Ross Barkley’s winner against Watford could be farewell gift to Everton

Ronald Koeman had demanded a show of responsibility from Ross Barkley and the Everton midfielder obliged at Goodison Park: not with the requested decision on his future but with a match-winning display against Watford. Time will tell, and possibly quickly, whether it is Barkley’s parting gift to his boyhood club.

The England international scored his fifth Premier League goal of a turbulent campaign to prolong Walter Mazzarri’s torment on the road and deliver Everton’s 13th home win of the season, their tally of 43 points the highest at Goodison for 27 years. Overall it was an encouraging response to another spell under the spotlight from Barkley. Before the game his manager had repeated his ultimatum to the 23-year-old to give an answer on a new contract by the season’s end, making it clear it is a case of sign or be sold this summer, and Koeman was not exactly overflowing with niceties afterwards towards the match-winner.

Asked if he was pleased with Barkley’s goal and performance, the Everton manager replied: “The goal was good. In the first half we didn’t have aggression up front: not from Romelu [Lukaku] or Ross. Kevin [Mirallas] yes, Idrissa [Gueye] yes and Morgan [Schneiderlin] yes, but like most of the players Ross did much better in the second half and scored a great goal.”

Asked if he had substituted Barkley in the 79th minute to allow Goodison to give its homegrown talent a warm ovation, as it did, Koeman replied: “No. I thought we needed more control in midfield.” And asked if he wants more from Barkley, the Dutch coach said: “If you have followed me throughout the season you will know my answer.” Hardly a warm embrace for the player who secured victory and sparked Everton’s brightest moments from the start.

Barkley engineered the first chance of the game when he exchanged passes with Gueye on the edge of the Watford area and tested Heurelho Gomes with a low shot having weaved his way into space. The Watford goalkeeper also saved well from Phil Jagielka before Barkley’s delightful flick took two Watford players out of the game and sent Tom Davies driving at goal. Gomes pushed away the 18-year-old’s drive from 25 yards.

Mazzarri’s tall, powerful side and 3-5-2 formation proved obstinate opponents while carrying a constant threat of their own. But with Troy Deeney, Sebastian Prödl, Stefano Okaka and Adrian Mariappa all unable to find a clinical touch in front of Joel Robles’s goal, the Watford manager was left to rue a sixth consecutive away game without a goal. His team are not mathematically safe. “I don’t think about that,” the Italian bristled. “I am not happy with the referee and not at all happy with how we lost the game. It was totally undeserved. We created the chances but the ball would not go in. I am angry about that and angry because we keep losing players to injury.”

Watford lost defender Christian Kabasele to a thigh problem while Koeman replaced Mason Holgate with Enner Valencia at the interval to inject more pace and movement into the Everton attack. “I was not happy,” said Koeman, showing his brusqueness is not confined to Barkley. The knock-on effect was Davies’s conversion into a makeshift right-back, a strange switch that was immediately tested when Daryl Janmaat broke free and crossed low for Deeney who was unable to convert. Everton capitalised almost immediately.

There were groans around Goodison initially when Barkley collected Jagielka’s clearance, spotted Valencia free on the right and elected not to pass. The boyhood Evertonian seemed determined to mark the occasion with a goal and ran on, Prödl backing off all the way, until sweeping a right-footed shot from 22 yards beyond Gomes.