Beto and Thierno Barry have been sharing the striker duties for Everton so far this season
Everton strikers Beto and Thierno Barry
Everton strikers Beto and Thierno Barry
View 2 Images
With a dozen Premier League appearances between them so far this season, Everton strikers Beto and Thierno Barry have netted just a single goal, but which of them is doing more up front?
With neither player dominating, manager David Moyes has deployed them in something of a ‘job share’ role. Each of them are ever present in the Blues’ half dozen top flight fixtures to date (with Beto playing 381 minutes and Barry 163) but other than the last four minutes of the opening game of the season, a 1-0 defeat at newly promoted Leeds United, they have never been on the pitch at the same time.
In those subsequent five matches, one has always replaced the other and in the back-to-back losses of the Merseyside Derby at Anfield and Carabao Cup tie at Molineux, Moyes gave them a half each with Beto starting against Liverpool and Barry against Wolves. Beto, who also netted in the previous Carabao Cup game against League One Mansfield Town at Hill Dickinson Stadium with a late tap-in, is the only one of the pair to score so far in the Premier League, heading in from a Jack Grealish cross.
For his part, the Guinea-Bissau international knows he needs to be bringing more goals to the team and ahead of the trip to face the reigning Premier League champions, he said: “For me it’s a normal thing. It is normal for a striker. You always need to prove yourself, even if it is just for you. A striker needs to score goals, and I need to score goals.
Author avatar
Author avatar
“If I score, I’m a good player, if I don’t score, maybe I’m not so good. It’s the life of a striker.
“If a striker doesn’t score goals, the fans, the gaffer, they need to demand this from a striker. That is at every club.
“For me, it’s okay to get that pressure, because it makes me work even harder to try to score goals. I think that I need to prove to myself, not just for the staff or for the fans, but prove to myself that I’m the number nine, I’m here, I want to score, and I will score, and I will give the team confidence.
“Before, my problem was more the way I played. Now I’m more secure in that, I’m more confident in the way I play.”
Team-mate Michael Keane, who, despite playing as a centre-back, beat Barry to getting his first goal of the season in the 1-1 draw at home to West Ham United last time out, reckons the £27million summer signing from Villarreal just needs to break his duck to get going. Ahead of the east London side’s visit for the first Premier League night match under the lights at the Blues’ new home on the Mersey waterfront, the 32-year-old, now in his ninth season at the club, told the ECHO: “I think Thierno just needs that first goal, it would help him massively. We’ve seen glimpses of what he’s about in training and what he can bring to the team with his power and his finishing, and he can also be very difficult to play against.
“He’s shown that in some of the Premier League games he’s played, but a goal will help him. Like any striker, when you’re not scoring, it can be tough, sometimes all you need is a tap-in, your fortunes can change and you feel more confident.
“I think he’s settled in well. He’s a good guy and although he’s pretty quiet and keeps himself to himself, he talks to the French-speaking lads and has got a lot of support from us within the group and I’m sure he’ll come good.”
But how do the pair’s actual numbers stack up? Comparisonator’s new Player Profiles graphic shows their individual style.
Beto is scoring 6.2 out of 10 as a target man and achieves the same mark as a pressing forward. Target man is Barry’s highest score but it’s just 4.6. His next highest rating is actually ‘false nine’ (3.6) but this is still lower than Beto’s mark for this category (4), followed by mobile striker (3.4) compared to Beto’s 3.3 and the France Under-21 international only scores 2.5 for pressing forward and even lower for box striker (2.3) as opposed to Beto’s 4.4.
Heat maps and player profiles for Everton strikers Beto and Thierno Barry so far this season
Heat maps and player profiles for Everton strikers Beto and Thierno Barry so far this season
View 2 Images
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence Points per 90 minutes, Beto has the highest score of 200, compared to Barry’s 123. For offensive AI points, Beto has 126 and Barry 57.85 although the new boy is ahead on duels AI points 70.96 to 43.57 and while Beto is well ahead on passing with 24.76 AI points to 4.23, the rookie scores higher for AI overall fitness performance (497 to 351) which is calculated through a combination of mobility, stamina and agility.
What about some tangible numbers we can actually quantify though? Barry dominates the physical comparisons but there are no massive discrepancies between the pair.
The 22-year-old is averaging a total distance of 9.57km per 90 minutes opposed to the 27-year-old’s 9.154km. Although Beto just has the edge for top speed (33.34km/h to 32.86km/h), Barry averages a greater sprinting distance (when running over 25km/h) at an average of 434 to 247 with the sprint count scores 26.82 to 18.72 in the Frenchman’s favour.
When it comes to offensive contributions, it’s a mixed bag. Beto has a higher expected goals (xG) at 0.35 per 90 minutes to 0.22 but Barry leads for playing in scoring attacks (1.36 to 0.45).
They’re almost identical when it comes to shots per 90 minutes with Barry shading it 1.36 to 1.35 but he hasn’t had any on target compared to Beto’s 0.45. Barry is making more progressive runs though (1.36 to 0.45) and he’s getting slightly more opportunities (1.82 to 1.58).
Beto wins possession back more often as he leads 2.03 to 1.36 on ball recoveries but Barry is not only averaging more passes per 90 minutes (12.73 to 8.12) but also successful passes (10.45 to 6.09). Both men regularly use their physicality to take part in one-on-one battles with Beto averaging 25.04 duels per 90 minutes and Barry 20.91, although the latter shades it when it comes to duels won (7.27 to 7.22).
Barry, who at 6ft 5in is one inch taller than Beto, is averaging more offensive aerial duels per 90 minutes (11.82 to 6.77) and winning more (5.91 to 2.93). Even though Beto contests more offensive ground duels (6.54 to 5), it’s Barry again who edges him out 1.36 to 1.35.
Overall, it seems like the position remains very much up for grabs with neither of the options able to look considerably better than the other at the moment. Perhaps the back and forth battle could continue all season, although if the pair’s respective failures to convince continue, the calls for Moyes to deploy a different kind of striker in the shape of Iliman Ndiaye are likely to grow increasingly louder.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.