Knives in a Gunfight
Home of the quintessential No 9, Everton have never been further from the standards set by Dean and other legendary strikers from the club’s storied past
For a club famous for its Number 9s and goal-scorers in general, Everton have found players capable of being mentioned in the same breath as legends like Tommy Lawton, Roy Vernon, Bob Latchford and Graeme Sharp hard to come by in the Premier League era. (Dixie Dean’s record surely places him on a different plane to everybody else.)
Tony Cottee was a regular scorer of goals but he fell four short of ever reaching the magic 20 mark for a season; Duncan Ferguson was a Talisman for reasons beyond his goals return; Wayne Rooney was sold before even reaching his prime and re-signed when he was over the hill; James Beattie was a colossal disappointment; Andy Johnson ultimately couldn’t make the grade; and Louis Saha was, unfortunately, beset by injury before he even arrived.
Since Gary Lineker’s single-campaign glut in 1985/86, perhaps only Yakubu, who had his prolific Goodison career cut short by a ruptured Achilles, and Romelu Lukaku, for his 68 goals scored over four seasons, have truly been worthy of being regarded as a top Everton marksmen. The Toffees have been searching for their successors ever since they left.
Between the Belgian’s sale to Manchester United for £75m in 2017 and the onset of David Moyes’s second spell in charge as manager, Everton have signed 12 strikers (or players who ended up being deployed as such). 11 of them — Cenk Tosun, Richarlison, Moise Kean, Enner Valencia, Joshua King, Henry Onyekuru, Salomon Rondon, Neal Maupay, Youssef Chermiti, Beto and Thierno Barry — were acquired for a combined £175m and have returned 96 goals between them in those nine years. (Take Richarlison out and that number falls to 43, or £3m per goal!)
Somewhat ironically in an age of record expenditure by the Farhad Moshiri regime, it was a development signing acquired for “peanuts” in Dominic Calvert-Lewin who has come closest to hitting 20 in a season in the Premier League.
Sadly, that purple patch under Carlo Ancelotti during the 2020/21 “Covid season” when he bagged 16 league goals and another five in the cups, was an outlier and the Yorkshireman was unable to find any consistency in either remaining fit or hitting the back of the net before leaving on a free transfer last summer.
While his scoring record was always patchy at Everton, Calvert-Lewin’s departure removed a key focal point from the Blues’ attack. Mobile, strong and imperious in the air, DCL was an oft-used outlet up front, to the point of being something of a crutch at times. However, in keeping with the changing face of the game, his exit offered Moyes and the club an opportunity to evolve and move away from the over-reliance on a big target man at a time when reliable out-and-out strikers are as hard to find as they ever have been.
Because football has changed in recent years — no longer is it a requirement to have a big, battering-ram centre-forward in the British tradition leading the line. Strikers are often more nimble or hybrid forwards in general, goals are increasingly being shared around the attacking unit, and potent wingers are very much in vogue.
Manchester City might have the quintessential, most recognisable No 9 in world football up front in Erling Haaland but for years their success was founded on the predatory instincts of the diminutive Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus; Liverpool have been title contenders or winners with Mohamed Salah as their top scorer and could have Darwin Nunez as something of a passenger as they comfortably won the title last season; Mikel Arteta thought he could win the league without a recognised centre-forward last season and he might finally do so this term with Viktor Gjörkeres barely making double figures in the league.
Nevertheless, in the absence in the team of truly dynamic goalscoring wingers or attackers in the Andrei Kanchelskis mould, a competent, reliable centre-forward who can compete in the air, hold the ball up intelligently, bring team-mates into play and weigh in with enough goals to justify his place in the side should be a minimum for a club of Everton’s standing and medium-term ambitions.
The threshold for wearing that hallowed Number 9 jersey made so famous at the outset by Dean should be an awful lot higher. It’s galling to see it being worn by Beto at the moment, a player over whom fans initially oscillated between perverse Stracqualursi-esque bemusement and cautious optimism but who now represents one of the most painful remnants — nay, emblems — of Moshiri’s failings as owner.
Like Stracqualursi, there can be no faulting Beto’s effort and desire. He is a hard-working man who has dragged himself up to the biggest league in the world and, as he showed at Udinese, he can be an effective centre-forward in the right setup and the right system.
Apart from a few weeks during the early part of David Moyes’s second spell as manager, that has almost never been the case at Everton where leading the line in recent years has been a thankless task of futile ball-chasing and battling for long balls and second balls.
What the club has been crying out for since Richarlison left is a striker capable not only of doing the basics well but creating their own chances or laying them on for others, too. That just isn’t Beto and, just a few short months into life in England, it’s not yet Barry either.
With all due acknowledgment of the difficulty of finding well-rounded and prolific strikers in the current market where every team Europe’s top five leagues is after the same, that so much has been expected of a patently raw talent like Barry when he should be the understudy to a more experienced and capable mentor during as his development continues stands as a failing of the club’s recruitment setup last summer.
The Frenchman is improving as he settles into life on Merseyside but he is not yet ready to carry our hopes on his relatively young shoulders. Even so, he remains the more obvious starter than his Portuguese team-mate which is what makes Moyes’s decision to drop him for the recent games against Burnley and Sunderland all the more questionable.
The striker role is the tip of the spear and with the situation in that position being as dire as it is, it will be interesting to see how urgently Everton's transfer committee try and address it this month. The degree to which they will push to add reinforcements there even while there may not be suitors for Beto (the club would have entertained offers for him in each of the last two windows) will be a strong indicator of how they view the rest of the season in the context of the wider squad reconstruction project that has been underway since The Friedkin Group assumed control.
Are they happy to tread water until the close season and pass up any prospect of accelerating the timeline of Everton’s restoration to the right half of the Premier League table and, perhaps, European qualification? It’s a question whose answer will be clearer on 2nd February when the winter window closes and a discussion for a different article.
Moyes once quipped that going to places like the Etihad Stadium was tantamount to taking a knife to a gunfight. More than a decade later, he no doubt feels he is still operating with a blunt instrument against superior firepower from even the most modest opponents, Brentford being the most glaring and recent example.
For now, it is incumbent on him to get the best out of the attacking resources at his disposal. After a demoralising start to 2026, things don’t get any easier with a trip to title-chasing Aston Villa. But beyond that at least, is the prospect of the current top scorers, Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall returning in the coming weeks to offer the hope of goals and a few highlights to remember from a season that has, at times, promised so much but which risks being derailed by avoidable shortcomings in key parts of the team.
Reader Responses
Selected thoughts from readers11/01/2026 22:23:27
In thirty years, I can only remember, Amokachi, Yakubu, Lukaku, Richarlison as being effective and worth mentioning.
The previous Thirty years had an abundance of strikers, of which my Boyhood hero Joe Royal was a Standout.
Followed by Bob Latchford and Tony Cotee… absolute predators!
did I live through that period, or was I dreaming ?
11/01/2026 23:27:20
Aye, Wilson seems to want out - maybe the chance to go from 3rd choice to 1st choice striker would lure him to Everton.
Time was, it wouldn't have been a move even worthy of consideration for our Club.
However, if only one signing is made during this transfer window, it must be a centre forward, surely.
12/01/2026 08:51:05
I can see Barry improving, and being OK.
Beto however, brings embaressment & clumsiness to a whole new level, and is actually getting progressively worse.
He doesn’t need marking, can’t control the ball, and just tries to get his daily steps in, when on the pitch, wandering around, occasionally running.
Beto is in short, an opposition defenders dream.
Should start with Barry, or a false 9, and not let Beto on the pitch, unless we are 5 up, with 5 minutes to play.
12/01/2026 09:19:56
Renew their contracts and give them more minutes or they may leave.
Propose our project, build the team around them, make them happy, the whole nine yards.. we can’t afford to lose them to the likes of Madrid or the Sky Six.
Stay and become legends on the back of every kids shirt,
Only question is, whose name do you go for? Barry or Beto? Tough as they’re both class acts.
Im getting both.
12/01/2026 10:23:20
Moyes does have this team or the backroom at stage one. Any Manager coming in will be starting off on square one of Stage One.Hopefully TFG have brought in more accountability and changes can be made.The longer Moyes is in charge the more difficult this will become.
12/01/2026 12:00:12
I see we’re after Ben White for RB. He’d fit in well with life on Merseyside: he’s not arsed about playing for England and loves a tanning salon.
12/01/2026 12:22:54
And who knows whether we have any youngsters itching for a chance like the chance given to Mateus Mane at Wolves.
12/01/2026 18:06:21
One of the many disappointing things about our FA Cup exit was the Managers reaction to young Aznou's debut. Clearly he did not look like a full back but as a winger he brought something extra to our game. And strangely enough good things often happen by accident, and dare I point out across the park where the not so good fullback Frimpong, is being played as an exciting winger.
So my suggestion which has been made many times before is Michael Keane as a centre forward at least on a trial basis. Michael has I think already scored more goals this season than either of our other two 'centre forwards'. He is by far a better player than the other two and we really should be working to a central defensive pairing of O'Brien and Branthwaite, which leaves Michael out in the cold.
We have also seen Micheal score some terrific goals when he is pushed up for corners, so why not ? Once his current suspension is finished he may find himself on the bench, and he is out of contract again at the end of the season. So he, the Club and the rest of us have Nothing to loose. We have given the current two our unconditional support and they have failed miserably. So I say Give Michael A Chance !
13/01/2026 06:37:46
David#9
Words are a reflection of the soul and Moyes actually believes 'Knives to a gunfight.'
In this last week this has been very much to the fore, except the Nottingham Forest game, but he was soon back to type in subsequent games.
Aznou by now should be playing regular for Everton, but with Moyes he could be dropped the next game. Both Beto and Barry would benefit from more ambition in Moyes's system, but we are not going to get that.
Moyes will not be doing anything different in the coming games, he will be prioritizing keeping his wages going. He will be looking on the bedding in of returning players to save his bacon.I even doubt TFG will want him spending their money.He hasn't really been able to utilise the players that were bought during the Summer.
That is the sum of Moyes's ambition.
13/01/2026 07:29:14
Re Michael Keane being pushed upfront. Whilst he has scored more goals than Barry and Beto, those have mostly, if not all, been from corners or free kicks, that doesn't necessarily mean he has the instincts of a forward. He can finish well but can he do all the other stuff that is required?
13/01/2026 08:56:13
Ian at 11, surely that's the point, unless we try him we will never know, and as far as Michael's Everton career is concerned both parties have nothing to lose.
13/01/2026 10:00:11
David, I can't argue with your logic.
13/01/2026 20:58:18
David@ 11, I find your logic flawed. For how many games would we need to play Keane up front to decide if he is a suitable centre forward? In the 1960s I was in favour of playing the combative Jimmy Gabriel at centre forward and he did play there but failed to resolve our problems. Later Mick Lyon’s was used as an emergency striker but for all his endeavour, he was just a sign of our problem rather than a solution to it.
Keane is not going to get better service than Beto or Barry. The question that puzzles me is why when we have several tall and imposing players is our crossing so poor? Indeed, the support our strikers get is abysmal.
14/01/2026 13:22:56
I think the time has come to try something else, anything else in fact as Barry and Beto are nothing short of an embarrassment. Barry has shown a little bit more ability than Beto but he sets the bar so low it would be hard not to.
I appreciate that the service to them has been quite poor but when they do get a chance they look like it's the first time they've ever played football. Neither of them can beat a defender on the ground, neither of them can control the ball, all they ever do is win the odd header which inevitably then goes back to the opposition.
Unfortunately in David Moyes we have a manager with marginally more creativity than Dyche but not much more. His plan seem to be to watch the team fail miserably and in the 80th minute swap Barry for Beto.
I'm tired of players being low on confidence or people saying they are trying hard. It's not good enough. I don't care if it bruises the strikers egos to sit them on the bench and try Keane up front, as others have suggested above, we have nothing to lose.
14/01/2026 14:09:00
Have we signed Wilson from West Ham yet?
16/01/2026 21:11:07
Sad news today about John Clinkard. A massive part of our 80’s success
RIP Magnum.
17/01/2026 13:33:19
If what you mean by 'avoidable shortcomings' Lyndon is we should have also bought an experienced striker, I just don't think the money was there for another £50m splurge. You could argue maybe we couldn't have bought Dibling, but right wing was also a priority at the time as we constantly told ourselves. I think one of your other points is the key one, old fashioned strikers are as rare as hens teeth, and yes the good teams are getting by without them anyway. I think the pressure has only kranked up on the forward line since we lost nine players and the goals dried up. they will return though and we will be back on an even keel, in my view.
In any event, though I agree we need a striker, I don't think January is the time we get him.
17/01/2026 13:40:08
what is really annoying though when you look at that sorry list of Lyndon's is to compare it over the same time period to what Liverpool have had.
I remember distinctly enjoying Chelsea's chasing down of Torres and his painful departure. 'See!' I thought to myself, and clicked on to watch the news, only to see footage of Liverpool's one nil victory away, and their new Ukrainian striker executing a perfect Dalglish turn on the half way line, and speeding down the line.
'fuck'.
17/01/2026 20:32:12
"I have got the final say if we want to buy a player or if we don't want to buy a player."
Well, there you have it. Moyes has the sanction on any deal, any transfer. No matter how you see it, the buck stops with him. It's an all or nothing recruitment plan, no vision other than David Moyes. No succession planning, no football blueprint other than how he sees it. This is the embodiment of trust to a man to conduct a rebuild of the club. Or conversely it's giving someone enough rope to hang themselves. Obviously TFG have gone along with Moyes who did not want to operate with a DoF, but in doing so its a clear indication that ambition takes a back seat to pragmatism.
So the players brought in are the responsibility of Moyes, conversely once more, the players not brought in are as well. Any rebuild that is constrained by money has to rely on a combination of youth and experience, that's just common sense, if you can't afford the best, you get the best you can afford, that means sometimes buying experience for short term fixes. That's life. That's reality. Failure to do so lacks common sense and ends up without a strikers, or fullback or an effective defence.
You cannot rebuild a successful team without compromise, developing players for the future is part of a strategy, buying and playing them when they are not ready results in knives to a gunfight,
In Moyes we trust...
17/01/2026 22:12:48
Until we move away from needing " a big number 9 just like big Dunc" then we will be stuck in this embarrassing loop forever.
Trouble is we're still stuck in Poundland, friedkin takeover has meant more of the same moshiri type spending - too much for absolute shite noone else wants. Then we think we might have a bargain and it looks like another fucking sicknote (granted I'm being harsh with Dewsbury Hall). We won't sign grealish because we don't have the money.
The new stadium is masking glaring holes in the recruitment, we lost over a whole team in the summer and just bought in 50% more shite.
Until people at our club work out what a good player is, we'd be fucked. Moyes knows a good player, all apart from strikers, which incidentally is the area we fail - scoring goals.
Moyes brings reliability and structure/ minimum standards that keep us mid table where Dyche almost gets us relegated.
Goals win games and our main problem still exists. Until someone else is doing the recruitment then purgatory seems out only realistic ambition.
Don't get me started on dual ownership because we are fucked if Roma start doing anything decent. I'd sure take Malan over most of our front players
18/01/2026 06:57:17
It strikes me as particularly odd that David Moyes has specifically refused to be drawn over Charly Alcaraz's injury. Unspecified and no updates and not training. Why? When every other player injured is updated without a problem, but Alcaraz? It opens the door to speculation that he is not happy or that he and Moyes no longer see eye to eye. Personally I don't think that Moyes truly wanted him, giving him only a short term contract. Is he being used properly? Is he good enough or has Moyes and he had words and Alcaraz is on his way out? Easy enough speculation that can be killed with a comment from either party. The old 'injured' comment wears thin..
18/01/2026 12:17:54
Christine @22
Interesting take on the Alcaraz/ Moyes scenario.
Personally, I think that neither are good enough for us.
Alcaraz has one good game in six, or seven. Loses the ball easily, his passes go astray.
Moyes on the other hand is trying to turn is into West Ham, just as Dyche was trying to turn us into Burnley.
they are Both defensive minded squeaky Bum individuals, who rely on number Nines.
Before someone points out that Dyche worked miracles, by keeping us up after the points deduction and Moyes started his tenure with guns Blazing, at the same time keeping us in Mid- Table mediocrity.
I have considered what they have Done and owe them respect, But, I feel that that was their respective « Laurels! » and they were/ are resting on them.
18/01/2026 18:56:19
Moyes is not using lots of players properly, it all seems strange from the outside. Patterson has just put in another winning, clean sheet performance but only gets picked as a desperate last resort.
Barry is already improving. If Dibling, Alcaraz, Patterson and Aznou played more and were trusted, they’d all be on their way to being good Premier League players.
18/01/2026 19:09:03
Great win today, well done blues well done Moyes, a well drilled performance by every single player today but a special mention to those fringe players who have struggled for game time and failed to impress when they had their chance, today they were all outstanding in their work rate and effectiveness today, I give them all a 10!
Moyes looked deservedly happy, a big feather in his cap, he deserves the plaudits! Great job, well done guys!
18/01/2026 20:22:46
Two very good posts that really resonate with me Mike and Christine. You only become a better player, when a manager places his trust in you, and gives you confidence.
A great disciplined win today, but because of our last two performances, that were definitely not helped by changing a winning team, and taking away the natural balance that Nathan Patterson provided, have still got me feeling frustrated because I knew how important those two games were going to be.
Four points off fifth, but we would have been fourth tonight if we would have won those last two games. Concentrating on today though, I love watching compact, disciplined football, especially when our team also shows a bit of purpose when we attack, so there was lots like about Everton today.
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11/01/2026 20:00:54
It's been a sorry tale since Lukaku departed. Like Dyche, Moyes seems convinced that if he plays Beto (or Barry) up front on their own, they'll transform into the hold-up striker he craves. Could we do worse than a short term contract for the fella that's leaving West Ham?