To the frustration of many Everton fans, Gareth Barry has been a mainstay in Everton’s central midfield this season. After enjoying a successful first season in which the former Villa man appeared reinvigorated and reenergized, Barry has struggled to reach those heights again this season and has led to many calling for his removal from the starting eleven.
Many would like to see a tigerish midfield fulcrum of James McCarthy and Muhamed Besic. Both provide more energy and a fierce tackling approach and would arguably make Everton harder to beat- something they’ve not been this season. Often Everton have lost the midfield battle and conceded more individual errors than any other side leading to chances for the opposition. This has too often come from Gareth Barry, either misplacing passes too frequently or being dispossessed.
But what could we expect from a central pair of McCarthy and Besic? One potential problem could be the balance of the midfield. Would they be too similar to each other and lack a technical flow? Statistics suggest Gareth Barry makes 63.7 passes per game while Besic only manages 39.3, Gibson 41.4 and McCarthy 47.8. Therefore do Everton need to keep Barry in the team to keep more of a passing flow to the midfield?
These statistics suggest that, without Barry, Everton would perhaps find themselves being dominated more in midfield and may have to play on the counter attack more. Less passing in midfield would naturally lead to other midfields taking over and dominating possession more.
However another criticism of Everton this season has been the lack of moving the ball forwards and perhaps being more direct at times. If we compare Besic and Barry as the most likely competitors for a place alongside McCarthy, Besic averages 1.4 dribbles per game whereas Barry 0.4. This indicates Besic is more of a driving force from midfield than the, at times, pedestrian Barry.
I could spout statistics all day, we all know the best way to judge a player’s effect on the pitch is to watch them in action and use these statistics to assist your own conclusions. My view is that Gareth Barry has been too much of a liability in the Everton team this season. He has had some good games but these are generally against lesser opposition.
I’d suggest deploying Osman more as, since his return from injury, Everton have looked improved. He is probably Everton’s most consistently creative player at the moment and knits things together nicely when the team is moving forwards.
So my conclusion would be that Everton should play Besic with McCarthy in tougher home games and away from home but play Barry or Gibson when at home to a lesser team that is coming to Goodison looking to frustrate and stifle. A frequency of passing in midfield would be more necessary then, so long as the majority are forwards of course!
I think, long-term, the way forwards is McCarthy and Besic but they should be looking to invest in a more creative, technical central midfielder to play there at times as well. Though it’d be interesting to see Barkley tested there in some games. We saw against QPR in December how effective he can be in that role- Everton looked a lot more dynamic and creative in midfield and this led to being 3-0 up after 53 minutes.
