Ball shared what he loved against Tottenham even if it “doesn’t look great”.