Thierno Barry, Everton's last striker standing, begins to silence doubters

Given that Thierno Barry essentially finds himself Everton's only centre-forward option after a muddled end to the transfer window, he probably doesn't care too much how the goals come at the moment.

Eleven minutes into Saturday's Premier League meeting with Ipswich Town, defender James Tarkowski took aim from distance, only for his volley to appear to be heading wide of goal.

Barry, finding himself in the path of Tarko's fierce first-time effort, reacted quickly, adjusted his body, and diverted the ball beyond Christian Walton and into the Ipswich net with his upper thigh.

It wasn't a particularly glorious or a refined finish, but Barry's shunt of his hips was enough to send Everton past the Tractor Boys 1-0, extending their unbeaten run and moving them into seventh for the elongated international break.

This was Barry's second league goal of the season, and his fifth in all competitions, but it's surely his most important, given how things have changed for Everton since late August.

While Everton may be broadly pleased with their squad-building efforts over the transfer window -- the late arrival of Ainsley Maitland-Niles looks to have immediately solved their problem rightback position -- the late confusion about the striking options had threatened to leave them utterly toothless this term.

Heading towards the end of the transfer window, Barry had appeared set to be vying for minutes and the opportunity to establish himself as the Toffees' line-leader with Guinea-Bissau striker Beto, with the pair having shared duties, neither convincingly, last term.

David Moyes clearly wasn't happy, however, and explored a £35 million deal to bring Richarlison back to the club from Tottenham, only for the deal to collapse after the Brazil international could not agree personal terms.

Beto was nonetheless allowed to leave to join Fiorentina, with Everton then expecting that USA international Folarin Balogun would come in to solve the problem. A deal worth approximately £40 million was agreed with Monaco, only for an issue flagged during the striker's medical to complicate proceedings.

The clubs renegotiated, a deal sheet was submitted, there was broad confidence that Everton would get their man, only for Balogun to have second thoughts and walk away from the move.

There was late, late talk of Joshua Zirkzee from Manchester United or Aston Villa's Tammy Abraham, although neither deal materialised, and the window closed.

It's hard to see it as anything other than a calamitous bungle; after all of Moyes' calls for greater depth and quality across his squad, Everton were emerging from deadline day with only one recognised striker: Barry.

And understandably, this didn't fill Everton fans with confidence, after a debut season in England in which the 23-year-old showed glimpses of his quality... but only scored eight league goals in 38 outings.

Against Ipswich again, however, his performance was about much more than his goal, with the forward demonstrating the kind of all-round qualities that meant that portions of the Toffees fanbase were inclined to give the Lyon-born frontman the benefit of the doubt rather than discard him altogether.

Shortly before the hour mark, Barry thought he'd scored a fine second when he met a Kieran Dewsbury-Hall corner with an excellent angled header over his left shoulder and beyond Walton, only for VAR to intervene and deem that Brennan Johnson -- standing in an offside position ahead of the goalkeeper -- had been interfering with play.

There's little doubt the Wales international had been offside, although whether Walton could have actually succeeded in leaping to reach Barry's header had he had the six-yard box all to himself is debatable.

Instead of letting the frustration get to him, Barry kept plugging away.

He covered 11 kilometres and made 20 sprints during the match, more than any other player, and deep into the seventh minute of stoppage time, he was still racing from the halfway line to cover a cross from the right, before then giving chase to the loose ball.

Still, with the header disallowed, and Barry hitting the target with only one of his three attempts, Everton ended the game with only a one-goal advantage following a nervy finale, despite Ghana's Abdul Fatawu being dismissed for a second bookable offence.

The Toffees may be unbeaten after seven matches, but only four teams have scored fewer than them so far this season, and Barry will again find himself on the receiving end of last season's frustrations if he cannot hit the back of the net with increasing regularity.

His lack of poacher's instinct in front of goal has been an accusation that's followed him from almost the moment Everton parted with £27 million to bring him from Villarreal.

He'd scored 11 La Liga goals in his final season in Spain, but struggled to manage the transition and had to wait until early December -- and his 17th appearance for the Blues -- before netting in the Premier League.

While the rotation with Beto took Barry out of the limelight at times, it also meant that the younger forward's starts were sporadic at times, with Moyes being forced to explain, in February, why he had dropped the new arrival for a league game against Newcastle United.

"You have to play and do well," the Scot explained. "We accept that you don't always score goals, but you need to do really well for the team; play, hold the ball up, join in, be a bit creative."

The veteran head coach also acknowledged there had been a few games where Barry had been a "a little bit off it", while also balancing his criticism with praise about the attacker's qualities and progress behind the scenes.

"He's got a physicality, he's good in the air, he can run plenty, he helps us off the ball," Moyes said in January, and Barry's upside is clear.

He's 6'5, mobile, a workhorse, is intelligent about how he attempts to exploit the channels, can bring others into play, and has the instincts in the box -- at least when the ball is in the air -- to make the most of Everton's improving delivery.

While he hasn't always demonstrated adroit finishing, Barry has clearly been missing the consistency required to marry together his various raw attributes to make him a more regular goal threat for the School of Science.

Everton no longer have other options in attack, and cannot afford to wait too much longer for more performances like the one he produced against Ipswich this weekend.

Saturday afternoon may well ultimately be remembered for VAR controversy -- Barry's disallowed goal, Fatawu's red card for a second yellow for alleged simulation -- but perhaps for Everton, it will help them forget their disastrous transfer deadline day that had appeared to leave them short in attack.