GETTY Gareth Barry says Everton must qualify for Europe this season

The Toffees have begun well with seven points from a possible nine, their best start to a campaign for a decade. And Barry, 35, believes the changes new manager Ronald Koeman has made will make them more competitive after being criticised in predecessor Roberto Martinez's last two seasons for being too open.

Premier League's hottest WAGs Sat, December 26, 2015 Express Sport brings you the Premier League's hottest WAGs Play slideshow Instagram•KayaHall 1 of 22 Manchester United man Phil Jones is seeing Kaya Hall

"The manager made a point in terms of the way he wants the training to change and I could see where he was coming from," said Barry. "He likes the hard work to be put in and that's fair enough. The training is a bit more structured and we're doing a lot more afternoon sessions to previous. "His standards are really high; he wants us to keep them and as soon as anybody drops them, no matter who you are, he lets you know so it's good for all the players involved.