For a good hour of Monday’s clash with Leeds United, Dominic Calvert-Lewin showed Everton what they are missing.
Yes, he missed a gilt-edged chance to make it 2-0 to Leeds midway through the first half, as Everton — who were shocking in that opening period — very nearly wilted under a constant barrage of pressure.
A deflected cross came to Calvert-Lewin at pace, and he could only turn his effort against the woodwork from six yards out.
Everton got away with one, and they took advantage. In the second half, Thierno Barry — from a not altogether too dissimilar chance, though hardly a carbon copy — beat his marker to Idrissa Gueye’s cross at the same end, at the same point on the edge of the six-yard box, and stabbed home, high into the net.
On the face of it, Everton’s current striker scored, and their old one didn’t, and missed a big chance in the process.
Yet I fear this misses the wider point and context.
Calvert-Lewin, especially in the first half, was fantastic. He ran Everton’s defence ragged, stretching it, running the channels and getting into a real tussle with Jake O’Brien and James Tarkowski.
The 28-year-old was also dropping expertly into midfield, creating the space for Leeds’ marauding wing-backs to charge forward down the flanks, while Brenden Aaronson was causing havoc down the Whites’ left flank.
Calvert-Lewin had 17 touches in the first half, though Leeds’ issue was only two of those came in Everton’s area.
And there could be an argument to say it was the “classic” Calvert-Lewin display, the type that Evertonians — or a certain section of the fanbase — had grown tired of.
The issue is, as Leeds dominated every facet of the game in the first half, it was evident just how much Everton, playing the way they do under David Moyes, miss a centre-forward with Calvert-Lewin’s skillset and attributes.
Bringing others into the game, getting their team up the pitch.
And this is not a criticism of Barry. He has shown he is much better at doing that than Beto, for example. He needs time, and patience. The confidence he now has in front of goal is brilliant to see, and shows a tantalising glimpse at a bright future.
However, he still has some way to go in his all-round play. The first half showed the difference.
Barry toiled up front against a back three, and that was on Moyes. His striker was isolated and his team selection was exposed. Harrison Armstrong has been fantastic since he returned on loan from Preston North End, but he lacked the physicality to get up and offer any support to the front man. Dwight McNeil playing out on the right wing was a pointless exercise.
Everton, unsurprisingly — albeit, it could hardly get much worse — improved in the second half after Moyes introduced the fit-again Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jarrad Branthwaite. The change in shape helped, not only to get the Toffees up the pitch, but also give Calvert-Lewin a taste of the medicine that Barry had to swallow during the opening 45 minutes.
Barry took his chance brilliantly when it came, having previously drawn a fine save out of Karl Darlow with a cute, outside-of-the-boot effort. It is now four goals in the space of five league games for the 23-year-old.
But with a week left in the transfer window, Everton need to be smart, and they must be opportunistic. Leeds had 10 shots in the first half, and a better team than them would have put them away.
Calvert-Lewin might have missed that great chance to put the game to bed, but he had also played a huge role in Leeds’ dominance up to that point.
While Everton can look to the future in Barry, they must also look to their past in Calvert-Lewin, and realise they still need their centre-forward to offer those traits, too.
Reader Comments (30)
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2 Posted 28/01/2026 at 13:59:28
Not every cross has to be in the air, loads of goals will be tapped in from close range along the ground.
3 Posted 28/01/2026 at 14:43:53
But he didn't.
4 Posted 28/01/2026 at 15:00:31
Leeds are currently 16th the Premier League, same place we were when he was up front for us. It's not a coincidence. Give me Beto, Barry and top half of the league all day!
Some of the article titles seem disingenuous and spiteful to me sometimes. Barry scored a blinder, Dom missed a sitter by using the wrong foot coz he doesn't have a left at all. But apparently we are missing him??? 😝 🤣 😂
6 Posted 28/01/2026 at 15:57:05
I'm sick of hearing about the dress wearer.
7 Posted 28/01/2026 at 16:08:29
"Those world-shaking culottes are a case in point. ‘I thought I'd just pulled some shorts on,' he says with a laugh. ‘So when the cover came out and it looked like a skirt, I didn't even know what had happened".
8 Posted 28/01/2026 at 16:33:25
Sad.
9 Posted 28/01/2026 at 16:35:15
“Every day my family sends me (messages of) people saying I am the worst striker, so I say, ‘okay, I am the worst striker', so that is why I do this celebration,” he said on Monday after pointing at himself and mouthing ‘me?' following his goal. “You see the critics, but I like to prove people wrong who have the wrong idea of me. For me, I don't care, I like it when someone talks about me. I see the criticism and I don't care.” By his own admission, Barry is still learning the finer arts of forward play in the Premier League. His career to date has taken in spells in Belgium, Switzerland and Spain. He has scored goals wherever he has played, but he sees English football as a different beast. “I think it is because I came from Spain,” he noted on his early struggles. “I need to adapt to the new league and it is difficult to play against the best defenders in the world. “It is more physical here. I am tall, but I am not big (strong), so I need to work on my body to know how to use my body to protect the ball. “I have learnt in training and I try to prove every week that I can play here and can play in England because it is my dream. “To improve fast you need to play, so the gaffer (David Moyes) has given me a lot of confidence and I try to give back. I try to give more. I train every day to be ready, and I hope to continue like this.”
10 Posted 28/01/2026 at 16:36:25
Next, we're going to have an article on how Iwobi is doing over at Fulham or Lookman at Atalanta.
11 Posted 28/01/2026 at 17:07:03
Well, that's nice of them -- Jeez, talk about tough love!
12 Posted 28/01/2026 at 18:11:15
On the footballing side, he always appeared to be injured, and when he did play, he missed a shed full of chances.
Admittedly he is scoring for Leeds, and I'm happy for him, but would he (hypothetically) have done for us had he stayed?
13 Posted 28/01/2026 at 18:18:18
Sadly, he only had 2 games under Moyes, and was MotM against Spurs, but his hamstring injury finished his season, and his career here.
However, we can't deny a fit Calvert-Lewin is definitely an asset, as he has shown this season, even if you don't like him.
14 Posted 28/01/2026 at 19:22:29
Barry is Barry, with his own style of play. It's going to take him time to get used to a different country and a different football culture.
From reading of his past performances at previous clubs, he only gets into a period of form scorimg goals in the second half of a season. Then he moves on to a different club and repeats the process.
I think he has spent the last 3 seasons at 3 different clubs in 3 different countries... which must tell us something.
15 Posted 28/01/2026 at 19:38:07
He's right as well on the difference in the Premier League to Spain, France etc. Latest in a long list f.rom abroad who took a season to settle in
16 Posted 28/01/2026 at 19:45:28
He played as we all know he can do when fit (getting up there in the air, holding the ball up, etc), he was always going to try harder against us but, when the sitter was presented to him, he failed. How may times have Evertonians seen that over the years???
I have nothing against him as a person, but I am an Everton supporter and it was time to move on. I genuinely am happy he is gone.
There was a contract offered to him -- he chose not to sign it, waiting to see who might come in for him, so Everton withdrew that offer and rightly so.
The club were never going to give him an increase on the £90k per week he was already earning given his record with injury and putting the ball in the net.
I think it is very telling that Leeds were the only club that showed up -- the contract he signed with them is actually less than he was earning with Everton and certainly a lot less than he was demanding (£130k - £140k) from the club. He then sacked his agents and initially represented himself before signing to a new agents.
I have a friend who is a Leeds supporter who reckons the contract he has with Leeds is performance-based, that could be based on lots of scenarios.
Comparing Calvert-Lewin to Barry is unfair given our guy has only dipped his toe in the toughest league in the world, he has openly admitted that the physicality shocked him and is already starting to show he is getting stronger and, once he really gets up to speed, he will be better than our former Number 9, I think.
17 Posted 28/01/2026 at 19:56:32
Calvert-Lewin's not a bad lad but I was also glad to see the back of him. I agree, it was time for a change. And we seem to have traded up.
18 Posted 28/01/2026 at 20:51:41
Barry is playing with a vastly superior set of players has scored 5 in 25. Fans have had to watch his attempts to control a football through their fingers.
I'm all for supporting our boy. I think he will get better, but there is some utter shite being spouted here. One of these players has already scored more Premier League goals than the other ever will.
His current scoring rate is better. He will score more this season. He is bigger, faster and stronger. And although he cost twenty times less. He is an infinitely better footballer.
19 Posted 29/01/2026 at 06:25:18
I'm sick to death of hearing about Calvert-Lewin, 70 goals in 9 seasons... so what??? That's about 8 a season with James, Richarlison, Digne, etc assisting him. They are far better players than the ones who are currently wearing our shirt who Barry has to rely on to supply him with chances.
Calvert-Lewin is gone -- can we stop lauding this 8-goal-a-season striker? He had his chance to stay and decided he was too good for us and has gone to the mighty Leeds Utd.
20 Posted 29/01/2026 at 07:01:42
And he can run as much as he wants. But he is a footballing lamp post. He can't shoot, and without a first-time finish from the penalty spot, he can't score either.
He is a player that needs a footballing partner. He looked decent with Richarlison, and played well with the other Leeds lad, Okafor. Without it, he is ineffective, relying on his own game. Sky high wages and a terrible injury record... we will see the Leeds fans' patience next season.
His comments about being booed by a frustrated minority at Aston Villa were shameful. The club gave him his chance, gave him huge wages, and stuck by him. His comments lacked any class. I thank him for his contribution, but I won't miss him.
He is over-rated, mainly by himself.
21 Posted 29/01/2026 at 07:20:15
Yeah, only the keeper to beat from 2 yards and he hit the post (missed a sitter).
22 Posted 29/01/2026 at 07:44:03
I'm obviously only speaking for myself but it was best for both Everton and Calvert-Lewin that he decided to move on.
23 Posted 29/01/2026 at 08:05:14
No wonder Calvert-Lewin's Mrs slapped down those brave little soldiers on social media. They know more about character assassination than they do about football
Ian Bennett,
It's pretty clear you were not at Villa Park that day, but that doesn't mean you haven't heard those "Shameful" comments from Calvert-Lewin. The ones that "lacked class".
Would you care to share them with those of us who haven't? A link? A quote?
24 Posted 29/01/2026 at 12:12:56
Calvert-Lewin scored a great one against Palace to keep us in the Premier League, we will always remember that and how he and the fans celebrated.
That said, do you not remember how injury-prone he was and could still be? We move on.
The deft touches that Barry showed in scoring his last two goals, plus the one denied by a brilliant save from the Leeds keeper, shows a talent that Calvert-Lewin will never have.
Barry is getting more physical in each game and I will predict that next season, after a more summer conditioning, we will have a real striker on our hands.
25 Posted 29/01/2026 at 13:39:06
This makes no sense to me.
26 Posted 29/01/2026 at 14:08:19
The issue should be not about Calvert-Lewin but about the success or failure of Everton to replace him with better. Time will tell, but letting him go was the correct decision.
The last decent season he had was under Carlo Ancelotti.
27 Posted 29/01/2026 at 14:26:51
We saw that an awful lot at Goodison. I only want to see it when he is playing for someone else from now on.
28 Posted 29/01/2026 at 16:10:25
Of course, if he'd scored it, Roy Keane would have said he's a forward and that's what he's there to do.
The goal Barry put away was not an easy chance. Would we say he missed a sitter if he'd missed it?
29 Posted 29/01/2026 at 16:23:11
They paid Corinthians £21M for him in 2024.
30 Posted 29/01/2026 at 17:10:39
Something he did regularly with us.
31 Posted 29/01/2026 at 17:54:32
we would have stayed up anyway. On the other hand his performance at Brighton when he didn't score was probably more crucial.
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1 Posted 28/01/2026 at 13:48:49
Barry is a kid who is trying his best to figure it out. While he hasnt, and still may not, stitch together a full portfolio of football functions, he is scoring on very few opportunities created.
Go on, place a bet on Calvert-Lewin. I will support Barry catching him, without drama.
Calvert-Lewin put the club in a bad position for an offer that never materialized. Talking about it rather than just getting on with it cost us all. He is gone and we don't miss him.
I was hoping to avoid that discussion.