David Moyes pleased with the returning players and Barry’s scoring streak

The 1-1 draw against Leeds United at Hill Dickinson Stadium might have felt like a missed opportunity, but there were several positives to take from that despite the underwhelming first-half performance.

David Moyes welcomed Idrissa Gana Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye back into the starting XI a week after the two players led Senegal to their second AFCON triumph in Morocco. Ndiaye started on the left to replace the injured Jack Grealish, while Gana slotted in the middle of the park.

Trailing 1-0 at half-time, Moyes sent in Jarrad Branthwaite and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Both players made their return following long injury layoffs. It was Branthwaite’s first official match of the season and the young centre-back looked at home leading the backline along with James Tarkowski. He also brought better passing and carrying out from the back. Charly Alcaraz is also fit again and made it to the bench for this game.

"I think the levels of the players we were bringing on and players who can play, and it gave us a bit more control in the game. We passed it and controlled it a bit better,” Moyes said when asked about the changes at half-time.

“We're still way short of where maybe we've been. We're still not making enough chances and creating enough opportunities for people to score.

"[Jarrad and Kiernan] – these two boys are starters for us, for our football club, but they're not ready to start yet. Jarrad's played no football – he's trained but he's been out for the best part of eight months. Kieran's been playing, obviously, and picked up a hamstring injury. So I was a bit more sure he would be okay.

"But we had to introduce them to try something to see if we could change how the momentum was going. Leeds were better than us in the first half. We didn't organise well against them and because of that, I wouldn't say they dominated, but they had a good chunk of the first half."

Explaining the difficulty of team selection for the game against Leeds United, the Everton boss added, "The team selection was difficult tonight because we chose not to play Merlin [Röhl], who played very well against Aston Villa. We thought Gana getting back in would be the right thing to do. Obviously, we need Kiernan's ability and his craft, which he helps make goals and score his goals. It wasn't easy to change things at half-time, but I felt it was the way to try to do something. Thankfully, the boys got us a point out of it. We need to just start finding ways to try to win some games at the stadium here because we're struggling at the moment."

Another huge takeaway from the draw at home was Thierno Barry’s equaliser. The French striker, signed from Villarreal last summer, had to wait until the first week of December to score his first goal in a royal blue shirt.

However, he has scored four goals in his last five league matches, including the winner at Villa Park last time around, and is gaining more confidence with every game. 

“If he scores the goals, then we're happy. That's the big thing,” said Moyes.

“We want him to just begin to settle in, he's just getting a bit more used to it. He's training much better, getting used to everything that's expected of being a Premier League striker. You know, the work rate, certainly at Everton, you're going to have to do that. But we need him on the end of things as well."

 

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