Moyes can ditch Barry & Beto to unleash “special” Everton star in new role

If there is one area of the pitch where David Moyes has improved Everton at the start of this season compared to the start of the previous campaign, it is in front of goal.

Seven games into the 2024/25 season, the Toffees had struggled to find the back of the net.

According to Understat, they’d scored seven goals in the same number of games under Sean Dyche. Yet, this term under the tutelage of Moyes, they have already scored nine goals, with more points to their name.

Goals are coming from the likes of Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish, but Moyes will be hoping strikers Beto and Thierno Barry can kickstart their campaign soon enough.

Barry and Beto’s start to the season

There are certainly different expectations that surround Beto and summer signing Barry. The Hill Dickinson Stadium may expect more frequent goals from the former, whereas their summer signing from Villarreal deserves more time.

Starting with Barry’s form this term, he has yet to find the back of the net in nine appearances for the club so far. To caveat that, the France under-21 international has only played 314 minutes in those games, equalling just 3.4 full 90-minute games.

Given the time it can take for a player of his inexperience to adapt to the Premier League, it is hard to criticise him.

Beto, on the other hand, could well be deserving of more criticism. At 27 years of age, he could certainly be considered the elder statesman of the two centre-forwards, but has just two goals in nine appearances this term.

Only one of those strikes has come in the Premier League, with Grealish setting him up to score thanks to a wonderful headed cross away to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Yet, he has certainly left a little to be desired, and has now gone four consecutive starts without a goal, playing 45 minutes in all of those.

It is a conundrum for Moyes. He needs goals to come from centre-forward, although the man to do that might be an outside-of-the-box alternative.

Moyes’ Barry and Beto alternative

At the moment, solving the issues that the Toffees strikers are having in front of goal is not an immediate concern for Moyes. After all, they are scoring from other areas of the pitch, with Ndiaye the chief goal-getter at the moment.

But, eventually, the Scot is going to want to fix the issue. With no other natural number nine in the squad, he may have to get creative. One player who could slot in up front is summer signing Carlos Alcaraz.

The Argentine attacker is no stranger to leading the line. He’s done it nine times in his career, according to Transfermarkt, scoring and assisting two goals each from that area.

He’s a number 10 by trade, and is used to getting into the box and on the end of crosses.

In his short Everton career so far, the 22-year-old has only ever operated in attacking midfield, a little deeper as a number eight, and on each flank.

That has been to some degree of success, though; Alcaraz has bagged three goals and has three assists in just 23 Toffees appearances so far.

The “special” forward, as football scout Antonio Mango described him, actually scored on his first start for the club last February.

The strike came away to Crystal Palace, where he showed good instinct in the penalty area to pounce on a loose ball and fire home from 10 yards.

He can be a real thorn in the side of Everton’s opponents, that is for sure. The underlying stats from last season in the top flight highlight his high shot on target total per 90 minutes, with 1.4, which ranks him in the top 2% of Premier League attackers.

He can usually cause goals out of nowhere, too. The 22-year-old notched up 0.7 goal-creating actions each game last season, placing him in the top 7%.

There is certainly evidence to suggest that experimenting with Alacaraz up top could work well for Moyes. The Argentine attacker can be a nuisance in forward areas, and knows where the back of the net is.

It would be a bold call if the Toffees boss was to go down this route, but, it could certainly benefit his side in the short-term.