31 May 2026 18:19:47
Honestly no offence, but whoever thinks that Beto should be kept and Barry sold, forgive me, but they clearly have no clue about football. Barry has much better potential. Beto is poor, but let's give the young man Barry a chance. 8 goals in gis debut campaign with the way Moyes sets up is a good return.
{Ed025's Note - then i must know nothing about football, yes its not easy for any centre forward the way we set up with this dinosaur in charge but out out of Barry and Beto i would keep Beto, ideally i would get rid of both because they are both very poor but at least Beto puts himself about and works hard, Barry is very lazy and has an attitude problem for me as well as being absolutely crap, but that is my personal view and others are entitled to theirs..
01 Jun 2026 08:31:21
I'm with Ed on this one. Both have their limitations, and neither should be starting for us. Off the bench though, Beto gets stuck in and can nick a goal.
{Ed025's Note - it seems you know nothing about football either JB.. :)
01 Jun 2026 08:52:22
Well, I have supported Everton for 35 years so that could be true.
01 Jun 2026 11:49:05
I think I agree to an extent with the OP, but wouldn't suggest someone has no clue if they prefer one over the other, it's not that much of an obvious answer, and either pick could be right for diff reasons.
Barry, I do think, will grow and get better, but his attitude after the Arsenal fiasco has stank. I do buy the idea he's a young (relatively) lad who's come from a diff country, but we can't have another year of that attitude.
He is a miles better finisher than Beto for me, he's also better in the air and I think his link up is better.
So I'd stick with him personally and see if he grows, for another season at least.
I like Beto's attitude and think he's a very solid bench option, but he can't trap the ball and is unlikely to improve that area of his game. I also find his aerial ability (more so outside the box) frustrating considering his size.
I think the return from both in this god awful negative tactical system is actually good. We could have Mbappe and he'd struggle under Moyes.
01 Jun 2026 12:06:58
It's opinions we keep saying, and mine says he's awful. We must move him out.
01 Jun 2026 11:59:30
Beto has been polished within an inch of his life and his attitude has been fantastic but he is not gonna.get any better. He is a diabolical 1 on 1 finisher. Not bad in the mixer and handy defensively on opposition corners. He probably deserves a 12 month extension but if he agrees, it doesn't say much about his own ambitions. I think he will go back to Italy and I expect he will find it considerably easier after the schooling he's had here. You can't help but begrudgingly respect his spirit and he's had a fantastic attitude. As a 3rd choice/squad player i'd be ok if he did stay. But the club must relegate him to 3rd choice with 2 new strikers coming in this summer. He won't be happy with that.
Bazza? Has a face only a momma can love blah blah blah, yeah he's easy to dislike but most young strikers are like that when the chips are down. He definitely knows where the goal is but the lone striker role is not his skill set. I actually hate our clubs inability to get the nos 9 role right. In the 6 yard box he seems ok but linking up is clearly a big disappointment and its obvious our midfielders don't want to pass to him. However we clearly wanted another striker last summer and Baz was bought to develop. Unfortunately the desperate fan base and the blank drawn buying our wanted striker targets left the kid exposed. We are a tough lot when it goes wrong. Very slow to offer redemption. It'd be a return to financial suicide to flog him off, we've just had 5 years of all that stupidity. He probably needs a loan. Would he want to leave? i'm still confused what all that weird stuff with his mates was but doubt its of any significance and a loan would be best for all.
When big well run successful clubs buy young strikers, usually they have a decent nos9 and a good back up. The new kid has a run in the 21s and cup games as a sub and little pressure is applied. They are bought on late in league games when the win has already been assured to experience the 1st team and build confidence. We don't have that so he's thrown in to duel it out for the spot immediately. Its great for his development (see Beto) but we aren't a patient lot as is evidently shown on here (the wider fanbase seems a little more fair minded)
Im days from my half century so I don't remember Latchford but in my lifetime it makes for shocking reading when listing our good goal scoring strikers. Lineker, Cottee, Yakuba and Lukaku all had a season with over 20 goals. Cult hero didn't actually score many and lots of strikers were barely able to get double figures. Rikky? I loved him but to me he's always a LW. DCL had that 1 season but in 45 ish seasons, its actually disgusting. Especially when you think of the strikers at United Arsenal LFC over the same period. Rooney wasn't prolific for us but even if you add his name to the list, its still pitiful. 7 strikers of any note in half a century?? Diabolical.
This makes the problem a historic one and club problem a tactical issue and not so much the player. Let's not repeat the mistakes of the past and bin out a kid who has 4 or 5 years of development ahead. Let's allow the club the benefit of doubt to change a deepset culture problem. Moist K and Lookman as example of expensive kids who we slaughter for not ripping up the world immediately who then went away for 3 to 5 years and developed into the players our scouts knew they could be.
The club should not have allowed Baz to be thrown into the fire. The desperate fans want quick fixes. Our board failed DM and our fans with a pi99 poor summer in the striker position. We go into yet another summer and all fans have exactly the same wish as last. Rb Lb and Striker priority. Leave him alone he's not the problem. And yes 8 goals is actually a fantastic return. Clearly a player Is in there.
01 Jun 2026 12:26:11
Great post FBS. Barry's going to find it hard if he only comes on when we're winning. I'm a similar age to you and I'd add Ferguson to the list. A loan for Barry would be a sensible shout.
01 Jun 2026 12:49:17
Yep good post, mate.
01 Jun 2026 15:27:25
Well, I am a good deal older and remember the likes of Hickson and Young. Big difference was that they could head the ball well, and their first time control was good. The other big difference in those days was the center-forward had a player like John Willie Parker, who was up with the striker and scored a lot of goals.
Beto and Barry are almost always on their own with no support and nobody to feed off them. A big difference.
01 Jun 2026 15:38:36
I had the pleasure of watching Bob Latchford in his prime and he was magnificent, a natural goalscorer. However, Bob had Dave Thomas, a winger who took a man on and knew how to cross a ball. If Bob had been playing to Moyes' hoof ball tactic, he probably would have struggled. Can't see him chasing shadows all game as a lone striker.
01 Jun 2026 15:53:50
Neither Barry or Beto are good enough to be Premiership strikers. Barry is over emotional, makes a mistake, and overthinks it. Any half decent striker makes a mistake then makes sure he puts the next one away.
What we need is Brentford's scouts. They always seem to find a decent striker or two!
01 Jun 2026 18:23:53
I did add Big Dunc (cult hero) , but his goal tally was crap. He scored important goals, though, and all his aura etc made him a legend. I loved him, but like Waz, his goal per game was less than ordinary. So, really it's 5 strikers in 45 ish seasons is crap. This club is crap at finding goals.
01 Jun 2026 19:12:42
Let's not discriminate, they both need binning this summer. Barry may have age on his side but that has to go hand in hand with some semblance of ability, sadly he seems to be lacking in that department. Beto may be slightly better than Barry but, with his contract running down, it would be best to get some cash back for him rather than let him go for nothing.
01 Jun 2026 21:10:29
FBS, great post that pal. Imagine either of them two having half the finishing ability of the Yak!