Joe Thomas believes Everton, like Thierno Barry, were so close to a breakthrough at Sunderland, but thinks the current XI's limitations need to be recognised by David Moyes
Lutsharel Geertruida of Sunderland in action with Thierno Barry of Everton during the Premier League match at Stadium of Light. Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
Lutsharel Geertruida of Sunderland in action with Thierno Barry of Everton during the Premier League match at Stadium of Light. Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
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Football is a cruel game. Just look at the case of Thierno Barry.
The 23-year-old has had to be patient in his opening months as an Everton player but Monday was so close to being his night. “OK, my turn”, he wrote on Instagram last week. And his turn came with a rare start at Sunderland.
Everton are desperate for one of their strikers to seize their chance and he nearly did. After 10 minutes it was looking good. James Garner drilled narrowly wide in the first 60 seconds after Barry made a nuisance of himself and won a header deep in Mackems territory.
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The France youth international could then take further confidence from his role in Iliman Ndiaye’s opening goal. The effort was all about Ndiaye but he was given the opportunity to showcase his sublime skills because Barry fought back against Noah Sadiki and forced him to concede possession inside his own half.
I wrote on X, formerly Twitter, at the time, that Barry should be able to take real positives from what was an heartening individual display amid an excellent team performance for 28 minutes. Then his night, days after Halloween, turned into a horror show.
He clearly should have scored when he met Jack Grealish’s dinked cross to the back post. There is no point arguing otherwise.
David Moyes later said it was the turning point in the game. Jamie Carragher, on Sky’s Monday Night Football, said: “You can’t miss that at this level.” The Times’ headline on its match report from the Stadium of Light questioned whether it was the “miss of the season”.
A matter of inches made a world of difference. Had that shot burst the roof of the net then Barry’s Everton career had lift-off. A useful opening in which he caused problems for the Sunderland defence and could make a claim for an assist could have been topped off with his first goal for the club.
The net did not burst though and minutes later, clearly frustrated, he was booked for a wild, needless lunge and started to fade from the game as Sunderland used the escape as fuel to gain control they would not relinquish.
Since the match I have seen some criticism of Moyes for later hooking Barry but I find that hard to agree with. After the equaliser, Sunderland pushed up the pitch, Barry struggled to provide an outlet and the space behind the defence looked like an opportunity for Beto.
With Barry having picked up that booking, he also had less chance to put himself about - similar to the Carabao Cup defeat at Wolves when his frustration also led to an early booking and an early substitution. The player must take some accountability, too.
It is also justified to feel for him, though. When the cameras focused on him looking disconsolate on the bench in the final minutes, his anguish was clear. Imagine how he is now feeling, having come so close to a major turning point on Merseyside and instead having to deal with the fallout from a narrow miss having a massive impact on his own fortunes.
Barry’s predicament is symbolic of Everton’s right now. Like the young forward, they looked great for 28 minutes. Had that effort gone in it may well have led to a win that would have transformed the mood within sections of a fanbase that is getting frustrated at the growing pains of a team in transition.
The margins really are that fine. For all the introspection demanded after the Blues stretched their current winless run, you do not have to look far for alternative perspectives on where they stand right now.
Aside from the Times, most national media headlines pitched the result as plucky Sunderland fighting to earn a point from Everton.
Sunderland manager Regis le Bris was content through his post-match press conference, highlighting the problems Moyes’ men caused his own, and stressing he was pleased with a point. One reporter based who has been following Sunderland this season told me that opening half an hour was the first time since their Premier League return that the team had looked overwhelmed.
This, therefore, is clearly no time to panic. The Blues need patience to grow. They started the summer so far behind so many clubs given the recent years of struggle that catching those above them was always going to be tough.
That is not to say that supporters should not have expectations. They deserve better than they have endured over the last few seasons and it is not asking too much for a better understanding of what the club was trying to achieve this summer, and how each signing fits into the wider plan for progress.
The usage of Tyler Dibling, Carlos Alcaraz, Merlin Rohl and Adam Aznou has been peculiar - Dwight McNeil has been unfortunate to slide down the pecking order but Moyes’ explanation of his decision to replace Ndiaye with the left-footed playmaker was short on detail. He said he had impressed in training but so too have Rohl and Dibling according to his recent comments and both, at least from the outside, made more sense.
Moyes and the players have set high standards for themselves, too, with the manager and several of his stars making the case that Europe is not out of the question this season. Perhaps it is not - this looks set to be a league in which every team is capable of picking up wins. Everton would have been three points from fifth had they held on to their lead in the north east, even after some disappointing results.
While Moyes, like Barry and his players, must take some accountability, the manager - like Barry and his players - deserves some sympathy, too. For all the calls that the Blues are too predictable, they keep creating wonderful chances. The problem is they are missing too many of them.
Had Barry scored on Monday or Beto scored any of what I count to be five good chances against Aston Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, the table would quickly look very different. Everton won none of those four games but gave themselves chances to seize the initiative in all of them.
There is the setback for Jarrad Branthwaite, too. His return would have been a welcome boost over the past few weeks and it is easy to see how his introduction would have been the next step forward for this team. We have all been deprived of that.
Everton should know that things rarely come easy to them by now. Moyes acknowledged ahead of Sunderland that his big challenge was to turn more of the swing moments in games in his side’s favour. He cannot finish the chances but, if his strikers cannot either, now may be the time to explore the depth available to him in this squad. There are other options and a willingness to exploit them would be well-received.
Barry was so close to his breakthrough. The Blues have been so close to getting better results than those they have mustered over the past couple of months. Patience is needed on all fronts because the margin between where the team are now and a much higher league position has been incredibly fine.
But the side Moyes is placing his faith in also has clear limitations and recognising them - and looking at the options to address them - would be no bad thing.