Everton's European hopes are fading - how they could use a finisher like Callum Wilson

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Moyes had wanted to add more finishing prowess to a goal-shy attack, but the move for Wilson was thwarted when he came off the bench to grab a late goal to beat Tottenham Hotspur on January 17 and West Ham subsequently refused to sanction his exit. The 34-year-old England international has made a habit of scoring against Everton — when he netted in the 92nd minute to both dampen their hopes of European qualification and ease West Ham’s relegation concerns, it was his ninth goal in 12 league matches when facing the Merseysiders. Wilson has obvious limitations. His fitness record over the years is patchy at best and he’s now at an age where he lacks the legs to lead the line for 90 minutes, so has started just 10 Premier League games this season and only twice since the first week of January. A long-term option he is not. But this was the kind of poacher’s goal, from an unmarked position towards the far post, that has sustained his career — and was why Everton were interested in January. Moyes was without the concussed Beto, who was one of the league’s form strikers before his second-half clash of heads with Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate in the previous weekend’s Merseyside derby. His absence at the London Stadium afforded fellow striker Thierno Barry another opportunity to stake his claim after a tough couple of months. But Saturday’s display was unlikely to have changed the picture for the 23-year-old Frenchman. Barry has had his ups and downs since joining Everton in the summer. It took him until December to score his first goal for the club in what was his 17th appearance, but a run of four in five league games just after Christmas saw the tide start to turn. Even at that stage, though, Everton wanted to add more firepower up front — in part due to Beto’s own struggles in the first half of the season — but the momentum has shifted again since, and Barry is now very much second choice. Moyes is obviously looking for goals from his strikers, but also for them to have an impact in other facets of play.  “Barry has done a lot of good things for us,” he said in Friday’s press conference. “We’re just saying we want more. We’re looking for more.” The young Frenchman is now on a run of one goal in 11 games — the winner over Newcastle United in February — and was booed when he appeared as a late substitute in last month’s 3-0 home win against Chelsea. His social media post after the 2-0 defeat at Arsenal on March 14, which highlighted aggression from a small group of Everton fans towards what he claimed to be his friends and prompted a Metropolitan Police investigation, has done him no favours with some supporters. According to sources familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, Barry’s social media has had to be closely monitored at both Everton and Villarreal, his previous team in Spain. The perceived wisdom from many associated with Everton is that he should have aired his grievances in private, but, having 23 in October, he is still maturing in a number of senses. The message to Barry behind the scenes has been that the best way to turn things around is to score goals and put in a shift. He remains a work in progress; erratic in his play and slender physically, but not without promise. There is still belief in his potential, but Everton are likely to look to the striker market again in the summer as they seek to progress up the Premier League. Saturday’s display from Barry was a mixed bag at best. He struggled to make an impact against centre-backs Konstantinos Mavropanos and Axel Disasi and had a goal-bound 78th-minute header diverted onto the crossbar by Tomas Soucek and then cleared when it was 1-0 to the home side. Barry was the subject of jeers from West Ham fans when he failed to connect with an acrobatic effort in the first half, but Dwight McNeil’s cross had been behind him. He won flicks-ons, but to no avail. Moyes and midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall both expressed concern afterwards with the way Everton are conceding goals. Both of West Ham’s on Saturday came from crosses, with the headed opener by Soucek strikingly similar to Virgil van Dijk’s late winner last Sunday. As the Liverpool captain did, Soucek found room between Barry, who was stationed at the near post, and Everton captain James Tarkowski. It was the second time in a week that Moyes’ men had been beaten by a stoppage-time goal, and these two dropped points could be the difference between European qualification and disappointment when the season ends in just under a month. With the towering trio of Tarkowski, Michael Keane and Jake O’Brien — all 6ft 1in (185cm) tall or more — in their back line, they should not be so susceptible aerially. But the absences of Beto and key defender Jarrad Branthwaite, the latter out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury suffered in the derby, have added to their vulnerability. “Two awful goals to concede,” said midfielder Dewsbury-Hall, who had scored Everton’s 88th-minute equaliser, before adding that the issues had been discussed in the dressing room post-match: “We need to take accountability. Everyone has a job and if we have conceded, someone has not done their job. That lapse of judgement has killed us, and that isn’t good enough if we want to do something this year. “We’ve been resolute, but the last four goals we’ve conceded have been so bad. Teams aren’t having to do a lot to score. Set pieces are so big in the game that it’s given teams an edge on us. We need to change it, quick. We’ve worked on it, but obviously need to do it more, because teams are looking at us as though we’ve got a weak link from set pieces. They’re killing us at the moment.” Everton were aggrieved not to be awarded a penalty at 1-0 down when Mateus Fernandes swiped the ball away from Barry with his arm from behind as they grappled in the box. It was checked by VAR but curiously deemed “accidental” contact. Yet other issues were exposed in defeat that went far beyond Barry’s performance or questionable officiating. Alongside their weaknesses from crosses, exploited in back-to-back matches, Everton again lacked quality from full-back and pace in transition and also struggled to find Dewsbury-Hall and Iliman Ndiaye in dangerous areas of the pitch. Barry will have further chances to try to change his predicament before Everton reassess their striking options this summer. But Saturday showed that finding a new, more potent finisher would not fix all their woes. Their problems run deeper and continue to hamper this season’s fading European charge. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms