Everton striker Thierno Barry is still receiving plenty of criticism after the game against Ipswich.
There’s been a lot of criticism thrown towards Everton striker Thierno Barry since he joined the club, and some of it has been completely unjust.
An incident involving his friends in an Arsenal away end last season led to many making up their minds about Barry, and he’s struggled to win them over since. Barry gets labelled with many different characteristics and traits which certainly appear unfair, and it can’t be easy for a young lad to read about.
Often when a player has an attitude problem, or people believe they have an attitude problem, they are hit with the label that they don’t work hard or don’t care. That’s something which is difficult to believe when it comes to Barry.
Listening to him speak, it’s clear he just wants to be successful.
In reality, it’s impossible to know whether someone cares about your club. Speaking in the media is one thing, but you never truly know how someone is feeling.
Actions speak louder than words, and the work rate Barry puts in on the pitch backs up the point that he does care.
Thankless task up front for Everton
Sometimes, Barry can appear frustrated up front for Everton, or he’ll walk for a small period. The majority of the time, it’s because he’s made a bursting run and not been found, or he’s opted to press another defender and the ball has been switched.
Being up front for Everton is difficult, especially in games like Ipswich and Tottenham. Both games, Everton were sending aimless balls towards Barry, asking him to work absolute miracles to make something.
He’s often chasing lost causes, then tasked with pressing on his own, which is incredibly tough.
The reality is, a striker isn’t going to press every single ball. He’s not going to run between the two centre-backs as they pass it around. One, that would be utterly stupid and pointless, and two, you just can’t keep that up for 90 minutes.
If we look at the game against Ipswich specifically, Barry covered 11km. That was only bettered by one Ipswich player, and three Everton players. He made a total of 20 sprins, more than any other player on the pitch, and more than double any attacker on the pitch.
In terms of distance covered in the Premier League, Barry ranks ninth for strikers. Not topping the charts, but not some lazy forward like some have labelled him.
Per 90 minutes, Barry has ran more than Erling Haaland, Alexander Isak, Brian Brobbey, Taiwo Awoniyi, and many more.
In truth, some of the comments are simply unfair and factually wrong.
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What Barry did in the 97th minute sums it up
It was the 97th minute of the game against Ipswich. Barry had been covering a lot of ground, as mentioned, and in the final seconds of the match, he could be forgiven for being a little tired.
He’d done his job in scoring, but Everton needed to protect a lead. With seconds remaining, Barry sprinted from the halfway line to the right-back position to try to block a cross, succeeding in doing so, and then sprinted forward once again to try and pick up the loose ball.
That’s not what someone would do if they didn’t care or were lazy.
Criticism for players is fine, and part and parcel of the game, but it needs to be fair.
