TACTICAL ANALYSIS: Everton only have themselves to blame for the two goals conceded against Hull City, but eight big chances showed their attacking threat
Moyes demanded more from his team after the 2-2 draw, complaining that "the overall performance from everybody was so far below our levels"(Image: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)View 3 Images
On Sunday, Everton faced off against Hull City for the first time in 10 seasons, with goals from Romelu Lukaku, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Enner Valencia condemning the Tigers to a 4-0 defeat the last time around.
How the Blues could have done with some of the elite finishing that was at their disposal back in March 2017 at the weekend. David Moyes felt his side "should have gone on and won the game comfortably" having missed six big chances, and used his post-match press conference to remind players of the level he demands from them.
"It was [a positive to see Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall score and assist], because, generally, the overall performance from everybody was so far below our levels," Moyes complained. "We were way below where we should be, and I thought that showed in so many important players, but Kiernan was the one who got us the goal, and obviously he made the assist for Thierno [Barry]."
Moyes' belligerence was understandable in the context of a frustrating two points dropped, with tough fixtures against Chelsea at home and Arsenal and Newcastle United away ahead of his currently fifth-placed side.
Everton remain unbeaten, but were the Blues really that poor across the board? Or was there enough promise in this performance to suggest small improvements in both boxes could get this team properly clicking?
Make sure you never miss the latest Everton news and opinion by making Liverpool Echo one of your Google preferred sources.
Attacking threat on full display
Tyrique George, probably Everton's best attacking player prior to the international break, remained on the bench - with Jack Grealish preferred on the left and Brennan Johnson on the hunt for a first Premier League goal for the Blues on the right.
Johnson thought he had managed it after 34 minutes, prodding home after a Konstantinos Tzolakis mistake, only for a 'subjective offside' decision to rule the goal out.
But Everton showed plenty of incision across a first half in which they created four big chances, Grealish demonstrating his top-level quality on the left and Johnson growing as a presence on the right.
It was fine work from Grealish that led to one of those big chances in added time of the first half, Barry heading over a golden opportunity to go into the break in front.
Grealish made more passes ending in the final third than any other player on either side. With 95% accuracy in the final third, his economic play in wide areas - drilled into him by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City - allowed Everton to keep the pressure on, the Blues seeing a season-high 65.2% of possession.
The former Aston Villa captain offered more than just control in the final third, though, making the joint second-most touches in the opposition box of any player on the pitch alongside Hull's Joe Gelhardt.
Two chances created and three fouls won made Grealish a constant menace, justifying his place ahead of George on the left - but Johnson, other than his disallowed goal, was quiet.
Isolated on the right flank, he made just 27 touches - the fewest of any starter on the day alongside lone striker Barry and Hull's Matt Crooks. Making no final third entries (passing or carrying the ball into the final third) and completing just two passes in the final third, along with winning none of his three duels, it is difficult to justify Johnson's inclusion ahead of the in-form George.
Johnson, though, did win possession back three times in the final third - more than any other player on the pitch. Pressing was, in fact, instrumental to Everton's more encouraging moments, including the glorious chance created for Barry in the 59th minute which the French striker was unable to get a shot away from - thus distorting Everton's already-superior 1.68 xG.
Barry eventually got his goal after hungry pressing from Dewsbury-Hall left him one-v-one with the keeper. An emphatic first-time shot, it was a more difficult finish than the header he passed up midway through the first half, and the No. 11 will have kicked himself for not taking more of the incredible five big chances he racked up on the day.
If you only look at the most important number - six goals in all competitions this season - criticising Barry feels harsh. But Everton supporters who have watched him week-in, week-out can see how fine the margins are separating Barry from genuinely threatening the likes of Erling Haaland, Joao Pedro and Alexander Isak's grasp on the tags of the league's top marksmen.
Barry has passed up at least double the amount of big chances (10) than every other player in the league this season, with the Everton striker still closer to Haaland in first (4.8) than Bukayo Saka in third (3.6) for xG (4.4).
Everton are creating this many chances for Barry now, but it could be even more. Against Hull, Barry made more sprints (18) than anyone else and clocked a top speed (35.5km/h) that has only been bested by Bradley Barcola and Antoine Semenyo in the league this season - yet many of the opportunities Barry gets on the end of are not balls in behind but aerial chances, where his headed finishing has let him down.
There is plenty of reason to think this will improve, though. Barry's overall aerial duel win rate this season has been just 42.9%, but against Hull he put in a muscular centre-forward's performance, competing in a team-high 17 duels and winning 12 of them, including 10 of 14 aerial duels.
With one of the league's more notoriously physical centre-forwards in Oli McBurnie lining up for the opposition, it was notable that Barry's 70.6% duel win rate was more than double his counterpart's.
Opta duels graphic: Barry attempted and won the most duels for Everton, putting in an impressive physical performance in which he should have scored more than the one goal he bagged(Image: Opta)View 3 Images
At the relatively young age of 23, Barry has everything you could want in terms of his attacking runs, physicality and the instinctive sense of knowing where to be in the box, but an xGOT (expected goals on target) of 3.49 - nearly one whole expected goal fewer than his xG - indicates a player who needs to put the hours in on the training ground to make his finishing routine.
If he can make that step up - and, as of right now, it is still an if - he could absolutely become a 25-30-goal per season striker in a team that can create regular chances for him.
Everton, right now, are doing that. They just need Barry to start taking them.
Is the midfield balance right?
On the one hand, 65.2% of possession with a goal and an assist for your side's attacking midfielder sounds like a good midfield performance.
On the other hand, just look at Hull's goals: both resulted from Everton possession breaking down in midfield and an exposed defence struggling to deal with a fast counter-attack.
James Garner racked up 90 attempted passes against Hull, the first time an Everton player has attempted 80 or more in the league this season; he also attempted the most tackles of any player on the pitch (five) but won just one.
With Harrison Armstrong pushing up to the right of Dewsbury-Hall in possession, Garner was left to cover plenty of space when Hull did break, something he struggled to do consistently.
While Dewsbury-Hall and Garner showed plenty of incision in possession, making 16 and 14 line-breaking passes respectively, the Blues' midfield showed a lack of control off the ball, Dewsbury-Hall - the ostensible No. 10 - the only one of the three to successfully make more than one tackle or even a single interception, which led to Barry's goal.
This was a rare day when not a single player in a blue shirt received a booking, but a tactical foul would not have gone amiss on more than one occasion during this game.
Armstrong, meanwhile, mainly lacked influence due to playing a more functional role, with less time on the ball. Rather than taking lots of touches and driving play forward on the right, he played more of a link role between Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Johnson.
As usual, Everton focused more of their attacks (42.9%) down the left side of the pitch. While Grealish and Jarrad Branthwaite exchanged 23 passes on that side, Maitland-Niles and Johnson exchanged just six.
With Armstrong usually the link man between the pair in possession, he played just three passes to Garner compared to Dewsbury-Hall's nine - underlining the separation between the two sides of the pitch in Everton's midfield progression.
Opta passing graphic: Everton were well-organised in possession but their midfield progression left their right-sided players isolated, with Johnson struggling to get into the game(Image: Opta)View 3 Images
Despite that, Armstrong did catch the eye when he had the opportunity to influence affairs in the final third, completing both of his attempted dribbles and accelerating the attack effectively as Everton began to dominate proceedings in the middle of the first half.
Even so, it was his mistake on the ball and slip when attempting to recover at 2-1 that opened up Everton's right flank for Hull to attack for Mohamed Belloumi's equalising goal, while Maitland-Niles - despite creating two chances, including Dewsbury-Hall's goal - was at the scene of the crime for both of the goals the Blues conceded.
Branthwaite at left-back also contributed well on the ball, creating a gilt-edged chance for Barry and playing a key role in maintaining attacks on the left with an impressive 87.5% passing accuracy in the final third.
But both full-backs were vulnerable defensively. Branthwaite looked uncomfortable defensively playing out of position and was too easily bypassed by McBurnie before Maitland-Niles failed to clear the striker's botched pass for Hull's first goal.
Moyes was adamant that he would allow his players no excuses despite the Friedkin Group's failings in the transfer window, but greater protection from finding the right midfield balance would be useful in the absence of natural alternatives at full-back.
Vitalii Mykolenko cannot recover from injury soon enough.
Assessing a strange performance
The intention of this analysis was not to present a stream of seemingly-unconnected positives and negatives about Everton's performance, but rather to give a sense of how close this was to a genuinely impressive three points.
Whether I have been successful in presenting both sides, you be the judge. As frustrating as it is, though, to see two valuable points slip away ahead of a run of demanding league fixtures, this isn't the time to panic.
The Blues showed all of the hallmarks of their better performances this season against Hull, at least on the ball. Reliably creating multiple great chances per game for your striker is no mean feat, and they continued that streak on Sunday.
Small improvements from Barry could be the thing that turns an unbeaten run into a winning streak, and Everton have now shown they are able to create from possession - a trait that should come in handy against teams they expect to beat.
Defensively, it is important to remember that the Blues have the joint-best defence in the league having conceded five goals from six games, and while their xG against is less flattering at 8.3, they have only conceded in the first half of a Premier League game once this season.
That is a platform to build on, and while there's every chance that the unbeaten run could come to an end against Chelsea or Arsenal, Everton should back themselves to cause their supposedly superior opponents plenty of issues with more solid defending and more clinical finishing.
It's not perfect, but it's certainly encouraging. Moyes isn't demanding more from his players because they aren't good enough - he knows how close they are to turning draws into regular victories.
And in the context of the summer's chaos and now the Friedkin Group's decision to sell up, that deserves much more recognition than it has received so far.
*All statistics used are from Opta unless otherwise stated.
GET MORE FROM USChoose Liverpool Echo as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.Google Preferred Source Badge