Everton vs Aston Villa - Player Ratings: Several positives despite goalless draw

Some of Pickford's passing was dodgy and almost caused issues, but that happens to every team when they fanny about at the back.

He gets unfair criticism based on people who remember him for the partnership he had with the walking disaster area that was Mason Holgate, a player that would have made Franz Beckenbauer look awful.

It was a good team performance today, a well organized performance that saw many chances created but for me the strikers are the weakest link.

I don't know what plans we have for January but we absolutely definitely need to resolve it, we all knew it needed to be looked at before the summer window closed. I was surprised it was not addressed then because it will be the cause of more frustrating games like this between now and January, I expect.

Oh to have Richarlison in that team.

This also greatly limits our wingers who link up with them… Also, we have 2 center forwards who aren't elite. Also, Villa played all the dark arts today.

All things considered, we are cooking and it's a long season. It's still a rebuild, let's not forget. I can see good progress, so no complaints here…. I fancy us to get far in the cups too!!! UTFT

Can I rate the soccer bus from Tai Pan to L1 as a –10 as I spent 60 minutes on it on the way home and I can walk it in 30!

That Costco junction needs a couple of police on bikes to sort traffic flow out... or maybe Beto could do a decent job in that position

Keane was immense at the back and can't be blamed for missing at the other end when those paid to score continue to fail.

The concensus on British Rail is that if we can trade Beto for a left back and a tailor's mannequin we would be better off.
The attacking players behind the hapless centre-forwards are showing great promise for the season. One week some team is going to suffer.

First visit to the ground. Nightmarish for travel. But fantastic atmosphere and view.

Yes, Beto had a poor game but when he went off any little threat we had also disappeared. Barry was completely anonymous.

For effort alone, Beto was much better. Barry won't be here long. A panic signing whose level is a European league.

There wasn't a lot of striking talent on offer this summer - and certainly not for the modest fee we paid for Barry.

At the moment, Barry looks more of an athlete than a footballer (not unlike Beto) but it's very early days. With patience, he might develop into a good striker. It took the likes of Wissa and Cunha years before they were showing decent goalscoring form.

A really good striker now costs upwards of £70M (and even then can be hit and miss) - or you have to buy very young (like, say, Bournemouth have done with Eli Kroupi and Brighton have done with Tzimas and Kostoulas) and look to develop them.

I could see Evan Ferguson being with us next season if he completes a decent rehabilitation in Italy. I do think he's a good footballer.

Must have done something alright, because the rest of Villa was piss poor.

Oh for Vardy? Even at age 43.

How can a Professional Footballer get to Premier League level and not be able to control a moving ball? It almost beggars belief to be honest.

I think we missed two tricks in the Transfer Window just gone: firstly Hamza Igamane (Rangers) who eventually went for around £10.4M, and had been linked to us too. The other was Mihailo Ivanovic (Millwall) who I think may develop into a much sought-after striker. I believe around £15M or less would have clinched the deal.

If memory serves, we did have another player (under the radar at the time) from Millwall who turned out to be not too shoddy! I believe we will struggle if we persist with Beto, and possibly Barry too.

What is it with Everton recently regarding getting reasonably successful strikers? I appreciate that most are out of our present spending range, but there must be cheaper versions around who would jump at the chance to join us.

Also, I agree with Rob @2, we are much better when Pickford clears long, passing out from the back doesn't suit us.

Your ratings are remarkably similar to the Echo? But I can't take issue with them.

I thought Ndiaye was our outstanding player today but the rest, including Jack, were fairly average.

Villa came to grab a point by being very physical and organized so it was difficult to break them down. This is where a clinical goalscorer makes all the difference. Regrettably we don't have one and wasted £27M of the budget on a rookie.

Until we get a couple of goalscorers, we will continue to drop points.

Moyes seems reluctant to change. I mean, we won two games previously but one agaisnt one of the worst teams in the league and the other one a miraculous win against Brighton.

A managerial defeat that could be avoided should Beto be a decent striker, but in the end fair enough for not taking risks.

Pickford 6
O'Brien 7
Tarkowski 6
Keane 7
Garner 6
Iroegbunam 5
Gana 6
Ndiaye 6½
Dewsbury-Hall 5½
Grealish 6
Beto 3½

Röhl 6
Barry 5½

Moyes 3: extremely poor game reading. No guts at all to make things happen against a poor side with both full-backs yellow-carded having Alcaraz and Dibling on the bench and players out of ideas.

Hard to explain.

Progress compared to the past? Probably true as well

NSNO.

Playing roughly the same number of minutes, we had a striker with much silkier skills score 3 goals. You know, the one now at Leeds who was their lowest-rated player today by the Yorkshire Evening Post. (Comments: Needlessly offside a couple of times. Ran a lot. )

Which would you rather have?

Personally, I'll take the one who plays ugly and actually finds the net sometimes.

Just hope that Moyes breaks his duck at the Red Shite next week.

It appears many are acknowledging this reality now, but during the transfer window most seemed obsessed with the signing of Grealish and getting Dibling in and many seemed to think we would be okay with Beto leading the line.

With our midfield now looking much more promising at creating chances, Beto will score goals, but I think this situation will flatter him and we'll drop points because he's just not a very good striker. It's clear he tries hard, but he often shows frustration on the pitch mostly at his own inadequacies.

In saying all that, I do acknowledge that signing a pacy and skilful striker doesn't come cheap nor are they plentiful at the moment.

I can recall quite a few stating that Barry wasn't the answer and/or wasn't Premier League ready. The reality is we had to replace a lot of players and, as others note, proven quality costs and usually had better options open to them. Didn't Moyes allude to the fact a lot of players turned us down? We have been something of a strikers' graveyard for 8 or 9 years now.

Hopefully January will throw up some opportunities –especially being 6 months out from a World Cup. Otherwise, I think it will be a case of "what if"…

That sentence sums us up very accurately: "We have been somewhat a graveyard for strikers for at least 8 or 9 years"

Couldn't agree more.

The trouble is, we've still got a large number of fans who have forgotten what a true artisan of a striker can do, much like when some this summer were turning their nose up at signing a top-class Jack Grealish.

For too long we just want workhorse-type players, those that put in a shift and cause chaos instead of someone who can do better than that.

For this season, it will be much like last season, a striker up front that gets chances and doesn't put enough away, only this season that won't be Calvert-Lewin.

Last season, Beto was the better option because the formerly mentioned wasn't good enough plus wanted off.

This season should have seen a first choice while Beto was the backup. We've got the money, and we've certainly had enough time and money since Romelu Lukaku left us.

I doubt we expected Barry to be ready; I doubt Moyes – being as savvy and long in the tooth – thought he'd be anywhere near ready this season; although it's early days, he doesn't look ready at all.

It just seems so weird that the striker position and the right-back situation are ongoing issues that never get truly resolved. This has been an issue for 5 or 6 years now; it's on the recruitment team.

Barry 5½
Rohl 5½

Don't agree with some of the 8s. Don't agree with some of the grief Beto got. Yes, he missed some chances – it's what strikers do.

At least he got into goal-scoring opportunities, had some chances, got away from defenders, and ran in behind. Yes, he's as awkward as fuck, but the above is an improvement on Calvert-Lewin who wasn't getting chances, didn't run behind, and got caught by defenders regularly despite being supposedly quicker.

To improve significantly upon him would have cost a huge chunk of money and we didn't have £70M to spend on Ekitike or Woltemade. It will be Beto and Barry for this season and they will miss chances as all strikers do but hopefully by the end of the season they have around 15-20 goals between them which would be a good return.

You like Beto and that's fair enough, he gives his all every game.

When Beto scores, he has done his job and shuts everyone up; but when he fails to score, the rest of his game is hard to defend.

I can see some improvement in him: two or three times yesterday, he fought for the ball, got it under control, and gave it to better players. It was hard to understand three or four times the referee not penalising fouls on Beto yet blowing the whistle against Everton for exactly the same fouls.

Beto will continue to get criticism, I'm inclined to hold my tongue and wait for the goals that, hopefully, will come and earn the lad some praise until we sign someone who is better. Maybe he is already here but the jury are hard to convince until Barry gets his first goal and a lot of confidence with it.

Did anyone see the reaction from Garner when he set Beto up for a sitter and Beto failed to make contact? The shake of the head and look of incredulity spoke volumes.

We have so many creative players now, well done Mr Moyes, but without someone to put them away………

He does really struggle to control or hit any balls which come across his body though, which will mean he'll continue to miss good chances.

As many have pointed out, we probably didn't have the funds to go all out on an established goalscorer this summer. I still feel we missed out a couple of seasons back when Gyökeres was available for £20M from Coventry.

You have to wonder who scouted these...?

Liverpool used this approach a few years ago with Salah, Mane and Firmino to good effect.

Surprised to hear you took an hour to get to L 1 on the Soccerbus. What time did you leave the ground? We got off when the game ended and got a bus straightaway and were in the Bridewell by 5:25 pm.

I was hoping the Soccerbus was going to be the solution as driving to the ground from town yesterday took almost an hour and picking up after the Brighton game convinced me that the car is not an option.

Did anyone else have problems with transport?

But they were also very cynical in their approach to stop Grealish and Ndaiye by any methods they could and unfortunately were ably assisted by the referee in this plan. Both Digne and Cash committed foul after foul yet no card shown, amazing when I see us away from home incur yellow cards for sometimes quite innocuous tackles.

I thought we played well throughout the game and with better finishing might well have won this game by 3 goals, but if you don't put your chances away, then you end up drawing a game which we should have won quite comfortably.

But the difference from the start of last season, we look like a team that's attractive to watch, creates chances, and is defensively very sound, notwithstanding we are missing our left-back and our left-sided central defender.

Quite interesting to see Röhl get some minutes, I am sure young Dibling must be anxious to get out there — he is yet to play a minute of Premier League football after being here for a few weeks. I can't think of too many £50Mbuys who have had to wait so long to make their league debut. But with Grealish and Ndaiye playing in his position, I fear the wait may go on for a while longer.

As many have said, we are limited by our availability of a top striker so will have to persevere with Beto and hope Barry improves quickly. As far as I can see, that#s the one part of our team that's just not firing as we would like it.

A hard European campaign will see them have a poor season. They've done well to keep hold of Martinez, but there's players there that are going to be past their sell-by date or some just not up to it.

It's another rival that we could edge past in the Top 8 hunt.

To be fair, the striker at Leeds got a lot less chances against Fulham, and the best chance he headed it straight at the keeper, Beto didn't even do that?

I still think we made a massive mistake in bringing in Barry. Ferguson was available for the same money? He's scored two goals for Ireland last week, in a poor poor side; you can see the quality he possesses.

But I have to say my journey home is becoming an absolute nightmare. Travelling home from Goodison, it used to take about 45 minutes by car from reaching the car park to driving home.

The last 3 games at our new stadium, despite having a parking slot 10 minutes from the ground, it takes me just over 2 hours to get home, and it just spoils the match-going experience.

Problem is, I don't see what changes anybody is going to make to alleviate the problems. Why so many roads have to be closed, I don't know.

I don't know why all of Regent Road is closed; surely a quarter of a mile from the stadium in both directions would allow the crowds to disperse and the traffic to move more smoothly.

I do like Beto but I think we're all aware of his limitations and they obviously feel more prominent when he's not scoring.

The more pertinent question may be who else could/should we have? I feel that many Evertonians expectations for a striker can be too high. There's a few decent strikers that have started the season slowly (Watkins, Wood, Mateta etc).

I'm not sure Beto will be our frontline striker next season but he'll almost definitely play a lot for us this season and is a confidence player who needs backing.

Mr Rotherham's cunning plan seems to be falling apart — as many on here predicted.

Beto is neither; work rate he's acceptable but conversion rate-wise, he's hopeless.

Barry to me looks like a rabbit in the headlights.

Both Cash and Digne were booked.

When I used to stand on Gwladys Street, if there was a big queue for a pie and a pint, I'd just stay and eat after the game. I never wanted to miss a second.

The pies were shite anyway.

Yesterday, I parked at the Strand and walked to the ground. The city was jam-packed after the game, traffic jams everywhere.

I'm looking at 2 hours of travel after the game now, to get home, distance around 12 miles.

Looks like getting a drink is more important these days than seeing the match. How long before they increase the half half-time break to 20 or even 25 minutes?

I'm not criticising anyone but I went to watch the match. My culinary expectations at Goodison were zero.

Too many fans are going in early on Barry but these are posters who have generally bigged up Beto and, because he shown how limited he really is, Barry is getting similar flak.

TFG had an issue in the summer when losing Dominic for free. This meant that a fair proportion of our outlay needed to be centred on a striker. They have bought Barry for the long term and their idea would have been to trust Beto with his Premier League experience until Barry settles in to the rigours of the Premier League. We have already seen glimpses of what he will bring with his hold-up play for the 2 goals when he started.

During the summer, we needed to be brave in my opinion and cash in on Beto's purple patch as Ferguson was available for peanuts. The problem, however, is that, because Ferguson was unfit all last season, TFG will have felt it was too much of a gamble as they needed someone reliable initially. They could do it at Roma because Dobryvk was reliable.

Many on here suggested Beto would get 15 goals this season and talked about minutes played etc but that patch came with the new manager bounce and has never been prolific. Barry will outscore Beto this season no matter how many minutes Beto plays and there is good reason why he only plays these minutes.

TFG have signed 2 top class strikers in my opinion but unfortunately one is not for us and we probably won't be able to afford Ferguson this time next year.

It's a bit like suggestions over the year to buy players like Shankland and Morellos.

It'll soon be time for the annual call to play strikers from the youth set-up.

There's no magic to this.

Good strikers cost a lot of money and even some of them bomb (hojlund, Nunez etc). It's even harder for them when the wider team is a patched up work in progress.

Or you can pick players up younger and cheaper and develop them in style that suits them over a few years like Wissa for example.

Progress is being made in terms of points won against comparative fixtures last season and we are doing that whilst playing much better football.

The win against Brighton was not in any way miraculous or undeserved and the Wolves scoreline flattered them. The acid test will come against the Red Shite next week, of course, but too early to say what our season will be like.

Probably need to see where we are at the start of the next international break, but the turnaround under Moyes has been spectacular — whole season equivalent of 62 points from his half season in charge last time out, remember.

Moyes tried very hard to get Delap: right profile, right age, right price... unfortunately, we are never going to be able to compete with clubs regularly in Europe.

He would have been a superb buy and, because he had a release clause price, we had an outside chance of getting him. He would in my opinion score 15-plus goals a season in this side.

You're probably right with that assessment, and Barry needs time to adjust to the Premier League, he has a good first touch, but needs to show more physicality; a goal would do wonders for his game.

We can't offer that.

Europe is not really the draw. Champions League royalty is the draw. And money.

At the very minimum, given the shortcomings of our current two strikers, for one reason or another, it has to be worth a try, if only for selected games or even parts of games. You do lose something from it obviously: less aerial presence and sheer bloody awkwardness.

But I put it to you all that Ndiaye would have controlled the ball over the top in the first half and at least had a shot. Same with the through ball for Barry late second half, he is pacy enough and confident enough to have got a shot away. And he most likely would have buried Garner's delivery in.

In fact, I would say Ndiaye is probably the player who has the greatest eye for a goal in our squad, the most natural goal scorer, so why not use him where he can better put that valuable attribute into practise?

In some way you're probably right but I was annoyed at Moyes refusing to involve Dibling when Digne was booked and we chased him the whole summer to secure the deal against a very poor Villa side. Moyes has made us much better and we'll be okay, I think, but the 3 points were there for the taking and having the Red Shite next week, it seemed almost a necessity to win.

I'll agree, “miraculous” was maybe too much but we could've lost against Brighton also although having spells of good football.

Bottom line: my missus being pregnant for the first time scares me to death so football and this forum is kind of a catalyst, I'm probably kind of over demanding lately, any tips?😹 😹

Geoff #27, I saw Garner, his face said it all.

The RS used Firminho (similar ish to Ndiaye) as a striker - but really he was a Number 10 playing a bit higher up the pitch. This worked because they had Mane and Salah as inverted wing-forwards of great pace and ability running in behind. They then had galloping full backs going on the outside to create the width.

The same is true of PSG last season. Dembele played loosely in the striker position, with the likes of Doue, Barcola and Kvaratskhelia making up a front 3. All pacey, technical players capable of running in behind. Their width was provided by the galloping full backs.

With what we have, you can't just stick Ndiaye up front and have no-one running in behind, no width, no pace and two makeshift full backs.

Whether we like it or not, the whole squad is best set up to play something along the lines of 4231 / 433 - with Barry or Beto as a focal point.

When Branthwaite and Mykolenko are back, Barry and Dibling have acclimatised and Garner is back in centre mid, then 4231 / 433 works better and we should be pretty good too.

Their highlights showed us constantly pushing forward throughout, with only one Villa chance, yet the pundits then proceeded to solely discuss Villa and their current plight.

Not a single mention of us; not even a cursory “but another good performance from Everton, highlighting their steady improvement compared to recent years.”

NOWT!! ZERO!! FUCK ALL!!

If Beto could score a goal a game playing for us he would be worth £100m, it depends what you expect for £20m - Pele.
For all we were the best side by a long way, there was a lack of clear cut shooting chances.

It was another point which considering we are playing with 2 fullbacks that are not full backs is not so bad.

If one of the seemingly millions of former RS players that now dominate TV punditry had been commenting on one of their games, we’d have heard nothing but red-biased bollocks.

No great shakes, but better than Watkins (0 in 4), Sesko (0 in 3), Delap (0 in 3), Strand-Larsen (0 in 2), Solanke (0 in 2) and a load of others yet to get going.

Evan Ferguson (whom I rate) is on 0 goals in 3 for Roma.

There were a couple of suggestions yesterday of strikers who would have been better. They are Igamane of Lille (after only 1 appearance for Lille) and Ivanovic of Millwall (0 goals in 5 games so far this season in the Championship.

Unsurprisingly, no sign yet of anyone across Europe having found themselves a high quality, low cost striker as yet. A few will emerge, as they always do, but no obvious candidates just yet.

(A genuine question BTW)

It's very easy for people to criticize Beto and like most players he has his flaws but few can point out plausible alternatives who could do better. Because there aren't that many.

Barry is a really interesting young player with the potential to exceed Beto's standard but the Premier League is a notoriously difficult league to adapt to and he may need time to adapt and flourish.

Last season, even during Beto's great run which coincided with the change of manager, his only goal against a top-half-of-the-table side came against the Red Shite. Currently, we have played 4 teams none of whom will finish Top 7 and he has had numerous chances to score.

Unlike the other strikers you mentioned, his all-around game is poor. Mateta and Evanilson will both score around the 15 mark this season and both are really decent footballers.

Ferguson hasn't scored but he got 2 Man of the Match performances in his first 2 games including an assist for the winner. Today, he was left out because he played in Armenia during the week (injury record) and it wasn't until he came on that Roma began to look a threat. Torino banked up like Burnley earlier and he didn't get any clear-cut chances.

All three of these strikers are different gravy to Beto.

Before yesterday's matches, Grealish had the most assists in the Premier League while Dewsbury-Hall had created the most chances. This type of service will not continue as we play more difficult opponents and Beto should really be making hay while the sun is hot.

Sean #59, "I'd swap him for Watkins anyday." You really are clutching at straws, Watkins is still throwing the toys out of the pram because they wouldn't sell him to Arsenal.

The full back positions as we know are absurd unless Aznou can actually play Premier League. I'm not convinced Moyes things so.

The suggestion being made here is not one would try against the very good teams where maybe a battering ram might be the limit of our aspirations, but against teams we can fashion good chances for and even then maybe just as a change up.

None of the ones against Villa involved anyone running in behind other than the striker. I think the squad is just about good enough to be able to implement a Plan B.

Beto will end up with about 12 goals if given a 38-game season.

It's not brilliant but not terrible either. Good enough to finish Top 10, especially if others chip in. Not good enough to finish Top 6 but not many in our squad are that level. It's not just the strikers.

I've said for a few years, it will be very difficult to buy someone who will score more than about 12 straightaway who is first team ready. Lots of clubs with lots more money have tried and failed.

There are better footballing strikers out there but not especially prolific. I think Evanilson is a good footballer. Ferguson too. I think Broja has plenty more talent than Beto but will he ever string a few games together?

It'll be interesting to see how surprisingly expensive Woltemade and Wissa do. It's a really tough market to find a striker in. Everyone wants one.

Get on board.

I was also frustrated that we didn't win, but for me progress is more points than in the comparative fixtures from last season. This was a point more, so still progress. Also good that we kept a clean sheet - going to need lots of those this season if we want to push up the league.