David Moyes was full of praise for Thierno Barry after his “exquisite” goal sealed Everton’s superb 1-0 Premier League win at Aston Villa
20:16, 18 Jan 2026Updated 20:28, 18 Jan 2026
Thierno Barry is congratulated by Jack Grealish and Nathan Patterson after his winner for Everton at Aston Villa (Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
David Moyes hailed Thierno Barry’s match-winning goal at Aston Villa as an “exquisite” finish from a player starting to show signs of progress. The Everton boss was delighted with his forward’s cute second-half effort – one that came as a shock to many given his lack of predatory instincts in a tough start to his career on Merseyside.
But his fourth goal for Everton was his best and most important, coming as he dinked the ball over the onrushing Emiliano Martinez from a tight angle.
It was enough to give a depleted side a hard-fought but deserved 1-0 win over Villa, who had won 11 home games on the bounce and would have gone second and within four points of Premier League leaders Arsenal with victory.
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Speaking after the match, Moyes beamed as he reflected on a goal he was expecting to be ruled out after the controversial denial of a first half Jake O’Brien header for offside – the latest debatable high-profile call to go against the Blues.
He referenced that run of decisions as he relived Barry’s goal. He said: “It was brilliant improvisation. I’ve not seen it close up yet but when it bounced out it looked as if he had nowhere to go with the ball to get it up and over [Martinez].
“From the dugout I couldn’t tell if it crossed the line or not, I couldn’t tell from the angle if it was over but with all the other decisions going against me I expected that it wasn’t over the line – that they’d have found a way to say that it hadn’t gone in.”
The goal came days after he had spoken at length in defence of Barry, taking responsibility for the £27m deal that brought the 23-year-old to Merseyside in the summer from Villarreal and backing him to come good.
On the striker’s performance at Villa Park, Moyes said: “I think it’s really difficult for any player to come to the Premier League from whatever country. Obviously, we’ve not spent huge money on buying a ready-made centre forward. We brought a young centre forward with potential, who could get better, could build into something.
“I think that to be a centre-forward in the Premier League is probably, well it is, it is the toughest job. If you look at the money we could be spending on some other centre-forwards, it doesn’t always guarantee that it’s going to work. So we’re the same, we’re bought at a lower level, hoping that we can build him up.
“But if we thought he was going to come in and smash it in the Premier League or if anyone thought that, they were wrong. But hey, what I do need, I need them to score goals, between him and Beto I need them to get me some goals. It was an exquisite finish today you have to see. It really was.”
Barry was one of several players to produce impressive displays in the mist and drizzle of the Midlands. Offering out credit for his team, Moyes added: “ It was a brilliant performance. With what we had coming here today, it looked a big challenge whether we could do it with the players we have out. That’s not discrediting in any way the players who played, because they’ve done a great job.
“But I also think it was a huge day for two or three players who really stepped up. Harrison Armstrong in only his third or fourth Premier League game stepped up, Merlin Rohl as well. And Jimmy Gardner was probably as good as anybody in what he did.
“So it was an all-around really good team performance. We had to work hard to try and prepare to do a job.
“If you look at Villa’s form, how they’ve played, how they are playing tactically as well, it certainly wasn’t just turning up here and putting 11 out and trying to get a result. There’s a lot more work that went into it than that.”