Michael Ball tackles the big issues at Hill Dickinson Stadium in the final week of the international break
Thierno Barry has scored five goals for Everton so far this season
Thierno Barry has scored five goals for Everton so far this season
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Thierno Barry – who already has five goals for Everton so far this season – was back on the scoresheet in the 3-3 draw with Blackburn Rovers in the behind closed doors friendly but online footage has also emerged of him training with his own personal coach.
He’s our centre-forward now. He wears 11 at the moment but he’s our number nine now and has shown already this year that he can score with different parts of his body.
It’s a new, modern thing with these individual coaches on the likes of Instagram and TikTok. The footage just shows that he’s hungry though – hopefully the Everton coaching staff are involved in that and know what he’s up to!
I hope he’s not doing too much but it shows that he still wants to learn and improve himself. As long as he and Everton are in sync over what he is doing away from Finch Farm and you don’t want him to pick up any injuries, I’m all for that.
Thierno wants to impress and David Moyes wants players who are prepared to open their ears and learn. Barry is doing that and whether you like him or not, he’s the one who has got to score the goals for us and will have targets in his head and if he thinks doing what he’s doing away from our training ground will improve him, then good on him.
Everton return to action at Hull City on Sunday and they go into the fixture only one point behind us in the table. That was a shock on the first game of the season because I expected Manchester United to run riot, but they were “mauled by the Tigers” and the home fans were loving it and being back in the Premier League.
It was great to see on the day but now Everton have got to show them why we’ve never been relegated from the Premier League and assert our dominance as the established top flight side, trying to dictate the play. That’s been the only real frustration from this season so far, we’ve let opposition sides dictate us.
The game is also an early opportunity to come up against Tim Iroegbunam who was sold on transfer deadline day and I was really pleased with what we got out of him during his time at the club. It was like we did a swap with Aston Villa for Lewis Dobbin, and it now feels like we got the best of the business from that deal.
He was one of the shining lights last season when he got his opportunity and it felt like he was someone who David Moyes believed he could trust to do a job. He was big and athletic with a good engine, and I was disappointed when he left because I’d have liked to have kept him in a royal blue shirt as it feels like he’s got a lot of potential.
But he’s moved on now and it’s always difficult playing against a team you’ve been with and who you’ve got a connection to. Let’s make it tough for him, we know his plus points, but we know his negatives as well.