Barkley shows why there’s no need for Rooney
WHEN RONALD Koeman wa s speaking admiringly about Wayne Rooney last week, it was hard not to consider Ross Barkley.
Why would the Everton manager discuss the merits of Rooney when he already has a talented young forward all of his own?
Barkley has often been compared to Rooney and maybe it’s not fair. The 22-year-old may look like the England captain in build and complexion but his skill set has always been slightly different from that of the player who began his career at Goodison almost 15 years ago.
Whatever the case, Barkley’s progress with Everton and England has stuttered a little. He was not in England squads picked by Sam Allardyce and then Gareth Southgate. At his club, meanwhile, Koeman has hinted that Barkley must find consistency.
Something, then, has clearly been amiss, which is why it was uplifting to see Barkley return to better form in a win over West Ham that his team just about deserved.
Barkley is one of England’s most gifted attacking footballers and is a lovely, instinctive player when on his game. He has the ability to choose passes other players cannot see. He can score goals, too, and has admirable physical strength and balance. Here, on a damp afternoon on Merseyside, we saw flashes of all of this.
He played his part in Romelu Lukaku’s opening goal in the 49th minute as he picked up possession and began a movement with a simple but intelligent pass to full back Seamus Coleman. Then, as West Ham threatened to score at the other end, Barkley started and finished a lovely move to score core his first Premieremier League goal since the opening day of the season. This game was closer than the scoreline suggests. West Ham had some good moments and spells of possession. They did not have any of Everton’s clinical attitude, however. When the visitors’ chances came, they frittered them away. Bad defending contributed to the first Everton goal and that moment will not reflect well on Aaron Cresswell or Winston Reid. After three wins, Slaven Bilic’s team have taken a step backwards. ‘We have a bitter taste,’ said Bilic (below, right, with Koeman). It was easy to see what he meant. At the start, his team had been in the ascendency. Koeman had decided to rest captain Phil Jagielka and goalkeeper Martin Stekelenburg was absent with a foot injury. As such, Everton were a little hesitant after five games without a win and West Ham looked like they might take advantage. Michail Antonio could have done better than fire into the Gladwys Street end from Dimitri Payet’s cross, before the Frenchman made a mug of Ramiro Funes Mori to play in Pedro Obiang. He was in a better posi- tion than Antonio had been been, but he also failed to hit the target. Soon after, Joel Robles dedenied Payet when he scampered through.
But as Payet’s influence on the game waned, Barkley helped Everton take a foothold. West Ham goalkeeper Adrian denied Barkley after the Everton forward turned Reid brilliantly 12 yards out. Then Barkley saw a shot deflected over.
Everton’s first four minutes into the second period tore the game open. Barkley’s contribution was slight but important. On receiving his pass, Coleman brought a parry from Adrian and when Cresswell and Reid hesitated, Yannick Bolaise stole in to provide Lukaku with a header he could not miss.
It summed up the difference between the teams. Everton made the most of what they had on the day. West Ham did not. They could have equalised several times. Ashley Williams slipped to allow Antonio in, but the West Ham player could not beat Robles. When Antonio played Andre Ayew clear, Bryan Oviedo provided a cover tackle.
With 14 minutes left Everton settled the argument. Barkley held off two players to sweep the ball wide to Lukaku and when the rampaging forward crossed to the far post his team-mate secured the game on the half-volley.
Barkley left the field to an ovation with five minutes left. Southgate’s next England squad will make interesting reading.