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Everton manager David Moyes believes striker Thierno Barry has started the season with a point to prove after the Frenchman scored in the 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace. In his maiden season it took the 23-year-old until December to make his breakthrough but he added only another seven as his rawness and unfamiliarity with the Premier League saw him become a figure of frustration for fans. And while he got off to the best possible start, adding to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s opener, Moyes admits there is still plenty Barry has to learn. “Strikers will be judged on their goals so he can walk away and be really happy with it,” said the Scot, who revealed after the match he spoke to Prime Minister and Everton season ticket-holder Andy Burnham on the phone after he attended his first match since moving into Downing Street. “It would be wrong not to mention the quality of the cross from Iliman Ndiaye but Thierno getting in the right spot was huge and scoring with the header was really big for us because it was an important time in the game. “I need his build-up play to be better, I need him to be able to retain the ball for us so that we can play into him more often. “Sometimes he’s out linking up when he doesn’t need to be out linking up so there’s lots to learn for his game. “But I think he’s come in with a really positive attitude this year. He has come back with something which has stirred him up a little bit, like he has something to prove.” Palace boss Pierre Sage was left to rue opportunities squandered by Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eddie Nketiah before Everton took the lead. “We had three good chances but we gave the goals to Everton. At the end of the game I didn’t like what we did, we didn’t play with energy,” he said. “We deserved to score, we didn’t score and we paid the bill.” Ismaila Sarr was absent from the squad despite Sage insisting he would be involved but the Palace head coach insisted it was injury-related and not for other reasons. Rumours before kick-off suggested Sarr had refused to train in order to push through a move to Galatasaray. “He was injured, he has a pain in his groin and (we) took the decision yesterday to let him have treatment. He will be back on Monday with us,” he added. “For the moment we don’t want him to leave, he is under contract with us three years and he will be with us on Monday. “You can ask him (if he is happy).”