Everton's under-21 contingent has logged 1,206 minutes across all competitions before the first week of November. That single figure eclipses the 1,088 minutes David Moyes handed to the same demographic across the entire 2025-26 campaign. In two months, the demographic foundation at Goodison Park has been dismantled and reassembled.
When Jack Grealish was omitted against Newcastle in the EFL Cup fourth round following an unauthorised absence from training, the initial forecast was bleak. Everton were chasing their first piece of silverware in 31 years with an improvised lineup against Eddie Howe's side. Instead of stalling, Everton produced a composed, fluid 2-0 display at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The transformation is not aesthetic; it is structural. Moyes has reduced the average age of his starting XI by nearly 18 months, down to 26 years and 216 days in Premier League play. For a manager historically wedded to experienced veterans, the shift represents a genuine tactical pivot.
The Thierno Barry workload anomaly
No metric illustrates Everton's altered baseline quite like the distribution of their attacking output. Across all fixtures, Everton have registered 24 big chances. Thierno Barry has been directly involved in 15 of them, representing a staggering 62.5% share of the team's primary offensive actions.
Barry has operated as Everton's solitary specialist centre-forward, starting every match and racking up 918 minutes. The 23-year-old French forward has already scored seven goals this season. That tally sits just one behind his total from the entire previous campaign, despite having played 30 fewer matches.
The tactical trade-off is glaring. While Barry provides verticality and runs the channels effectively, Moyes has no viable secondary plan if his striker breaks down. Relying on an isolated target man to generate almost two-thirds of high-quality chances is unsustainable over a 38-game schedule.
Against Newcastle, Barry showcased his evolving creative distribution. Drifting into the left half-space, he dragged Fabian Schar out of position before squaring a pinpoint cross for Hayden Hackney's volley. It was Barry's movement off the ball that fractured Newcastle's back four, turning a congested central area into a scoring corridor.
Yet the physical toll is already visible in Barry's sprint metrics late in halves. When Everton drop into their defensive mid-block, Barry is often marooned forty yards from his nearest midfielder. Without adequate depth behind him, Moyes is playing a dangerous game of physical roulette every single weekend.
Hayden Hackney and central progression
The engine behind Thursday's cup triumph was Hackney, arrived from Middlesbrough in the summer for £16.5m. The 24-year-old was named Championship player of the year last season, yet had been restricted to just two starts prior to Newcastle. He responded with a goal and an assist, marking only the second time in his senior career he achieved both in 90 minutes.
Hackney altered Everton's build-up mechanics by dropping deep between James Tarkowski and Michael Keane to collect possession facing forward. His line-breaking pass on 18 minutes bypassed Newcastle's midfield press and freed James Garner for the opening goal. He added a controlled side-foot volley shortly after half-time to double the lead.
Still, the display revealed areas of tactical friction that Moyes was quick to highlight post-match. Hackney was caught in possession twice inside his own defensive third under pressure from Bruno Guimaraes. For all his technical balance, his spatial awareness under Premier League counter-pressing triggers requires refinement.
As detailed in BBC Sport's tactical analysis, Moyes offered a characteristically blunt assessment of his midfielder's evening:
"I thought there were bits of his game that were very good. Getting a goal was great. There were other bits where I didn't think it was where it was supposed to be. But I see this as a bit of bringing in Championship players, getting them used to the Premier League. A couple of times he got caught on the ball."
Partnered with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Garner, Hackney gives Everton a more vertical passing baseline than departed veteran Idrissa Gueye ever provided. Gueye excelled at lateral ball recovery and shielding spaces, but his passing was safe and regressive. Hackney looks forward first, accepting turnover risk in exchange for line-breaking tempo.
Squad composition and rotation realities
The personnel turnover under Moyes is moving at remarkable speed. Of the 10 permanent signings completed since Moyes returned to the club in January 2025, seven were aged 24 or under upon arrival. This recruitment strategy has radically altered how the squad absorbs competitive fixtures.
Consider Moyes' historic reliance on a narrow core group. Across the entire 2024-25 Premier League season, the manager used a total of just 22 players. In the current campaign, Everton have already matched that 22-player threshold before November has even settled in.
Nineteen-year-old Harrison Armstrong embodies this sudden reliance on academy development. After a productive six-month loan at Preston North End, Armstrong was expected to head back to Deepdale for further seasoning. Instead, Moyes retained him, handing the teenager starts in every single Premier League fixture this autumn.
Armstrong's tactical discipline in wide transitional phases has stabilized Everton's defensive transitions. He covers ground quickly, tracks opposing full-backs into deep zones, and minimizes gaps between the lines. His rapid maturation has given Moyes the tactical flexibility to alter pressing heights on the fly.
On the opposite flank, Tyrique George has emerged as a disruptive weapon following his permanent arrival from Chelsea. George managed just one Premier League start during his loan spell on Merseyside last season. This term, the 20-year-old has already earned five starts, including a breakthrough goal in September's 2-2 draw with Manchester United.
Against Newcastle, George set the tone without touching the ball cleanly at first. He executed a coordinated high-press trap, dispossessing Tino Livramento along the touchline to initiate the sequence that led directly to Garner's opener. That kind of defensive work rate explains why he has earned Moyes' trust so rapidly.
The makeshift right-back dilemma
Not every youth adjustment has been smooth or deliberate. Everton's ongoing defensive personnel issues have forced Moyes into unusual tactical experiments. Merlin Rohl, a natural 24-year-old central midfielder signed permanently after a loan spell, has been converted into an auxiliary right-back.
After returning from a four-game injury layoff, Rohl went straight into the lineup against Chelsea before retaining his spot against Arsenal and Newcastle. Moyes preferred the German midfielder at full-back over experienced specialist Ainsley Maitland-Niles. While Rohl provides physical size and diagonal passing out of the back, his positional discipline when tracking inverted wingers remains unpolished.
Newcastle targeted Rohl's flank repeatedly during the opening 20 minutes on Thursday. Anthony Gordon found space behind him twice, exposing Rohl's sluggish recovery turns when challenged in isolated wide footraces. Everton survived those early warning signs, but elite wingers will punish that positional awkwardness in Premier League rematches.
Twenty-year-old Tyler Dibling offers another layer of tactical variance. Signed for £35m from Southampton in the summer of 2025, Dibling endured a difficult debut season adapting to senior defensive responsibilities. Yet against Newcastle, his progressive ball-carrying numbers were instrumental in breaking out of Everton's defensive third.
The analytical verdict ahead of St James' Park
Everton now prepare to travel to St James' Park on Monday for an immediate rematch against Newcastle. The senior spine remains essential, with 33-year-old James Tarkowski commanding the backline and 32-year-old Jordan Pickford anchoring the goal. Yet their collective floor is now dictated by how quickly the under-24 contingent adapts to top-flight demands.
David Moyes has built a team that presses with far greater intensity than his previous iterations. The data proves the shift: fewer veteran minutes, accelerated ball progression from deep, and heavy reliance on Barry's box efficiency. Whether Jack Grealish returns to the fold or remains sidelined, Everton's competitive trajectory is no longer tied to high-priced established names.
The tactical identity emerging at Everton is aggressive, transitional, and unapologetically youthful. If Hackney, Barry, and Armstrong can sustain their production over the winter slog, Everton will have executed a structural overhaul in record time. For a club stuck in survival mode for years, the numbers finally point forward.
