LEVEL playing field

NUMBERS SAY THERE'S LITTLE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN BETO AND BARRY - BUT ONE HAS TO CONVINCE MOYES TO DITCH THE JOB SHARE

- By CHRIS BEESLEY ECHO Reporter

WITH a dozen Premier League appearances between them so far this season, Everton strikers Beto and Thierno Barry have netted just a single goal - but which of them is doing more up front?

With neither player dominating, manager David Moyes has deployed them in something of a ‘job share’ role.

Each of them are ever present in the Blues’ six top flight fixtures to date (with Beto playing 381 minutes and Barry 163) but other than the last four minutes of the opening game of the season, a 1-0 defeat at newly promoted Leeds United, they have never been on the pitch at the same time.

In those subsequent five matches, one has always replaced the other and in the back-to-back losses of the Merseyside derby at Anfield and Carabao Cup tie at Molineux, Moyes gave them a half each with Beto starting against Liverpool and Barry against Wolves. Beto, who also netted in the previous Carabao Cup game against League One Mansfield Town at Hill Dickinson Stadium with a late tap-in, is the only one of the pair to score so far in the Premier League, heading in from a Jack Grealish cross.

For his part, the Guinea-Bissau international knows he needs to be bringing more goals to the team and ahead of the trip to face the reigning Premier League champions, he said: “For me it’s a normal thing. It is normal for a striker.

“You always need to prove yourself, even if it is just for you. A striker needs to score goals and I need to score goals.

“If I score, I'm a good player, if I don’t score, maybe I’m not so good. It’s the life of a striker.

“If a striker doesn’t score goals, the fans, the gaffer, they need to demand this from a striker. That is at every club.