Koeman clearly annoyed over McCarthy situation

Have to wonder what he (McCarthy) was thinking?

McCarthy has been increasingly marginalised by Koeman and obviously wanted to project himself as an international player. With Ireland totally weakened at midfield – missing Brady, for example – it was a perfect opportunity for him to shine in the international window.

What else was he supposed to do? Sit back, cry off, and end up on the bench – at best – for Everton?
He's obviously not Koeman's favorite, and may be looking for another club, but if I was him, I would have gone for it!

It was a big game for Ireland but idiotic that McCarthy was going to play. The lad has been struggling for a long time with his hamstring and every man and his dog could see how it would end if he tried to play. Well, expect McCarthy and O'Neill, of course. Dumb in the extreme.

Is Schneiderlin fit for the derby? – I hope one of him or James are fit.

Surely it should be the medical team ruling the player out. Given his history with this particular problem you'd think they would take every possible precaution.

He knows his body and has even under duress decided to play for ROI when he could have shown more back bone.

Being one of their better players it really wouldn't have affected his prospects.

Or perhaps James is resigned to the bit part he's getting under Koeman and decided the only shop window is the international one, which I could understand.

Either way it's highly likely he's done at Everton. Upgrade and move on.

Sure the Wales game was important for Ireland. But the player should feel some sense of responsibility to his club. O'Neill is obviously of the Walter Smith patch them up, send them out and don't worry about tomorrow mindset, but James is a grown adult he had to have some common sense.

If being some quasi Scottish/Irish braveheart cripple is so important to him, then he should go and join Brenda at Celtic.

...might be nearer to the truth than we know. The whole way this "Works" under FIFA/UEFA is simply not good enough. Easy to blame McCarthy. In the absence of a definitive, overarching medical "No", what is the player to do?

Unless he doesn't give a damn about either club or country and acts accordingly, he's on a hiding to nothing. Maybe he has pride in wanting to play for Ireland and either suspects or realizes better than we know, that turning down the invitation will harm his future chances.

It all needs sorting out properly from above, it's ridiculous. Koeman should now switch into Fergie mode until things are resolved.

You only need your grandparents or great grandparents to be from the country you choose to play for.

For example, Jack Charlton wanted to get Paul Gascoigne to play for Ireland (Google, as I can't link), due to his great grandmother being Irish.

IMHO, I think UEFA should arbitrate on such cases, as to whether the player is fit enough to play for his Country.

By the time Coleman is back in the side, hopefullly both O'Neill and his sidekick Keane will be sacked by then.

He's no world beater with an increasingly poor injury record post Wolfsburg, so you'd expect his wages and value to be put to better use elsewhere.

However, surely James must have been aware of this problem. His injury record is a real threat to his future, as an all action midfielder needs his hammies to be working properly.

I imagine he knows he will be out of the Everton door in the summer, and his long term relationship with O'Neill is now more important to him. I don't see Koeman giving him any more playing time this season.

Its very unlikely that McCarthy would start anyway, so he's rolled the dice and it's not worked out for him.

The 'Irish grandparents' thing; well that's just boring and ignorant.

Umm... pretty sure he has the kind of life that we can only dream of. what sort of life tops managing Everton for ٤ million a year?

He is correct in everything he says and has every right to be frustrated. If both Everton's and the Ireland's medical teams agree that he isn't fit to play, then it's bloody ridiculous to try and play him!

It doesn't matter if he does want to leave Everton. He is contracted to the club and should behave in a professional manner. It was an idiotic decision by O'Neill and McCarthy.

Whoever's selected, just please give 100% and turn up at the home of the RedShite... After all, doesn't any dog have it's day?

COYB... we're desparate!

He will be gone in the summer.

[Cue: dyspeptic, boggly-eyed, David Moyes glare]

"Goabshite"

This could be the reason for his many below par performances for Ireland and Everton. I don't think there will be many clubs wanting to sign him either with his record of niggling injuries.

The chuckle brothers, Mark Riding and Nicholas Ryan, with their dated comedy. He plays for Ireland. Define "Irish" whatever way you want. It's neither funny nor relevant.

I'd be very interested to know if Koeman is accurate when he says that he played against the Irish Medical Team's advice. That's very difficult to believe. A medic tells O'Neill that McCarthy shouldn't play and he picks him anyway? If true, then I would agree that that is out of order.

However, I think the opening piece should have included O'Neill's comments for balance. These were made before Koeman had his say:

“James wanted to play and he was fit to play” said O'Neill.

“Let's put a couple of things to bed. He didn't train the first day, which was nearly understandable. He trained the last couple of days, but he over-stretched in the warm up, felt something, and I didn't want to take the risk. We were guided by James.

“If you look, he wasn't been with us now for a long, long time. What he does at club level is something that's outside our jurisdiction and outside our control.

“I think that's something he would have to look at, if it is a hamstring problem that he's continually having, that's got to be addressed by him and his club more than anything else. We're trying to pick up the bits of this here, but it's not a fight.”

It was reported last week that O'Neill had tried and failed to make contact with Koeman but the Derry man said he would try to speak with the Everton manager again.

O'Neill replied: “I'll give him a shout. Seamus Coleman's injury was the most important thing of the weekend. If he doesn't want to talk, that's fine, no problem.

“The protocol is medical staff to medical staff phoning each other. I was a club manager and I never once received a call from an international manager about one of my players.

"Even though I picked up injuries, I accepted that as a fact, you curse your luck, but I never once picked up a call. But Everton have lost a really important player in Seamus.”

O'Neill's view is that he named the initial squad and included anyone he wanted that wasn't ruled out by a long-term injury or suspension. McCarthy arrived over and, ignoring the history of his hamstring(s), there's a chance he can play.

I asked it on another thread; what would you do in O'Neill's position? You've no affiliation with Everton or any other club, you've got an important game and you see McCarthy as pivotal to winning that game. If he's fit, you pick him.

With regards to his recent history, the problem is that it's not just his recent history. He's had hamstring injuries for ages it seems. How long does an international manager wait until James hasn't had an injury for a while? The game was last week. It was a very important game and he was required, if fit.

If fit, I stress.

If he did go against medical advice, then you're surely getting into negligence territory?

Koeman should address this issue head-on and refer him for specialist treatment over a prolonged period in order to resolve the issue once and for all.

McCarthy is, as posters here continually remind us, Everton's employee. He is also Everton's responsibility.

However, in this instance it looks to me as if McCarthy was keen to play as he knew Ireland were very short of midfield players and he wanted to give himself as much time as possible to try to play. He hadn't trained for the first day or two but then did train on the day before the game. Then, before the game he felt his hamstring was tight so he pulled out at the last minute, maybe knowing that he had a big game this weekend for his club.

If it was a friendly match like Belgium's last night or Ireland had lots of fit midfield players, he might not have tried so hard to make the starting team but alas he made the right choice in the end. I've a feeling we'll see him in the second half on Saturday.

So, either O'Neill and McCarthy ignored the advice of the medical teams, or Ireland's medical team disagreed with Everton's.

I don't think we can doubt Koeman's word that Everton's medical staff stated that he wasn't fit to play.

Hopefully we will see him okay for Saturday. Shame about Funes Mori because I think the competitive nature of both of these guys is what we need in a derby.

Although I do concede that over competitiveness is probably what got Funes Mori sent off before. He really does love the club though and that is what the badge-kissing was supposed to be telling us (John D).

How many times have we seen Rom kiss the badge?

I'm doubting what Koeman says about the Irish medical team in particular. I'm not sure when the Everton medics would have seen him last. Did they travel over in the days before the game?

Fuzzman, did Keane say Everton were a disgrace?

I understand his desire to play football but he is meant to be professional and he's plain stupid. Get rid.

Glad to see we are being linked with Gylfi Sigurdsson at Swansea and Hull's Maguire.

It would be sad to see McCarthy go as it was only a week or so ago where the manager was saying that his injury had to be sorted. He, McCarthy, brings something different in the midfield sector, just look at the difference in the flow of the games against Liverpool (Home) and Spurs (Away) when he was on the pitch.

He will surely be okay for Austria in June!!!!

Whether they hadn't assessed him for several days before the match is not necessarily relevant as they would be aware of his injury and what his treatment and timeline of recuperation should be. They would have known that it was not possible for his hamstrings to recover sufficiently to start against Wales.

If he hadn't pulled up during a light warm-up then he almost certainly would have after sprinting or lunging during the match. I think you are giving O'Neill far too much benefit of the doubt. It was a big game, he didn't have many options in midfield, so he took a desperate risk.

He has a duty of care to the players, and shouldn't have put his needs before the welfare of McCarthy.

Of course, I look at it from our perspective and have no care or concern for Ireland's football team (except the health of our players). Maybe I'm not in a position to be completely objective, but I certainly believe that this situation should have been avoided.

Part of me thinks that McCarthy shouldn't have been anywhere near the team to even be in the starting line up, the other part thinks that McCarthy would have been doing the same kind of running etc when training at Finch Farm.

Clearly O'Neill has listened to Jimmy... and Jimmy, at the slightest twinge, has pulled out.

After my initial anger, I'm thinking that it could have been exactly the same at Anfield; if he was to start, he may have pulled up then. He clearly wasn't doing anything more strenuous than stretching and short sprints.

I don't know anymore, my views change like the weather. O'Neill is still a bellend, though... that won't change!

Firstly, he is not under contract to play for the Republic of Ireland;

Secondly, he is under contract to make himself fit and always available to play for Everton; and

Thirdly, it is Everton who are paying him the wages that make him wealthy by ordinary people's standards.

Under these circumstances, Everton should fine him for deliberately making himself available to play for the Ireland when he was not fit to play, and now making himself unavailable to play for Everton, so has broken his contract with Everton.

Anyway, the latest is:

"To suggest that we ignored the advice of the our medical team is total rubbish," the source said. "Mr Koeman needs to check his facts before he says such things."

We understand O'Neill tried to contact Koeman on several occasions before Christmas after their latest fall-out. However, Koeman failed to return his calls.

Behind the scenes the FAI are frustrated that by what they see as Koeman's unwillingness to talk to them, whilst being willing to discuss his concerns with the media.

Chris, the best I think the Everton medical team would have done was to say that it'd be tight for him to make the game. I think it's clear that he must've been close having trained normally on the Wednesday and Thursday.

McCarthy is a combative midfielder and by the very nature of his game he is required to cover a lot of ground, to chase and harass the opposition. He clearly needs his hamstring in working order to be able to achieve this.

What we have is the players natural enthusiasm to play against Wales, coupled with Martin O'Neill's stance of matchday is all that matters (sod the long term consequences) and the other factor of Roy "bully boy" Keano leaning on the lad. This all leads to McCarthy putting himself forward to play.

The blame lies squarely with us. If there is any doubt about McCarthy's fitness Everton should just say "No he isn't meeting up with the squad and he's not coming." This then negates all this rubbish. The fact that WE LET HIM join the squad indicates he was nearing fitness.

One thinks of Ferguson and Wenger (in his prime) and Mourinho in particular, forever complaining and in the end getting what they want. It would suggest that we have someone arrogant and single-minded in charge and that will do for me.

Because of the fiasco that used to go on were a club not willing to risk a player getting injured playing for his Country. They would get the club doctor to send a letter saying why the player could not be released because of x,y or z, and the Countries had to accept this. But quite frequently that injured player turned out 2 days later for his club. So FIFA decided that if a Country selected a player then despite what his club may think he had to attend and be examined by the Countries doctors.

But just like the club doctors were put under pressure from the manager to send a letter to say he wasnt fit when he was. I can well imagine that the doctor with the Country involved will be under pressure from the Countries manager to say he is fit.

So you end up with a situation that happened to McCarthy. This problem needs sorting, but easier said than done I fear.

This rule was brought in because too many clubs were saying player A is injured and can't travel to a midweek international. Only for the player to turn out for club on Saturday fit as a fiddle. We would have been fined by UEFA if we prevented him from joining the squad.

Only James McCarthy will know if he felt fully fit or felt under pressure to play.

But it's Keane's comment about Everton that was a disgrace according to Brian. Read it again:

"Roy Keane's statements a few months back about our club were a disgrace and added to the tension between the two parties."

I can't get mad at a player who wants to play; Club or country.

But this kid has a lot of miles, sprinting ones, on his tires; just turned 26 or not.

If he wants to continue as a big-league professional, someone close to him (agent, family, confidant, all three) needs to sit him down and give him a talking to.

Because his desire to play, which I admire, is writing checks his hamstrings can't cover anymore.

Steavey, it now seems there's a least some doubt as to what Koeman said about the medical staff.

As I said to Chris, when did they say he couldn't play. Wasn't there time to recover considering he trained for two days before the game?

Apart from that, I can't imagine it's in Everton's interests to start fining players for such actions.

It stinks especially with the derby on Saturday and Schneiderlin very doubtful. The last thing we need is Barry in midfield against the RedShite, he was destroyed when he came on at Goodison.

In-between his injuries he was always available for Croatia, and played many games whilst not being playing for us. Somehow he was fit for them, but not for us.

I think part of the McCarthy issue stems from the bizarre Sissoko transfer farce back in the summer, and Moshiri's statement afterwards. I imagine he wants out and is looking out for himself. But, the seeming country over club preference may have backfired for him as other interested clubs may see this as an issue that they may face if they sign him.

Not sure if he is okay to play, whether there is more detailed prognosis, whether he is in contention for the Derby, or is more out for the bulk of the rest season?

If he said no, Ireland are still entitled to fly him over and the Irish medical team assess his fitness, which they have done previously with other players, under Fifa rules.

Regarding game time, Koeman changed his opinion of Macca, and when fit, played him, and said he was the future of the club, but this might put a damper on that.

Koeman is spot-on here. What I don't get is people who bang on about how good James McCarthy is. He's had about two good games in two years. The lad isn't good enough!

Which is why (a) McCarthy wanted to play in an international; (b) Lukaku won't sign a new contract; and (c) Ronnie will move on when (or if?) a bigger club comes his way.

Brian Murray @ 27 'Other people's battles'!! You should be ashamed of yourself. I knew someone that died that day. In fact 96 people, mostly from our area died that day. It's not about football, it's about the disgusting cover up of those deaths by a cruel establishment, and much more important than an international game.

How many times did Giggs go against his manager and medical team, that being from a player who always played in the following match for Man Utd?

When Ronnie spoke to McCarthy, that should have been the end of it; instead, he chose otherwise and not for the first time.

Expect McCarthy or be running out in a Barcode top next season; he's pissed on his chips at Everton.

By the way, I am still expecting Mr O'Neill and his world renowned number two, Mr Keane, to pick Seamus Coleman in the next squad – just to piss Koeman off a bit more!

The other point that's being overlooked here is the fact that Seamus Coleman & Macca are best friends. Seamie is the passionate Irish captain and I'm sure Macca felt an obligation to play as a result.

Personally, I hope he stays. He is definitely one of our top 4 midfielders; if he goes, you can be sure the injury will be sorted and he will play every week!

Ignorant? Because someone offers a different opinion? Are you going to challenge my knowledge of Association Football as well?

The discussion is about James McCarthy so therefore he may well be singled out. Find whatever excuses you want but unfortunately the number of good performances McCarthy has produced are very few. I would suggest that is why he is not first choice – but perhaps you have a less ignorant reason.

I agree James McCarthy hasn't been great for a good while. As a fan of his I think he has been very good since the Arsenal home game, unfortunately he can't get a good run in the team because of his hamstring problems, when he has played he looks more like the player he was in his first season here, when I think a lot of fans thought he was vital to the team.

It also looked like Koeman was prepared to give him a go in the team but these injuries and what has happened in the International scene with Eire seems to have changed things.

I still think there is a very good player there in James and I hope he can overcome these problems, both injuries and the Irish situation, and stay with Everton. I've got to admit, it doesn't look likely but I wish James well for the future.

I don't think he would though. Is he not behind Schneiderlin, Davies and Gueye?

As I said earlier, I like him so it is nothing personal. I met him at one of the lunches when he was Player of the Month in Martinez's first season and he was a credit to the club. I just don't think he makes the first 11.

At the end of the day, the only person who keeps breaking down, is the player himself, and although I'm sure both Martin O'Neill, and Roy Keane, can be very persuasive, McCarthy simply has to start looking after himself a lot more in this type of situation.

Just a bit of useless information: Harry Arter missed the Irish game because of injury, and listening to Eddie Howe, he's fit for tomorrow?

And the original row between Koeman and O'Neill, when he played Macca in the two games back to back, Arter was also missing, and played the following Saturday with Bournemouth. Maybe O'Neill doesn't rate him, but one rule for one?

Kim,

Forgetting this is a McCarthy thread for a moment; can I ask how you know Funes Mori not only 'loves the club' but really loves it? How has he demonstrated such depth of emotional attachment?

By his words?

In that case, it can't be a 'forever' love, seen as though as soon as he was dropped from the side for a few games he started making noises about moving onto the next one: “I'll see how things are going, because if I don't play I will look for a way out to have that continuity of which we spoke....I need continuity. And to play… at Everton or elsewhere.”  

It can't be his 'one true love', in a footballing sense, since he's already sworn fealty to another: "Of course it will happen in the future but I'm already thinking about moving back to River."

By his actions then? Like going out and doing the job he's paid handsomely for? Surely the fact money changes hands eliminates 'love' from the equation, making him more hooker than hubby? I suppose it's possible he could be one of those fairy-tale 'hooker with a heart' types who fall head over heels for somebody paying them for their services, but beyond a penchant for wearing thigh-high stockings I've not noticed much particularly 'Pretty Woman' about Funes Mori.

Which leaves what? Kissing the badge (or to be exact, kissing the badge after being a bit of a bad cock in a derby defeat)?

To a modern day footballer it's a gesture as meaningful as a token marriage proposal to a granny on holiday in Greece, from a guy half her age, after he's blown his muck in her and bought her a kebab. It serves no real purpose other than placating a (cash) cow so he can carry on milking it guilt free in the future.
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"He said liver-spots and labia like the mangled wings of a Leisler bat are amongst the top 168 attributes Greek men consider aesthetically appealing in a prospective bride. Sadly for me, a moustache just missed out, but he said that didn't matter to him because if he ever HAD to shag a man (under penalty of death, he was sure to stress) it would surely be Magnum from Magnum  P.I and if he HAD to shag a second man it would  probably be Jonathan Higgins III.... from Magnum P.I .....and if he was going to be tackling the two of them then...fuck it...you might as well chuck co-star and 'ace chopper pilot' TC Calvin into the mix for a 'Mag'nificent hairy hat-trick. 

Well, after hearing this, tears of sheer joy slalomed along my saggy jowls, only slowing to a trickle when he clutched my hand tightly to his chest and whispered softly into my ear, "Now then, about that car you promised to buy me ":

Link

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Kissing the badge? In the words of Ash Williams from Army Of Darkness: "That's just what we call 'pillow talk', baby. That's all." 

Pillow talk. After accidentally popping one off in the eye of every watching Evertonian. 

Damian Wilde,

Or this guy -(as I like to imagine you): 

Link

You've used that line (or some variation of it) almost as much as you've used the "Barkley is finished", "Barkley is the worst player I've ever seen", "Barkley caused my caravan to go *BOOM* because I thought the faint smell of gas was a fart he'd deliberately wafted my way to put me off the scent of his shite performances" bollocks by this point.

Still, I suppose it keeps up your 100% record of getting everything arse about face.

Damian Wilde: "Why is it you never see that John Daley and Eugene Ruane in the same place at the same time?"

Everybody else: "Because one of them is normally stood right behind you doing the hand gesture, Damian"

Link

That, frankly, is not what a club with powerful ambitions should tolerate from their players.

If he can't get his head around such simple facts, then he has plainly illustrated by his own actions that he lacks what is essential in our future.

Dodgy leg? Why? Trying to play against medical advice is a major factor.
Get shut.