Top teams score goals. It's as simple as that. Only three Premier League teams have scored fewer goals than Everton this season. But what's been the problem?
Barry and Beto. Beto and Barry. Whatever order you like. Everton's striker duo are firing blanks and missing chances that should be converted. Fans are growing frustrated, game after game, seeing wasted opportunities in front of goal.
Barry or Beto. A level playing field?
Ultimately, you have to cut Thierno Barry more slack. He recently turned 23. He's only just adjusting to life in the Premier League after a summer move. He's also started around a third of Everton's league fixtures.
From that standpoint, the finger-wagging is more aimed at Beto for dismal goal scoring. Beto has started two-thirds of those games, played more minutes, and missed more chances. He's also in his third season in an Everton shirt.
Weirdly though, David Moyes has a habit of hooking one of them off for the other either at half-time or early into the second half. That means that Barry, for example, hasn't played more than 65 minutes in one Premier League game. Crazy.
It's now become cliché to think that if Beto plays poorly, Barry will start the next game. Moyes will then, like clockwork, give Barry between 45 and 60 minutes and swap Beto back in. Ten games into the season, are we none the wiser?
Barry or Beto. What do the stats say?
Despite starting a third of Everton's league matches, Thierno Barry has played 304 minutes, more or less half of Beto's 600 minutes. That means, whether he's starting or substituted on, Barry is statistically getting less of a chance to prove himself.
Overall, FOTMOB gives Beto a 6.28 average season rating and Barry a 6.05. Not much of a difference. Beto, of course, has the one goal to his name from Week 3 against Wolves. Both have been shown a single yellow card.
Analysing the per 90 stats, Beto has a much higher non-penalty xG, or expected goals, compared to Thierno Barry. Beto's 0.56 xG rating places him in high company. Everton fans won't need to be reminded of the chances he's either created or attempted.
From the stats, Beto is a marginally better passer and gets on the ball more, with eerily similar dribbling metrics. Thierno Barry is less easily dispossessed, while Beto receives the ball more in the opposition box.
The aerial stats lean more towards Beto being a better presence in the air, however. Both strikers are losing more duels overall, but Beto has a 50/50 chance if targeted high. That could be opposition-dependent
Beto or Barry. Is there a logical conclusion?
It's not uncommon for strikers of any Premier League team to be interchangeable. It's slightly uncommon for two strikers to show such similar stats and fire such similar blanks.
Do Everton fans blame David Moyes for handing Beto 7 Premier League starts? Do they blame Moyes for hooking Thierno Barry prematurely in games? There doesn't appear to be a right or wrong answer.
Looking away from the stats and applying some recency bias, Thierno Barry showed enough to start this weekend against Fulham. I'd be surprised if Moyes decides to swap things up top after the Sunderland game.
Barry looked a bit leggy at times on Monday night, but the first half was devoid of a myriad of chances. Sure, Barry fluffed one, but he has a dozen more to fluff before he holds a candle to Beto in his last few fixtures.
I was hoping for some sort of divine intervention after writing and researching for this piece. Will Everton's Barry blank get Beto, or worse? We'll have to find out. Barry needs to play more, and Beto needs to work his way back into the team. Here's hoping one of them paths proves successful.