James McCarthy

[aglee]

You’ve clearly forgotten that our best season in the last decade and a half had McCarthy playing in the centre of midfield.
Sadly since then he’s missed a lot of game time through injury.
How have we fared with the likes of Schneiderlin and Davies since then? Or how are we doing with Gana and Gomes? Top 5....no. Top 6....no.
Hopefully once rested Gomes might find a bit of form again and he and Gana may stay the first choice pairing, but I’d have McCarthy before any of our other central midfielders if he’s fit.

We did better in spite of McCarthy, not because of him. A certain Gareth Barry helped him look half decent

 

[Strikinglyhandsome1]

The most I've agreed with a post on here in a long time, think you've nailed it there.

Agreed. Good post, Eggsyblueskin.

 

[Toffeelover]

if he goes on loan to Baggies will only be half a season, how long left on his contract with us?

 

[dublinbluenose]

There's lots of vaulting to be had from McCarthy's first 3 seasons. Martinez ran him into the ground, playing for us with pain killing injections for months on end.

 

[Neiler]

I think it is generally accurate observation that the amount of debate around a players abilities is a good indicator of their true standing. A truly outstanding player elicits little such debate although there will always be detractors especially during periods of poor form, they will be securely in the minority.
In latter years not many people would demur on the outstanding qualities of Arteta or Cahill for instance. McCarthy and Gana have been constantly debated however, and I think that is evidence that neither is entirely convincing because both are good but distinctly average players.
For me, I prefer Gana. He has the ability to not only tackle and harrie the opposition but frequently disposses them cleanly which allows a faster transition to attack, something McCarthy does not do as effectively. Offensively both are lacking, unfortunately ,but for me Gana edges it because he can play a forward pass far more than McCarthy who by contrast habitually prefers to pass sideways or backwards something that was noticeable in his Wigan days as well.
It’s all fine margins but perhaps the truth is that both are good enough for where we are but for where we aspire to be. In the end I would prefer to have a more rounded player in their position.
Given that McCarthy hasn’t played much more than 20 games in the last two years or so I won’t miss him if he leaves this window.
For me McCarthy will be defined by what may be his last action in a blue shirt, when he delivered a gut busting run followed by a brave and personally damaging tackle to save a certain goal. Unfortunately the reason it was necessary was due to his own poor passing in the first place.

I would take on board your points mate. But there is a time and place for everything in midfield. The job of a midfielder is to control the tempo of the game, win battles to provide a foundation to attack and transition play. People talk about crab etc, there is a time and place to make possession stick and not loose it, sadly its something we often lack. I would agree McCarthy lacks the vision of Arteta but his engine can speed up and slow the tempo of a game, he can drive and driving makes up yards, he battles and he presses. He is a midfielder of a particular skillset.

 

[Brendan Janus]

Will he be the same after the broken leg, not sure myself !!

 

[Goat]

I would take on board your points mate. But there is a time and place for everything in midfield. The job of a midfielder is to control the tempo of the game, win battles to provide a foundation to attack and transition play. People talk about crab etc, there is a time and place to make possession stick and not loose it, sadly its something we often lack. I would agree McCarthy lacks the vision of Arteta but his engine can speed up and slow the tempo of a game, he can drive and driving makes up yards, he battles and he presses. He is a midfielder of a particular skillset.

He is and we are seeing the same thing with Gana, its like people do not understand the role of a midfield destroyer, they want everybody to be Pirlo.

 

[Neiler]

He is and we are seeing the same thing with Gana, its like people do not understand the role of a midfield destroyer, they want everybody to be Pirlo.

Good post mate, one of our deficiencies this season has been loosing the midfield battle against bigger and more physically imposing midfields. I think teams have cottoned on to us. We have an excellent creative midfielder, in Gomes what we lack and were he suffers is not loosing the midfield battle and being denied possession and in transition through the midfield as a result and or the ball gets to him in slow or impossible positions.

I wouldnt be opposed to playing a double pivot in some games, not all though:

Pickford,

Coleman, Keane, Mina, Dinge

McCarthy Gana

Gomes

Gylfi, Bernard,

Richalson

Or a combo of whever you lie in the advanced positions.

Games i am thinking of are ones where we got out grocked in midfield, Newcastle, WHU and Watford. 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-2-1 depending on how you want to look at it.

 

[Cameron Manning]

Good post mate, one of our deficiencies this season has been loosing the midfield battle against bigger and more physically imposing midfields. I think teams have cottoned on to us. We have an excellent creative midfielder, in Gomes what we lack and were he suffers is not loosing the midfield battle and being denied possession and in transition through the midfield as a result and or the ball gets to him in slow or impossible positions.

I wouldnt be opposed to playing a double pivot in some games, not all though:

Pickford,

Coleman, Keane, Mina, Dinge

McCarthy Gana

Gomes

Gylfi, Bernard,

Richalson

Or a combo of whever you lie in the advanced positions.

Games i am thinking of are ones where we got out grocked in midfield, Newcastle, WHU and Watford. 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-2-1 depending on how you want to look at it.

It comes to the point whether you want McCarthy to go or stay, Inthink it can be to Everton’s advantage if he stays, if he
stays fit he will be a big asset to the club.

 

[Eggsyblueskin]

I would take on board your points mate. But there is a time and place for everything in midfield. The job of a midfielder is to control the tempo of the game, win battles to provide a foundation to attack and transition play. People talk about crab etc, there is a time and place to make possession stick and not loose it, sadly its something we often lack. I would agree McCarthy lacks the vision of Arteta but his engine can speed up and slow the tempo of a game, he can drive and driving makes up yards, he battles and he presses. He is a midfielder of a particular skillset.

I appreciate what your saying but for me his skill set is too limited to allow him to be regarded as a quality player.
Yes he can drive the ball forward but he lacks the vision and /or the ability to see and implement the correct pass, instead he invariably opts for a sideways or backward pass thus squandering the advantage he has helped create.
I understand the idea of a defensive midfielder is to resist the opponent when he has the initiative but unless all midfielders are capable of not only winning the initiative but then exploiting it we run the risk of operating too often on the back foot. Which is why McCarthy ,and to a lesser extent Gana ,have their best games when we are playing superior sides.
I would prefer all our midfielders whether they are termed ‘defensive’ or otherwise to be able to play well offensively , or we waste a midfield place on what is really just a glorified defender which, in my opinion ,is what McCarthy really is.

 

[Efcjake]

Will he be the same after the broken leg, not sure myself !!

Hasn't been the same since his first season mate. Leg break or no leg break he's never matched that level since.

 

[Neiler]

I appreciate what your saying but for me his skill set is too limited to allow him to be regarded as a quality player.
Yes he can drive the ball forward but he lacks the vision and /or the ability to see and implement the correct pass, instead he invariably opts for a sideways or backward pass thus squandering the advantage he has helped create.
I understand the idea of a defensive midfielder is to resist the opponent when he has the initiative but unless all midfielders are capable of not only winning the initiative but then exploiting it we run the risk of operating too often on the back foot. Which is why McCarthy ,and to a lesser extent Gana ,have their best games when we are playing superior sides.
I would prefer all our midfielders whether they are termed ‘defensive’ or otherwise to be able to play well offensively , or we waste a midfield place on what is really just a glorified defender which, in my opinion ,is what McCarthy really is.

I'm not quite sure how you reached that assessment on his quality mate. He is one of the few players in our team who has won a domestic medal and did so in adverse circumstances given the team he was playing for. He was also a part of the Everton team who scored a record Premier league points total and was one of the most pivotal players in that side. Im not sure our position is one where we can discard so easily players of that caliber.

The lad has horrible luck with injuries, but we are not innocent in that cocktail either, playing him when he clearly wasn't fit. Thus was his importance to the side at a point. The question is can he regain his fitness. Based on his performances when he returned last year, i think he can. If we were to sell him, now is the worst time to actually do that and poor judgement.

I dont actually class, McCarthy as a defensive midfield player the way i would look at Gueye as an anchor, he is box to box a true no 8, engine legs, and a good skill set offensively and defensively with a decent appreciation of holding possession, driving, increasing the tempo and pressing. We have midfilders who can do bits of the afore mentioned and in areas of that skill set better then McCarthy but not with the same range of all.

I think you are being idealistic to be honest mate and no offence intended, football is a balanced game, you need to earn the right to get and hold possession, win battles and impose yourself before you can look at creating, you need players with those skill sets and McCarthy is one. You will get no where playing two Gomes's or Artetas in central midfield. Its an area of the pitch that requires balance and you need to compensate for flair and creativity. For example you wouldnt play Gomes at 6 or Gana at 10.

 

[Bob Elstone]

He’s a very limited technical footballer. The strength he had was the tenasious tackling which I would expect has probably slowed due to the horrendous injury.

He’s certainly not good enough for where we are aiming for.

Another midfielder who can’t pass forward with no vision whatsoever.

Happily get shut.

 

[dublinbluenose]

We did better in spite of McCarthy, not because of him. A certain Gareth Barry helped him look half decent

It was because of McCarthy's work rate, ball retention and ability to cover the whole middle of the pitch that we could play with Barry at the fulcrum of that midfield. It wasn't the 21 year old England international we signed. It was the 30 odd year old with the turning circumference of the the centre circle.

I'd love to see a run of games with a fit McCarthy, Gomes and Siggy.

 

[Bob Elstone]

It was because of McCarthy's work rate, ball retention and ability to cover the whole middle of the pitch that we could play with Barry at the fulcrum of that midfield. It wasn't the 21 year old England international we signed. It was the 30 odd year old with the turning circumference of the the centre circle.

I'd love to see a run of games with a fit McCarthy, Gomes and Siggy.

He broke his leg. Look at Coleman. Shadow of the player he once was.