Whether Everton manage to mount and sustain a challenge for European football is one question, but David Moyes' side's commitment and tenacity cannot be put up for debate.

There is a real sense of unity at the Hill Dickinson. It was clear as Everton rallied and bounced back, twice, against Manchester United over a week ago, Ainsley Maitland-Niles' extraordinary last-gasp equaliser sending the stands into pandemonium, and there was a different kind of resilience on show as Tottenham were held to a goalless draw on Saturday evening.

It was an impressive performance, and the Toffees left N17 frustrated to have failed to have claimed all three points. It goes to show that maybe, just maybe, Everton needed to sign a striker to compete with Thierno Barry this season.

Everton's big problem at No. 9

Barry has started the season on confident footing. He has scored three goals and supplied one assist across five matches in all competitions, but has struggled in recent games against United and Spurs.

The events of the summer transfer window have left Moyes short-changed, and no mistake, and success is now going to ride on the Merseysiders' potential good fortune on the injury front.

Over the past two years, it's been Beto and Iliman Ndiaye who have brought home the bacon - but both left Everton for pastures new in August, and it's fair to say they were inadequately replaced.

It was important to get a deal for Jack Grealish over the line on deadline day, but the playmaker will not be posting rich goalscoring numbers this season. Likewise, don't expect Maitland-Niles to score Howitzers every week.

After Dominic Calvert-Lewin produced an overpowering attacking display against Newcastle United on Monday evening, Everton fans have been left rueing the decision to let him leave on a free transfer one year ago.

Since signing for Leeds United at the start of last season, the 29-year-old has been reborn as a focal frontman in the Premier League, scoring 16 goals in total.

What Moyes would give for a striker of his type right now. Alas, Everton must accept the many errors of their ways, with another striker sold a few years back who may actually be an upgrade on DCL.

Everton reject is now an upgrade on Calvert-Lewin

Calvert-Lewin is an experienced Premier League goalscorer, scoring 73 goals across 278 appearances in England's top competition, but Farhad Moshiri and co actually fumbled a bigger talent at No. 9.

Indeed, Moise Kean's resurgence since bouncing back from his Evertonian disaster has seen him cement himself as one of Italy's top strikers, hailed by reporter Carlo Garganese as a "scary" physical profile whose "movement and dribbling has come on so much."

Kean joined Everton from Juventus for £29m before failing to make the grade at Goodison Park. He never quite settled down, picking up a red card and an early substitution that well overshadowed a return of two goals from 32 games in the Premier League.

At least Everton saved themselves from a financial standpoint. Kean returned to Juve for around £24m in 2023, completing an initial two-year loan from 2021.

Kean didn't quite hit first-class heights in Turin, but after leaving for Fiorentina, he grew into a superstar, scoring 35 goals across 79 outings. A powerful, dynamic and mobile No. 9, he has more to his game than Calvert-Lewin, who is excelling right now, but was part of the problem at Everton in recent years.

After all, Calvert-Lewin might be hitting the right beats at Elland Road, but he was abject over those final three years at Goodison Park, only scoring 12 goals across those final three years, missing a whopping 38 big chances during that same timeframe.

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing, but Everton are sure to have been left frustrated by Kean's sharp turnaround upon returning to Italy, growing into a prolific goalscorer and being hailed as 'the new Lukaku' by English publications upon his move to Merseyside.

Kean's summer transfer to Cesc Fabregas' Como could bear dividends for him in the long run, but there's no question that he could have grown into an all-powerful frontman for Everton in the Premier League, had more time and patience been invested, had the Toffees not been so erratic back then.

In any case, the form of Calvert-Lewin and Kean post-Everton underscores the changes that still need to be made if the gap on the European places is going to be bridged in the coming years.