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Saved by Ndiaye: Everton flop who only won 30% duels must be axed at the new stadium - opinion

After 133 years of being Everton's distinguished home, the Toffees waved goodbye to their historic Goodison Park stadium on Sunday when Southampton travelled to the blue half of Merseyside.

It was an emotionally charged afternoon with Goodison packed to the rafters for one last time in the Premier League and - thankfully - most of the Everton players on the pitch didn't contribute a drab ending as they comfortably got the better of an already relegated Saints side 2-0.

Iliman-Ndiaye-1

Iliman Ndiaye, in particular, stood out with the ex-Sheffield United attacker now donning the label of being Goodison's last ever goalscorer.

Everton's final Goodison Park heroes

The obvious place to start is with Ndiaye who ensured the atmosphere remained electric throughout by breaking the deadlock early on.

The skilful number ten had failed to find the back of the net in Premier League action this month, leading up to the finale at Goodison, but he more than made up for any blanks being fired when curling home a fantastic solo effort after just five minutes.

He would then make sure of the three points when collecting his brace late into the second half, but there were plenty of other positive performers away from just the standout number 10.

Dwight McNeil would chip in with an assist down Ndiaye's opposing right flank, whilst both Idrissa Gueye and Vitaly Mykolenko would see out their Goodison careers with plenty of fight on show by winning a combined 19 duels. Impressive work indeed.

Everton-1

Whilst all those mentioned could go on to star at Everton's soon-to-be new home at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, others might well have played their final home games donning Toffees blue, with an underperformer now likely to be let go of.

Everton star just played his last home game

Ashley Young is a firm definite for this category, with the former Manchester United man already confirmed to be leaving at the expiry of his contract before being given 70 minutes in place of an injury-stricken Seamus Coleman.

Whilst it hasn't been outright confirmed just yet, it does look nailed on that Abdoulaye Doucoure will soon follow Young out the door this summer, considering the 32-year-old midfielder was seemingly waving an emotional goodbye to the crowd when substituted off against the Saints.

With 165 appearances under his belt on Merseyside, it's fair to say Doucoure has been a loyal servant to Everton through some testing times.

But, even with an impressive total of 21 goals and 14 assists being tallied up along the way, the veteran's swansong showing at Goodison left a lot to be desired and showed why contract talks have allegedly stalled.

Doucoure's performance in numbers

Stat

Minutes played

Goals scored

Assists

Touches

Accurate passes

Shots

Big chances missed

Successful dribbles

Total duels won

Stats by Sofascore

Doucoure struggled in an attacking midfield capacity throughout, with the number 16 squandering one big chance to make Everton's lead on the moving day even stronger, alongside failing to complete a single successful dribble.

But, it was also a poor day at the office for Doucoure when attempting to battle away from performing just his attacking duties, with the former Watford man winning only 30% of his duels.

Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure

It would be a sorrowful ending for the Senegalese midfielder at Everton, but much like the case is with Young, the removal of some experienced heads for some fresher talent could do David Moyes' men a lot of good ahead of their major relocation.

While we say adios to Goodison, we must also say farewell to Young and Doucoure.

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