David Moyes has experimented with the striker position early in the season and the feeling is that neither Beto nor new signing Thierno Barry have nailed that role completely yet.
While Beto started the opening fixture against Leeds United, Barry displaced him from the starting XI against Brighton and in the cup game against Mansfield Town before Beto returned to lead the line against Wolves and Aston Villa.
Between them, Beto has scored twice while Barry is yet to find the back of the net. Although the Guinea-Bissau international got the nod against Unai Emery’s side at home, his performance was poor as Beto was guilty of missing a string of chances to score.
Barry, who came on for the final 15 minutes, was also denied by Tyrone Mings after being put through on goal late in the game.
Asked about the mindset behind his striker selection, Moyes said, “Just the goals. I might just chop and change for no particular reason.
“At the moment, I’m also introducing a boy who has not played in the Premier League, a centre-forward I should say who has not played in the Premier League.
“I want to give him the opportunities to see what he can do and if he can keep stepping up.
“But I don’t want to put too much pressure on him right away to show.”
Despite the goalless draw, Moyes was impressed with the performance and especially with his wingers, Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish. Grealish won the player of the month award for the first time in his career just before the game while Ndiaye has taken to the opposite flank seamlessly following Grealish’s arrival.
The Senegalese also overcame a “knock” mentioned by Moyes in his pre-match press conference to start against Aston Villa on Saturday.
“I thought Jack did brilliantly. I thought Ili was fantastic in the first half and I thought Jack was brilliant as well,” said Moyes.
“I thought the two of them were fantastic in their ball-carrying, their one-v-one situations and are making us look a much bigger threat than we were before.”
Reader Comments (9)
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2 Posted 14/09/2025 at 16:08:52
Edit; Nobody can come in until January, so how long do we give them, (these alleged 'false' No.9s) - and Moyes for that matter - to sort themselves out?.
If we don't have(?) or can't get a 'real' No.9 could Ndaiye or A.N. Other play a proper False No.9?
Would Moyes even contemplate it? Should he even contemplate it?
3 Posted 14/09/2025 at 19:22:33
In case of emergency, I would think he'd go to Alcaraz, who is physically stronger in the air.
But there is no emergency IMO. Beto had a poor game yesterday, but he has still scored two goals in five, a goal every 148 minutes on the pitch, more than maintaining his pace of a goal every 161 from last season.
This puts him on a par with significantly superior players like Mbuemo, Mateta, Cunha and Watkins. Not far behind Wissa and Wood. Better than Solanke and Jackson, and vastly better than Højlund for example.
Yes, Beto misses lots of chances, but he gets more than most because of his strength and work rate. (FYI: Barry also built a reputation at Villarreal for getting and missing lots of chances.)
So it comes down to what we want from our strikers -- goals or overall quality play. We had the latter with Calvert-Lewin. We have the former with Beto.
I feel certain the club has settled on Beto and Barry for the season, and they'll be perfectly adequate, maybe better than that, even though there will be more days like yesterday.
4 Posted 14/09/2025 at 22:42:55
Braiden Graham??
5 Posted 14/09/2025 at 23:34:20
I think Moyes (62 years old) is referring to new signing Barry (nearly 23 years old).
He initially refers to him as a "boy" but corrects himself and then says "a centre-forward I should say who has not played in the Premier League".
6 Posted 15/09/2025 at 02:16:15
So, good to see he tried it but he needs to know when to and when not to.
Certainly he put in plenty of effort but needs to know how to finish well.
Thought it was overall a decent performance by the team. Of course
Jack and illi have been mentioned but I felt James Garner, Keane and O'Brien had good solid performances.
7 Posted 15/09/2025 at 07:22:23
8 Posted 16/09/2025 at 23:57:12
If we keep falling short then Ndiaye in a false 9 could work but we would need goals from whoever replaces him on the right.
If we can keep in the top half of the league and Beto isn't pulling up trees I'd take a gamble, sell Beto, sell Mcneil aim at around £50m for the pair, and go all out for a striker who's clearly above the level of Beto.
9 Posted 17/09/2025 at 21:53:38
He cannot do any worse.
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1 Posted 14/09/2025 at 15:50:15
Poor recruitment/ management.
Vardy will not be on big bucks at Cremonese , would have been a great option as something different from what we’ve got currently, a carthorse and a fledgling.