McCarthy and Bolasie play in U23s draw

I just hope Allardyce doesn't play them too early. A few U23 games might be more beneficial to them and the team.

I fear for Macca though; he's been plagued with injuries for so long, I sometimes forget he is another option. He desperately needs an injury-free period to get his game back.

As Dave says, it would be great for them personally and us as a club to see them back firing on all cylinders.

He seems to be so ignited by National games, that he could care less about being fit for his actual employer...

As he's an almost constantly injured player on our books, I hope we can sell him to anyone in January! I'd have loved to keep his skills when he was working as intended, though!

Our club comes first & foremost!

As an aside, I have just been watching Sandro Ramirez - Malaga goals, skills and assists on YouTube. Where on earth has that lad gone? What have we done to him?

Yes, I know you can view it like that. But I'm actually happy to see him back! But for how long?

Too often he's seemingly/reportedly been the one that volunteered for national duty, well before he should have been ready! Or if he was, he got injured by pure bad luck! Again!

I'd love our old McCarthy back, but I have given up on him being free of injury for more than maybe 25% of the games each season...

The numbers surprised me as it feels like he has been much scarcer. He is yet to appear this season. I still think get rid. We need to be more ruthless as a club. Whether we like it or not, it's business.

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/31281/History/James-McCarthy

I also hope that Bolasie and McCarthy aren't rushed back – it would be terrible if they had a recurrence.

I think McCarthy may benefit from Sam Allardyce's training methods.

McCarthy and Bolasie being available for selection can only be a good thing.

Whilst we're on the topic of injuries, any word on Funes Mori? Seems like he won't play a game this season.

At least McCarthy does put a shift in, and knows which direction we are playing, in both halves!

Admittedly again, another player, we (Martinez) paid well over the odds for but, if fit, at least displays some desire to win.

He won't risk bringing them back too early.

But, even if Bolasie can be on the bench, it will be a huge boost for him and the team.

The reality is though that long-term injuries take their toll and are especially likely to diminish the players pace and intensity, two defining characteristics for those players.

I'm sure they will not be rushed back, especially as our situation is a little more relaxed than it was a few weeks back. I would quite like to see Sandro and Klaassen given some game time soon and might advocate this team vs Swansea:

Pickford
Kenny Holgate Williams Martina
Klaassen Gueye Rooney
Sandro Calvert-Lewin Sigurdsson

I imagine Swansea will sit back a bit so pace is less crucial though you could start Lookman. Maybe best to keep an unchanged team but we'll have to use our squad a bit more over Xmas and this seems a good game to make a few changes.

Intentionally or not, I think you have hit upon the one liner that for me sums up Allardyce: "He knows what he is doing..."

That ability comes with experience. Many younger managers also do have the skills, whether natural or learned, such as motivational, inspirational, tactical, psychological, interpersonal, etc, and most have one or two particular aspects of the job which are of a particular / personal interest, such as Martinez with his physiotherapy qualification. Although you would never have guessed that given the history of the soft tissue injuriess experienced!

Sam's interest in state of the art technology could be an area where he gains an advantage to benefit the Club.

What underlies my view is (as others have noticed), is his after match comments have nearly always struck a chord with a lot of supporters. He is always seeming to say the right thing. That with his laid back style of delivery, no waffle, no innuendos, just straight talking, will definitely inspire a respectful confidence in his messages.

I was anti-Allardyce previously, but I think his comments regarding McCarthy, as well as his management of the psycho-physical aspects might just bring a McCarthy of old back into the squad / team. His form in his first season was one reason why we got to 5th and I for one would love to see him performing at his best once again.

I agree 100% with you – I too was anti-Allardyce. However, when I heard that he was bringing Shakespeare & Sammy Lee with him. I actually got quite excited.

They have a proper team, where responsibility ultimately falls on Allardyce, but the unit is very strong and experienced and know what they're doing.

Allardyce himself has surprised me with the intelligence of his talking and how he subtlety motivates and gives confidence to players.

Furthermore, with regards to getting in a proper nutritionist & addressing the injuries through technology – that is a big plus that I thought he would never bring in.

Hopefully his recovery has been managed better this time and I for one would like him on the pitch at Anfield in early January.

Also Luke Shaw is available apparently; not everyone's cup of tea but at least that's his position and Martina will undoubtedly be targeted in that game.

Come on, Yannick, prove me wrong.

The team has been grinding out points without being convincing but, with Rooney's contributions, there is always hope of a point or three. Is it only the Gunners game that he scored and the Blues lost?

I know it does no good to look back, and try to score retrospective points, but his general performance as a "manager of men" must rank as one of the worst in a high profile industry ever.

Pity the poor club, or country, who he ends up with next. Perhaps he may reflect upon where he went wrong, but with his ego... probably not.

I have heard comments that Sam has an ego. Probability is that behind the scenes if not in front of them, that every high profile manager has one; must go with the territory I suppose.

It will be interesting to see how he deals with the Swansea game. This must be the first under his tenure where we are the clear favorites to win! A different mind-set may be called for?

Macca can do? Gana seems to be near the top or tops the most tackles stats a game etc, and he is rarely injured. Never heard anyone mention James in that regard. Not trying to turn this in a Macca v Gueye debate and I like Macca, when he plays, but therein lies the point.

It was said he hurt his knee playing for Argentina at the end of last season. He missed the last 5-10 games. Then he had a knee op and was going to do pre-season. Next thing, he broke down and had a further knee op. The club announced the knee was in a bad way and that he would be out for a further 9 months effectively ruling him out for the season. I've seen no updates since but, bearing in mind the significance of the injury, I wasn't going to look until spring at the earliest.

He must have spent 2 full seasons on the treatment table since we signed him. But who would buy him? We can't rely on crocks and he is one of the worst I've ever known. Shame as he could've been a big player for us.

Remember all, just 6 more wins to safety. That's what the last panic was all about wasn't it? Safety?

Possibly a forewarning for Monday Night, never under-estimate the opposition – not that I think Sam would, especially at home, still a caveat though!

Macca can do WHAT instead of Gana?

Yannick would be better threat up front than WHO?

Please explain these two meaningless statements.

McCarthy for me needs to be moved on at the end of the season; maybe he can follow Martin O'Neill to his next managerial appointment or carry Roy Keane's bags for him.

The year we finished 5th, with a record 72 points, is something just so easily dismissed by most on here. It was one hell of a season. Was it down to Martinez' tactics? Well it seems the majority of people on here (laughably) have him down as our worst ever manager.

So if it was a fluke, then that would be reflected in the goal difference, a load of lucky single goal wins would have an abnormally low goal difference for our position, such as the year we got 4th with a negative goal difference. No, we had a +22 goal difference. Only the teams above us won more, or lost less. Only Man Utd scored more below us, and only two teams in the league conceded less.

So it must be the players then. Martinez brought in four main first team players: Lukaku, Barry, McCarthy and to an extent Barkley. Lukaku was just 20/21 that season and was a long way off the player who left us last season, scoring 10 less goals. And if it was really down to Lukaku and only Lukaku, why did Chelsea (who still owned him at this point) agree to sell him to us? Could it be he, as I said, still had a lot of developing to do?

Barkley was 19, and it was probably his best ever season, but did he do it single-handedly? Or was it down to a renaissance from Gareth Barry, who may have had the best season of his career; as good as he was – he was hardly winning all the headlines.

Barkley and Lukaku won the majority of the headlines. But there was one player who was being linked with a move away from us, and to the big 4, and that was James McCarthy.

What can McCarthy do that Gueye cannot? He can run a game. He can dominate the opposition midfield for a full 90 minutes. Barry was a complimentary player and they suited each other's games perfectly, no doubt about that. But Barry couldn't press, it was McCarthy who got about the opposition pressing all over the pitch, whilst Barry sat in. McCarthy might not be able to hit the 60-yard passes Barry could but it was he who made Everton tick.

People often say what went wrong in the second and the third season of Martinez, and I always say injury to James McCarthy. Watch any game from that first season, even the bad ones, watch how McCarthy gets after the opposition, and then watch what McCarthy does that Gueye cannot. He wins it, he passes it very quickly to Barry, and he gets forward. Barry gets the ball forwards and McCarthy joins the attack. We were lightning fast in the transition and that is how McCarthy ran the game, and that is the difference between Gueye and McCarthy. One is a one-dimensional player, the other is a box-to-box midfielder with a much better all round game.

Someone posted just how many games McCarthy played in the second and third season and expressed their surprise. That explains it all. He was injured for most of the season, yet he missed only 10 games the second season and 9 the third. What that does not tell you is how many games he played whilst injured, how many times he limped off, and how much damage he did to himself.

Make no mistake about it. That season, 2013-14, was the best season we have had since 1987, not just in terms of points, but in terms of performance, and a lot of that was down to James McCarthy and his ability to win the ball and snap the passes and make us transition from defence into attack very quickly.

He was one hell of a player, he's only 27, but I doubt he will ever reach that level of fitness or performance ever again. He's been a massive loss.

But once again Barkley's name gets brought up on this thread,as a player that might improve our situation!

If you're reading, Bill Kenwright, I personally will drive Ross to London free of charge. I'll drop him off at Oxford Circus, and he can go where he wants from there, I really don't care. The prospect of wasting more games on his "potential" worries me more than anything.

That is more than a subjective view,it's bordering on fantasy. I used to watch McCarthy in crucial games and games against the better teams. He went missing and hid; he'd place himself in areas where he was unlikely to receive the ball.

Championship player at best and never likely to replace Gueye now.

He wasn't even 16 years old when he first played for Hamilton Academical. In 3 seasons, he clocked up 110 appearances for them, winning the Scottish Young Player of the Year award at such an unfashionable club in his final season with them, aged 18.

He was still 4 months shy of his 19th birthday when he moved to Wigan where he played 133 times in 5 seasons.

So when he joined Everton, aged just 23, he already had nearly 250 senior league games in his legs, plus another 22 games for the Ireland full national side, plus another 14 games in the various national junior levels.

That's 279 senior games to his name before he joined Everton. Many professional footballers chalk up that number of games over a whole career of 10-15 years.

Like another (northern) Irishman and ex-Evertonian, Norman Whiteside, I believe James McCarthy played too many senior games, too early, and his body is now paying the price for it.

If fit and consistently available, playing to the standards he is capable of, he would be a shoe-in in a Sam Allardyce team.

We have 5 games in 15 days. If you think we can play the same XI throughout then I beg to differ. This seems like a good game to try one or two squad members to me though I appreciate it's not ideal to interrupt momentum.

I really hope he makes a full recovery as I think that when he is fit, he is the best player in his position.

I can't understand the criticism of James McCarthy wanting to play for Ireland, while others are hoping Ross gets games under his belt to play for England in the World Cup.

The player was overused. By all accounts Sam Allardyce is a fan of Sports Science, so hopefully will have a better handle than Physio Martinez on how to manage fatigue and injury

Off Topic, but apparently we're considering buying a left back Luke Shaw in the window. As Callum Connolly has scored another goal for Ipswich, I wonder can we recall him from loan? He's on a similar career trajectory as Jonjoe Kenny.

Injuries happen during training all the time, everywhere, in every sport. It is while you are pushing your body to strengthen it that injuries occur. No club has control over that. The only thing that can be controlled to some extent is the rehabilitation.

Spot on about McCarthy. People seem to forget how good he was, and hopefully Sam and his staff can sort out his hamstring. If he can overcome the injury, we'll have a fresh and rejuvenated player, who will make a huge difference in the middle of the park.

In respect of McCarthy you state “He is yet to appear this season.”

He played 64 mins against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, and in my opinion played well.

Gentlemen our comments in regard of players trying their best for EFC should afford them the respect they deserve. Players do not get injured on purpose and are no doubt far more frustrated with their situation than we are. Emotive tendentious language has to be avoided when commenting on players livelihoods.

If there is one player we should try to move on is Schneiderlin – his lack of effort is disrespectful to the club and supporters.

Proper preparation of the person in terms of balanced muscle groups, skeletal balance and not over compensating etc due to long term physical habits is one way of avoiding some of the muscle injuries.

The skeletal balance as well helps as does balancing aerobic stamina exercise and the anaerobic sprint exercises.

Quite often Martinez, play with the ball philosophy, builds certain muscle groups and passing style stamina – when taken to a level of overload and even to a level of fatigue then the physiology and the unbalanced loads let in the weakness, eg, to hard sprinting loads on the likes of McCarthy with his hamstrings.

Australian Rugby League have a lot of sprint work to prepare the body for anaerobic explosions and have less hamstring injuries.

I saw someone talking about Martinez running James McCarthy into the ground – it is when fatigued bodies on the aerobic side of things then gets over stressed with anaerobic over loading that injuries happen.

Hope that helps a little. Sam Allardyce and his more scientific approach and team will help us move into a better prepared and less injury environment.

And my point remains, at what point does the club say it's time to sell? I am not questioning his ability and his meager 'livelihood'. Nor am I questioning his effort or using tendentious language.

Someone mentioned that his regular starts in his second and third seasons explains it all. It merely highlights that since then, he has been missing far too much and what I was trying to state.

I hope he gets fit and stays fit, but the club needs to avoid another Gibson scenario. It's not like we are billionaires now, is it?

I remember we beat Southampton around Xmas during that first Martinez season, with McCarthy bursting forward to create the winner, and also thought Schneiderlin, was very good for The Saints, that day.

Phil Walling, said some time ago that Mourinho only sold Morgan to us because his legs have gone, and when I remember that game, I think Phil, and Jose might just be right!

What are you actually thinking here? There's no sudden fast-forward going on with these players.

There is no guarantee that sitting out an extra month would have guaranteed he didn't get the same injury in the same timespan after returning. As was mentioned before, if there is an underlying injury that is causing an imbalance, the hamstring can heal perfectly and then get re-injured. A spinal issue is often a cause of hamstring issues, but it's difficult to diagnose in some cases and difficult to treat in others.

I think there's a lesson here, though I'm not entirely sure, what it is!

McCarthy was never more than solid. Never sure what he was supposed to be doing really. He didn't get forward enough to support/create and often let people get past him on our right before waking up and racing back. Sometimes he caught up, most often not. Probably better than Schneiderlin though.

Even though I agree with their sentiments, how can we keep a player who can't play more than three proper games before getting injured long term? We pay his full season wages which could be used for a new player or for someone who plays for this club for an entire season, or put into the academies or loans.

It's like working for two months and still getting paid a full year's salary for doing nothing for the other 10 months.

"What can McCarthy do that Gueye cannot? He can run a game. He can dominate the opposition midfield for a full 90 minutes."

Run a game? Never once did James run a game. I'm happy to be convinced otherwise by you, though. What game Everton played, ever, where the game-end consensus was that McCarthy "ran the game?" Come on, now.

"Barry was a complimentary player and they suited each other's games perfectly, no doubt about that."

That they complimented one another is true. But when the entire history of English footy is recorded and studied, nowhere will it indicate that when Barry and James played midfield for Everton Football Club, that Gareth Barry was the "complimentary player" to James McCarthy. For God's sake!

"But Barry couldn't press, it was McCarthy who got about the opposition pressing all over the pitch, whilst Barry sat in."

Gareth could and did routinely press. He did it every game he played; including last season. His problem, which you described as "couldn't press" was with a fast opponent coming right at him.

As for McCarthy "pressing all over the pitch"? What pitch? Ever? He went where Barry told him to, then passed it to Barry. You must be forgetting young James being torn apart in here for his square or reverse passes he became renowned/vilified for. Game after game.

"McCarthy might not be able to hit the 60-yard passes Barry could but it was he who made Everton tick."

He never made Everton tick. Even in that first season. He did work his socks off playing for the first big Club signed him. That he did.

Instead of finding himself toiling away in the Championship, he tripped and fell into a first-rate Club. And pulled his weight when given the chance. Good on him.

He's a fine pro. Did his job well when first in. I like him still. Hope he does come back.

But the Club headed South in a hurry under Roberto because he was a shit manager. Google Osman's book. That will explain why we fell fast under Martinez.

That we fell as we did under Roberto because Macca's legs wouldn't hold up simply isn't true.

I had to look up the word 'tendentious": 'Expressing or intending to promote a particular cause or point of view, especially a controversial one.' If you find 'get rid' insulting, offensive, or as you put it, 'Emotive tendentious language' then all I can say is 'semantics'.

I would suggest that McCarthy is simply prone to injury as many players have been over the years – the question of 'why' is open to debate of course, but to simply say he was rushed back every time seems unlikely to me.

Someone mentioned he played a lot of games when he was young, which seems like a more likely explanation – or he could simply be prone to injury, in part due to the way he plays, and the rest due to other factors unknown. I played sports all my life and I've had 6 different surgeries, broken almost literally every bone in my body and spent probably years not being able to take part as a result.

Why was I injured all the time when my friends/team mates weren't? Well I was pretty reckless in my attitude to skating, climbing, football, cycling etc which meant I got hurt a lot – was I rushed back and therefore more likely to get injured again? No, not at all.

Tony Abrahams (#53) – you might be right in suggesting that Schneiderlin's legs "have gone" but the guy is only 28 now and would have been under 27 when first managed by Mourinho. He hasn't played a massive number of games (like for example Gareth Barry, Wayne Rooney etc) so why would his legs have gone at such an early age?

As I say, you might well be right, Tony, but for me, Schneiderlin's problems are in his head.

It's his lack of willingness to run forward with the ball at his feet which is the most frustrating thing to watch, so it's possible given his age, and the fact you don't really need legs to do this, that it might just be in his head?

He looked a good player when he first came, got closer to his opponent, and read the game really well to gain a lot of ball, on the blind side, but he doesn't look like he wants to play anymore, which is a sin for any midfielder?

He's on a contract to 2021 so we shouldn't be writing him off just yet and he must be one of those in the mix for a slot in front if the back four. He's certainly a longer way down the fitness route than James McCarthy.

How about the derby that we should have won, when he was 'running' the game by dominating Liverpool's midfield, until he went off injured, and we lost.

Also, we battered Bournemouth in the first half with James scoring and setting up Lukaku's first. He went off and they got back into the game but faded later and we finished them off on the break.

I can't stand fans having a go at players who give 100%. Leave that for the skivers and shirkers, not the likes of McCarthy, who leaves everything on the pitch.

Mystifying because as you say we know he's better than that and put in some great performances last season.

Just goes to show they're human after all!

After we signed Barry, was it on deadline day of the transfer season, he was given the role of coming back and getting the ball off Howard. He became the main man, the ball player coming out of defence and then backing the play up.

James McCarthy was the grafter who constantly won the ball back after we lost it and started the attacks going again, James, give Barry his due by all means but don't say James McCarthy didn't play a very big part in that good season for Everton.

I would say he was rushed back or played when he wasn't 100% fit by Martinez in the following seasons.

Yes he hasn't been the same since except for when became back last season versus Arsenal, when he did run the game, physically and verbally in a 2-1 win, he was doing the same against Liverpool when unfortunately his hamstring went again, and he hasn't been properly fit since.

I don't think he is unfit on purpose and maybe he will never get back to fitness again. I think that will be a big loss to Everton.

Agree. The Stracq remains one of my favorites. Always bothers me when someone knocks him.

But if you're applying the above to me, you must not have read my post clearly. I complimented James several times for what he brings to the table.

But running the game, any game since he's been at Everton? Never happened, including the games you mentioned above. He didn't "run" those games.

He is what he is (or was what he was, if his injury form holds), a committed, hard-charging, hard-running player you like to see in your team. Good stuff and good on him.

But the next game he "runs" for Everton will be his first. And I'll be applauding along with you and everyone else.

What I won't be doing is holding my breath in anticipation. This is his 9th season in the Premier League. He's flat not a player going to run a game.

As long as he's healthy and doing what he does best, I'm happy.

That's easy. I didn't say it.

Pirlo, my favourite all time player, used to run games from his own half while sitting in a deck chair smoking a cigar.

Will we every learn?

There is only one way to run a game. That is the player who dictates the pace of the play. Slows it down when he chooses and quicken it up when he chooses.

Gerrard, Lampard etc could never run a game; Scholes, Xavi, Iniesta could.

You think he ran those games, I concede just for the point of argument.

You, I, and everyone knows what "He ran the game" means and which players that term is associated with: a select few. None named McCarthy.

As I mentioned and am happy to repeat, I like James. I like and enjoy the energy and commitment he brings to the game.

Let me be wrong, but I think he's washed up. Martinez didn't look after him. I can't prove it, of course, but will always believe Roberto shoved him out there in the Europa when his hamstring wasn't fully healed.

What, maybe 15 minutes into the game, he's walking with one hand rubbing that hamstring. Been the ruin of him since.

Anyway, if we're serious about making some noise in the Premier League, we need better midfielders than James McCarthy.

God bless him.

Anyway James I think we will agree that we will be both happy if Everton win a trophy soon with or without James McCarthy. I hope it is with him and I know you would not begrudge James picking up a medal with the Blues. Thanks again, James, for your reply.

I honestly think that the role he's playing is already getting done properly off Gueye, who now seems to have rediscovered his discipline, and its now leaving us a man down further up the pitch.

I would like to see Sigurdsson, stop getting wasted out-wide, bring in someone who finds it natural to play on the wing, and this should turn us into a much more attacking unit, and stop Calvert Lewis, getting-so isolated when we attack.

I honestly think/hope that Sammy Lee, will have been looking at Morgan, and will hopefully be getting inside his head, otherwise I can't see him lasting long at Everton.