“I haven’t shown my best yet”: Dibling determined to make Everton impact after confident Stuttgart showing

I thought Dibling played well in the first half.

In the 2nd half, he made a couple of good runs but was easily pushed off the ball.

I hope we see enough of him this season to see what he’s got in his locker, he’ll need minutes for that though.

I really hope we see the best of Tyler Dibling. I thought he was immense with Southampton and when we signed him, I had the same hopes and expectations I had surrounding the Pickford signing.

I'm still that hopeful but David Moyes has to treat and use him properly. Lots of TLC (and playing time).

Good on the lad. He has skill but we need to see a lot more impact before he can be a starter. Building his strength and confidence has to be the key.

As far as the team goes, everyone agrees that Barry and Beto need to have a lot more impact for the team to be competitive; otherwise, the skill in the rest of the side is wasted.

If he is taking the opposition on he's going to lose the ball some of the time but he needs encouragement to keep doing it.

Moyes needs to give Dibling a free rein to show his best. At the moment, Dibling is frightened to death of taking players on and losing the ball.

Ever wondered why McNeil got so many games last season? Moyes's approach is safety first: get back to defend first and foremost.

He should be saying to Dibling, "Take them on and show your potential." Instead, Dibling is more worried of giving the ball away and chasing back.

Defenders defend, midfield are there to cover in front of the defenders, but the likes of Dibling and George should have more leaway to support our strikers.

I watched the game, or mismatch, yesterday... seems we still have gaping caverns in defence, especially at set pieces, and up front is a standing joke, or falling over joke in the case of Bluto and Amanda Barry.

What the fuck was that bellend of a manager doing when Iroegbunam got injured? He brings on Keane and reverts Jake to right-back?

Many subs unused again when there was licence to use most, and try different positions... but No! -- just fuck off, Moyes!

Some positives: Dibling, as has been mentioned; Merlin Rohl; a big negative in Mykolenko... Why was he given a new contract?

Why is it that Everton are looking at, thinking about, eyeing up, considering, watching, enquiring about, etc etc etc. but not a penny put forward for a player.

Everton are quite a stingy team and want a player for £5 and 3 Mars bars. Other teams are offering a sensible price and getting the player. A winger and right-back we can only dream about.

“I haven't shown my best in an Everton shirt yet"

You haven't even shown your mediocre in an Everton shirt yet lad.

Good on the lad. He has skill but we need to see a lot more impact before he can be a starter. Building his strength and confidence has to be the key.

As far as the team goes, everyone agrees that Barry and Beto need to have a lot more impact for the team to be competitive; otherwise, the skill in the rest of the side is wasted.

Peter @3,

He seems to be happier and more settled, Peter. Although I didn't see the game yesterday, it appears that he played well. Do Moyes and the coaching staff deserve any credit for that?

And as far as playing time is concerned, I guess he earns his playing time with his performances. I am confident that this lad will come good.

Not sure everybody does know, Tom. There are still plenty on here who think they make a decent striker between them.

The stattos will even tell you Beto is a 1 in 2 striker. A very shrewd observation they arrived at by simply not taking the 80 odd games he's played without scoring into consideration.

Nigel #12,

"And as far as playing time is concerned, I guess he earns his playing time with his performances."

I think the issue here is that a number of players underperformed at various points in the season but were picked for subsequent games regardless. There needs to be consistency in the selection process.

Dibling needs to be picked for several games running to see what he can do. An occasional sub appearance isn't enough. I would prefer to see him try to take on defenders like he did yesterday with a better rate of success than previously rather than another player passing it back to a defender.

There were definite signs of improvement going forwards first half. 2nd half less so, either tired or easily nullified.

Wasn't so great defending and that will be a problem for David Moyes.

Got to make sure you do your defensive duties first, lad.

Thought he looked a lot better yesterday but occasionally is not on his toes.

Some nice cameos, including our best shot on goal, but still has a long way to go to convince me.

Darren, if you are only playing half a game, then I'm sure Haaland would be only getting 12-15 per season.

John #9,

I'd be interested to know what right-backs and strikers you think we've been outbid for?

Who would you have signed already, and for how much?

During the 2025-26 Premier League season, Everton striker Beto made 37 appearances and started 17 matches for the Toffees, scoring 9 goals.

Surprising!

He's got to do something this season. I'm behind the lad, if he shows desire... too often he's looked uninterested.

If he was 3-4 years older, I wouldn't give him the support, but if we give him support and encouragement, and he still doesn't produce the goods, then he and us can have no complaints.

Playing with 6'-5" centre-back behind him, who offers nothing as an attacking option to this young lad, isn't really in his favour, and to be fair, when Ndiaye is on the right, he's nowhere near as effective.

So hopefully a right-back will come and support him: decoy runs, overlaps, one-twos and all the other things a decent right-back will bring to the side as well!

Only, unlike our two, Haaland is good enough to start every game. Ours never will be... for anybody!!!

You do understand that the first job of any striker is to ensure he starts? Neither Beto nor Barry are good enough to start... for anybody.

In the face of pathetic opposition, our fans should be making sure that counts against them rather than use it as an opportunity to make excuses for them.

This club was built on legends like Dixie, Lawton, Latchford. Pickering. Young. Sharp. Lineker... and here we are trying to apologise for pathetic excuses who couldn't control a ball if it was made of putty.

Great message to send back to the owners.

Mike #20,

I'd be interested to know what right-backs and strikers you don't think we've been outbid for?

Who do you think our recruitment team are scouting and might sign? If the answer is you don't know, then in reality you're as much guessing as John is about who has or who hasn't been outbid.

Ian #16,
"There were definite signs of improvement going forwards first half. 2nd half less so, either tired or easily nullified."

I agree with that assessment, though O'Brien staying way back because Tarkowski didn't want him moving too far upfield didn't help Dibling either.

The more games he plays, the quicker he'll come on and develop and show what he can do.

Unfortunate to have Dino Dave as a manager and his "square pegs in round holes" philosophy... 🤷

He has the talent, I just think he needs to be more aggressive and say “This is what I can do!”

Beto - 25 goals in 111 appearances, He is a 1 goal in 4-5 games striker.

Nowhere near good enough, and if he was good enough he would be starting.

Dibling has potential to be a very good player. He needs opportunities to play regularly and support from us all.

Steve @29.

If you add up all the minutes Beto haves played, I bet it adds up to about 75 games. Then he's a 1 in 3 striker. Not to bad I think.

Beto has played 4015 minutes in the Premier League.

That's the equivalent of 44½ games, and he's scored 20 goals.

Phil 31.

Very surprising, if your figures are correct.

Even better Phil.

Gents, I think you are trying to turn water into wine.

Look at his performance on Saturday -- the only way to make sense of it was to play his highlights reel with the Benny Hill theme tune as the soundtrack.

Beto is not the answer, Steve, never has been.

The issue is with the interpretation of goals to games: If he gets 5 minutes at the end of a game is that another "appearance" without a goal?

Exactly, Steve.

Simpson’s paradox: Seeing a trend which completely reverses when you apply all of the data.

Statistical fallacy: A misleading pattern of reasoning where selected data is collected and analysed leading to false conclusions despite appearing mathematically sound.

Errors that can be accidental due to cognitive bias and lack of understanding Or they can be deliberately used to manipulate.

Do people on here try to manipulate the facts in order to pull the wool over other posters’ eyes? Or are they simply deluding themselves?

Steve @34.

Give Beto till February. Then he comes good.

You can use goals to minutes on the pitch to evaluate Beto.

Or you can use Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Or then again, you can judge him like every other striker on earth -- goals to appearances.

He's 1-5 -- that's an official record. An irrefutable fact. No amount of cherry-picking sampling bias can alter it.

Anybody trawling the boozers before a match claiming he was better than 1-2 will soon find themselves being laughed out of them.

Goalscorers are judged on goals, Darren. It's not pulling the wool over people's eyes to note that in a poor side he's got an almost 1 goal in 2 games average.

That's not incidental, that's the bottom line, that's him delivering on the key metric.

It's unfair to count a 5-minute spell as a 90th-minute sub as "a non scoring appearance".

Pretty logical when you think about it.

Striker comes on as a sub in the 92nd minute. The game finishes in the 94th minute.

Is that classed as a non-scoring appearance?

Darren #39,

You should do research before posting.

Opta, FBref and FotMob all use goals per 90 minutes to measure true scoring frequency, and to evaluate player efficiency cleanly.

Stan,

I only have to read your post to know my research is much more extensive than yours. I understand the figures put out by people like Opta and Fotmob. I see the data they leave out as well as the data they put in. You only see what they want you to see.

When a striker declares himself fit and available for 100 games, he has to be judged by the number of goals he has scored in those games. That's his value to his club. That's the total value of any striker to his club.

If he isn't good enough to start, or keeps getting dragged off for stinking the place out and or causing every attack to break down with a woeful first touch, Opta, FBref, or Fotmob won't record that. They do stats; they don't do important detail.

Beto is a very likeable man, but the match-goer can't sit and console himself with idiotic stats, like you are doing. You see he has to deal with reality, with detail.

He finds it incredibly frustrating when the man who is the focal point of his team's attacks cannot even control the ball. He knows all too well why Beto does not get 90 minutes.

Beto's availability has been well publicised since the window opened. Just as it was in the winter window. Yet despite that fact, there have been no takers. Why do you suppose that is?

Have these clueless clubs not checked out what Opta or Fotmob have to say? Surely not?

You are perfectly at liberty to fantasise about a 1-in-2 striker, but the pressure to spend money wisely in the Premier League has never been greater. Any club showing even the slightest interest in Beto knows that he will probably give them less than nothing for 70 or 80% of the time. This is where reality kicks in.

Take your own advice: Do some research. Stop relying on other people to tell you what your opinion is.

Darren. The Simpson's Paradox explains so much of my poor performance in stats when at University. Foreign language. Never knew about the Paradox. Maybe off that day. But thanks for highlighting it. Have strangely done some research into what it is.

Hated statistical analysis and have done since I stumbled onto TW years ago and see people giving opinions (what matters to most fans) and feel the need to spout stats when the data police get them.

The lad hasn't shown us his best yet he just thought he'd have a chill in the first season. Proper gen z player that
He might give it a go this season if he feels like it but don't put any pressure on him or he might just rebel and decide to chill for another season!

What's that saying about 'lies, damn lies and statistics'?

Ged 45.

Very interesting, I hadn't heard of Simpson's Paradox.

Just googled it now, will copy and paste some of the points later for your thoughts.

Darren #44,

"Take your own advice: Do some research. Stop relying on other people to tell you what your opinion is."

My opinion and the stats given by those organisations are two separate issues.

I pointed out that you're suggesting that only certain posters believed in the one goal every two games stat was actually incorrect, as those organisations I referenced use the same system of calculation.

Whether you disagree with those organisations or me doesn't negate that your criticism of other posters was based on your opinion only and certainly not supported by any factual research.

Would you care to share where your goals to appearances model comes from? I, at least, offered something that can be considered research.

No, Stan.

Your opinion and argument is based entirely on the skewed figures you have swallowed. Therefore your opinion and their stats are one and the same thing.

My research supports a certain knowledge that I and hundreds of thousands more already share about Beto. These hundreds of thousands don't think he has represented Everton 97 times. They know it.

Why? Because they saw him. We watch the games; we also know he has scored 20 Premier League goals. Why? Because we saw them too. We also saw his misses.

We know he didn't feature in some games which means he was available for over 100 of them. Given assist from Beto are rare as rocking horse shit and taking into account that, if he doesn't score, he offers next to nothing, we can deduce that he has failed to offer anything at all in 80% of the games where he was available (seems I was a little generous suggesting it might be 70%).

Now I know you are thinking that the irrefutable facts I have laid down for you can be dismissed as mere opinion. So I'm happy to point you in the direction of Everton's official records -- or better still, check the Premier League records. They don't just give you the basic facts... if you read between the lines. They will even tell you where it hurts.

Eric 47: a phrase I have loved for decades. Originally Merk Twain it seems. Often gets the statos upset and feeling a bit vulnerable.

When properly done, stats illuminate what can get past or get confused by the mind flying solo, come on maaan.

Darren #50,

I don't rate Beto at all. He's not at the level I would like to see playing for our club. And I have no interest in stats which say he's scored 1 in 2 or 1 in 5 games.

However, what I posted before was unrelated to how I feel about the player or about his stats. It was merely to correct you on the error you made suggesting only a few TW posters calculate on goals per minute.

And I did so by pointing out that Opta and others calculate the same way as those posters. It doesn't matter whether you dismiss their calculations, as that was not the point I was making. I don't care about Opta's stats or the others' either.

Like you, I prefer to judge on what I'm seeing and against Stuttgart I thought Beto was lucky to still be on the field after 20 minutes.

If you can be bothered to respond, would it be possible to stick to the theme of what I've been saying rather than writing about something I haven't actually posted?

Stan,

You have conducted yourself with dignity and respect throughout this conversation. So I would like to end it by affording you the same courtesy.

I've railed against stat compilers for years on this website, and I do mean years. So when I refer to the stattos @13, I'm talking about people like Opta, FotMob and all those countless here's-half-a-story websites.

I know exactly where people on here are getting their misinformation from. I know there are millions of people swallowing millions of stats everyday believing them to be fact.

Not once did I say it was only a few on here who believe the demented claim that Beto is a 1 in 2 striker. The error you think you are correcting was never made.

Having earned a living based almost entirely on stats in a former life, I understand the importance of them. That said, we are not daft-arsed Yanks. We can't allow what is often outright fuck-wittery to become gospel. We cannot allow stats to distort what we have witnessed with our own eyes. Not when we are talking about our beautiful game.

At your request I've given you my sources. I strongly recommend you stick with them. People trawling these 2-bob websites and using stats like "Beto is a 1 in 2 striker" leave themselves wide open to ridicule... They will be laughed out of alehouses.

Darren,

I rarely used website stats but prefer my own spreadsheets - which go back to 1984. The only one I use regularly is Steve Johnson's www.evertonresults.com

If a player is on the bench, they can't score. But that then gets to the issue about 1 in 2 or 1 in 5. Beto has been on the pitch for 4015 minutes and scored 20 goals in the Premier League. The question we will never know is having started 41 games would he have scored more if he had not been substituted in 27 of those games or would he have scored more if he had been brought on earlier?

I suspect most of us believe the answer to be no. Do we draw a similarity between him and the icon that is Oumar Niasse? He who scored 8 goals in just 1,327 minutes on the pitch.

What we have is the difference between a good player and a lucky player. Most of us can throw a dart. Sometimes they end up in triple 20, sometimes they end up on the floor or stuck in the wall. Beto is that type of darter. And that is what frustrates all. He throws a fair number of triple 20s (20) but out of how many throws? And when he does hit the triple 20 it is probably luck.

And so, Darren, as always statistics can prove anything. The question is -- do we want a lucky striker or do we want a competent striker who won't do our heads in by missing opportunities?

If Beto scored all the ones which do our head in, first, it means he at least got in the right place... but, second, he is probably a 40-goal-a-season striker inside that body.

A bit of "got to be in it to win it", and the numbers he misses at least says he gambles and reads the game, even if his legs and body are unable to deliver at the last second.

I also think he is a nightmare for defenders with his physicality (think Bernie Wright or Mick Lyons when he played up front) and so, if I was Moyes and these two are the only ones I have, I would start Beto -- batter the centre-backs for 60 minutes and then bring on Barry (don't laugh) when they are tired and score 2 in the last 30 minutes. I can dream can't I.

Oh, and the club to provide free blood pressure medicine for the supporters having to watch Beto for 60 minutes.

I will also add - that Moyes has always played 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1. I don't know how many teams play with 2 up front these days but that does require the 4 left in the middle of the park (or 5 if you are playing 3 at the back) to be of sufficient quality to handle the 5 of the opposition. Clearly we have never had that since the days of Steven, Reid, Bracewell and Sheedy.

4 good players in the middle will allow 2 up front which could be one battering ram (Beto) and one finisher (Graham?). We might score a few more goals with that but would we prefer losing 4-3 every week to winning 1-0?

Darren #58,

"Having earned a living based almost entirely on stats in a former life, I understand the importance of them. That said, we are not daft-arsed Yanks. We can't allow what is often outright fuck-wittery to become gospel."

Don't get me started on religion now! Since Brexit, I also think it's a bit rum to only refer to Americans as "daft-arsed".

Some daft arguments... if a player is on the field longer, ie, a full game as opposed to half a game, he is going to score more goals.

Is he absolutely certain to score more? No... but I wish I could get a bet on it.

Playing two centre-forwards, one half apiece, is not a bad idea actually, both are starting fresh and you have cover if one gets injured.