Everton suffered a 3-0 loss against Tottenham Hotspur with Beto missing a big chance when the game was goalless.
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Tim Sherwood believes that Everton’s strikers are ‘not good enough’ and hindering the rest of the attack.
The Toffees fell to a 3-0 loss against Tottenham Hotspur as their unbeaten start at Hill Dickinson Stadium came to an end. But within the opening three minutes, Everton spurned a golden chance when Iliman Ndiaye crossed for Beto, but he failed to make proper contact.
Micky van de Ven scored from two Spurs corners before half-time and Pape Matar Sarr rounded off the visitors’ victory with a minute remaining.
Beto was again selected to spearhead the attack, having also squandered a golden chance in the 2-0 loss at Manchester City. The former Udinese striker has bagged just one Premier League goal this season. And despite being purchased for up to £27 million from Villarreal in the summer transfer window, Thierno Barry been down the pecking order and did not make an impact when coming off the bench against Spurs.
What’s been said
Speaking on Premier League Productions, Sherwood admitted the duo are struggling to meet the standards Everton require. The former Spurs manager said: “Sometimes, you can protect strikers and say they are not getting the chances. But they are putting so many crosses into the box. They cross the ball more than most teams from left side to right side. The quality of the crosses might not always be fantastic but Beto is too isolated when he’s in the box.
“Whether it’s Barry or not, it’s too isolated when he’s there. He is very reluctant to play both of them because they’re not good enough. The bottom line is they’re not good enough and are showing they are not good enough. He is trying to help them out and find the solution as best as he can, David Moyes. They have got very good players; [Kiernan] Dewsbury-Hall is great, Jack Grealish we know, Ndiaye is a little superstar but they have got no focal point. They have got no-one to play off or make runs off.
“They have got a nucleus of a decent side. They are solid at the back, a very good goalkeeper but they need a centre-forward but everyone is looking for the same thing so it’s difficult to go and find that. And why would someone of the quality go to Everton rather than somewhere else because there are a lot of teams looking for centre-forwards, including Spurs I’d suggest.”
David Moyes gives verdict on Everton loss
On Everton’s performance against Spurs, manager Moyes said: “I don't think that we deserved to lose 3-0 but if you don't defend set pieces well enough, then you're always liable to lose the game. It's not something that's been a big problem with us but it was today, whether that was because of the quality Spurs had or whether it was down to how poor we were defending it, then that could be argued.
“Some good things and, obviously, I'm annoyed because we don't defend our set pieces as poorly as that normally, so we'll need to try to improve on it. We've been pretty good at it. Overall, the play was good enough to earn more than we did today, we've just got to try to tighten up and finish off some of the good play and the chances we have.”