James McCarthy

[Zatara]

Thats naughty Ijjy...he clearly does a great deal more than that and personally if he continues to do so i would be happy with him passing the ball onto more creative outlets such as Barkley.

The key for me is gradually replacing Barry for Besic and/or moving Barkley back. I think that will help McCarthy, whether it helps the team im not sure

So he should just tackle? And that's it?

 

[Jimmywhack]

Been gash lately like, Man U game he looked knackered

 

[Huyton Layne]

Hi James. Did you play today? No one seems to have noticed and commented in your thread.

 

[SpurtingLesbian]

Hi James. Did you play today? No one seems to have noticed and commented in your thread.

Kept Sanchez quiet all game, was good enough covering Coleman that Arsenal didn't bother attacking down their left and targeted Galloway instead.
Did his job quietly and efficiently, standard performance really from him.

What's your problem with him?

 

[oldblue]

Kept Sanchez quiet all game, was good enough covering Coleman that Arsenal didn't bother attacking down their left and targeted Galloway instead.
Did his job quietly and efficiently, standard performance really from him.

What's your problem with him?

Exactly. Does his job pretty much every time for me. When the team is clicking he has the freedom to do more but otherwise he will cover where needed.
Players who can do all this and still regularly push forward and create are a very rare breed.
Coleman for me is in much more worrying form over last season or so. If we see his runs forward as so important that we have a player willing to cover then he needs to deliver more.

 

[Saint Domingo]

See how Pellegrini dropped Kompany, Van Gaal dropped RVP, Mourinho drops Hazard? That's what top managers do, they drop players out of form. McCarthy should have been benched weeks ago. Has not been in any type of form since very early 14/15.

 

[dannyboy]

I don't buy into this does the work you don't notice nonsense. Roy Keane played a similar role and you always knew he was very much on the pitch.

McCarthy isn't a bad player but how overrated he is really does blur the expectations people have of our team. I don't think he offers the defence brilliant protection, in fact I think our back 4 is one of the more vulnerable in the league. His passing is limited and his goal record speaks for itself.

 

[Abraders]

Losing his way imo but I can't decide if it's because he's playing alongside Barry. Not knocking Barry cos he's actually been alright, but he's supposed to offer defence to our back 4 and i'm certain McCarthy could do that without his help, allowing Barry's slot to be filled by Barkley for example playing as a deep playmaker and have Mirallas etc further forward.

Think James really just needs these couple of games without Barry to see if he's in-form or not,

 

[Abraders]

would agree except Barry covers more ground than Jamesey does.

Bobby went into this season saying he was going to rest Barry at times to give him a breather and let Besic have some game time to progress. Now that Besic is back to full fitness I hope we'll see a bit more of him soon either along side McCarthy (as you'd think) or flipping the triangle, alongside a slightly withdrawn Barkley (with McCarthy behind) with two wingers pushing forward more.

The annoying thing is that this was meant to happen last year. Almost certain Bobby said something like he didn't want to play Barry in 2 games in a row so often etc, and was due to injuries - both him and Bobby were 'surprised' at how much he played last year

 

[CahillsCornerFlag]

Have to say that Besic should be in the team ahead of him, alongside Barry. I've loved James up until this season but he hasn't kicked on at all, in fact he's actually gotten worse.

Spurs wanted him for about £25m last summer, wouldn't have been bad business in hindsight.

 

[sportbillyblue]

I don't buy into this does the work you don't notice nonsense. Roy Keane played a similar role and you always knew he was very much on the pitch.

McCarthy isn't a bad player but how overrated he is really does blur the expectations people have of our team. I don't think he offers the defence brilliant protection, in fact I think our back 4 is one of the more vulnerable in the league. His passing is limited and his goal record speaks for itself.

absolutely this.

I thought he spent the first half nullifying Carzola hence why he was invisible then 2nd. half stopped doing that for some reason became more apparent and minimally effective but less effective than Carzola became. If he was covering Sanchez then he didn't do a very good job .. whilst offering very little else.

He looked good alongside Barry 2013/4 as Barry had a great season and baby sat him, he just didn't push on from there. It will be interesting to see how he shapes up in Barry's absence.

Any comparisons with Roy Keane are woefully wrong. We wish.

 

[daz4matty]

The tactics do this guy no favours.
He spends a lot of the game tracking back and putting out fires.

 

[BlueLlama]

The tactics do this guy no favours.
He spends a lot of the game tracking back and putting out fires.

This.

He does all the dull but important stuff. He hasnt been his best but not as bad as some are making out here. The internationals have taken their toll a bit. Lads still a class act.

 

[Joey66]

One nice cross to the back post ion which unfortunately Galloway got it wrong - thats all he created Barry and MaCarthy are in each others way - Barry though seems to do mopre tires and gets sent off his first booking was harsh maybe McCarthy with a fitter other midfielder may be better?

 

[mlyons]

Barry's first booking wasn't harsh. He pulled back a player who had gone past him. That's always a yellow.

It was unnecessary, since the back line was already set up behind him and there weren't any other attackers in dangerous positions, but it certainly wasn't harsh.