Iliman Ndiaye ‘standing out a mile’ as Everton star blows away Mark Pembridge
Mark Pembridge says Iliman Ndiaye is “standing out a mile” at Everton and believes he will only get better as the season progresses.
Ndiaye has established himself as a key player since joining Everton from Marseille in the summer.
He scored for the third time in all competitions on Saturday (19 October) as the Blues won 2-0 away at Ipswich in the Premier League.
Speaking on BBC Radio Merseyside after the win on Saturday, ex-Everton midfielder Pembridge said Ndiaye is a player the Toffees have been missing for a few years. “He [Ndiaye] is a player that we haven’t had for a long time in our team, not so much a luxury player, but somebody that can do something at the spur of the moment.
“We haven’t had many of them players in our team over the last three or four years and now he’s in our team, you can see him standing out a mile.”
Pembridge also lauded Ndiaye’s ability to get past defenders with ease and compared him to Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze.
“He just takes a little bit of pressure off everyone when he gets the ball and he holds onto it, and he is quite happy for defenders to get tight to him and then riggle out of it and get away from them”, Pembridge said.
“He reminds me of the boy Eze at Crystal Palace who’s quite comfortable in possession of the ball and waits for the defenders to commit and then he moves in quickly.
“He seems to go by people with ease as well especially when he comes in off the left-hand side, and obviously he’s right-footed, he can cause you a lot of problems I think as the season goes on once he gets a little bit of confidence.
“He has started to get his legs a little bit, started to feel his way in a little bit and get that match fitness you need to push on to that next level and make a real impact for this team.”
Iliman Ndiaye shines again as Everton beat Ipswich Town away from Goodison Park
Ndiaye produced a Man of the Match performance as the Merseyside-based club beat Ipswich Town 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday.
He took advantage of a mistake from Wes Burns to put Sean Dyche’s side in front just 17 minutes into the game and could also have had two assists to his name.
This was only the Senegal international’s second league goal for Everton, but his impact goes far beyond the numbers.
As mentioned by Pembridge, Ndiaye offers the Toffees a threat on the ball, with the 24-year-old comfortable under pressure.
Dwight McNeil has three goals and and as many assists to his name in the league, but it should not come as a surprise that Ndiaye has arguably been Everton’s best player this season.
Having remained unbeaten in their last four league games, Dyche and Co. have steered five points clear of the relegation zone and the former Marseille man deserves a lot of credit for it.
In other Everton news, Dyche admitted he had to make a “tough call” over this Toffees player ahead of the game against Ipswich.
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