James McCarthy M free agent b.1990

[Olé Olé]

He was very good. I made a point about Brady, McCarthy, Connolly, Long and Obafemi being PL players and omitted. Two of that five started and put their hands up today.

[liamoo11]

He was very good. I made a point about Brady, McCarthy, Connolly, Long and Obafemi being PL players and omitted. Two of that five started and put their hands up today.

Yeah I agree curtis isn't at this level its lucky his issue has allowed Connolly in but obafemi is just as worthy I think. I would have Brady in as well he has quality we will need at some point off the bench. Not picking long also seems odd to me with that pace and willingness in games where we will at some point need to try and get up the pitch

[DeLorean]

Does anyone have a times subscription? From last week https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/irish-sport/james-mccarthy-i-would-never-hide-away-and-say-no-i-dont-want-to-play-x9ttkgdd5 kinda weird

I said I'd post it here instead, ES. It's bizarre to me also that he wouldn't want to get minutes into his legs against New Zealand. It would even benefit Hodgson and Palace.


James McCarthy: I would never hide away and say ‘no I don’t want to play’

Midfielder is keen to return to the Ireland set-up but knows he must first establish himself at Crystal Palace


Three years on from when he last played for Ireland, James McCarthy walks into a room at the Crystal Palace training ground looking slimmer and trimmer than ever before. It is something of a false anniversary; he did after all make the field of play for the game against Wales in March 2017 only to pull up in the warm-up with a recurrence of a hamstring injury that had become an international incident involving Martin O’Neill, Roy Keane and various Everton managers and was a harbinger of one of the issues which would bring down that Ireland management team.

McCarthy is keen to talk about the future and the fact that he sees himself resuming his international career when he can get back to playing regularly again, but he is also happy to clear up one or two questions which linger from that difficult period.

“Nobody forced me to do anything, either at Everton or Ireland,” says McCarthy. “When I was fit I wanted to play and unfortunately at that time I was stuck in a rut with injuries. I would play one or two games and get injured and then be out for six weeks, then come back and play two or three games, so it was just a difficult spell.”

Firstly Roberto Martinez, who signed McCarthy from Wigan, and then his successor as Everton manager, Ronald Koeman, skirmished with both O’Neill and Keane over the availability of McCarthy, with Seamus Coleman also caught in the crossfire.

Among the memorable quotes in that severe bout of gunboat diplomacy was one from Keane saying he was expecting Everton players to “crawl in the hotel door” when reporting for international duty, while Koeman accused Ireland of “killing” McCarthy, before matters came to a head in that Wales game.

“It was awkward for me — difficult,” said McCarthy last week. “Everton didn’t want me to go to with Ireland one of the times. I was injured. Then I tried to do the warm-up and I felt my hamstring go, it was the same one. If I am fit I want to play. I felt fit that day and I had done a few fitness tests over the week and I felt good. But if I felt fit I would say that I am fit. I would never hide away and say ‘no I don’t want to play’.”

McCarthy managed to work his way back into the Everton team under Sam Allardyce. Then, out of the blue, disaster. In a match against West Brom in January 2018, Salomon Rondon attempted to shoot on goal only to strike McCarthy powerfully on the back of his right leg instead, resulting in a break of the tibia and fibula which was so bad that the skin was pierced by the broken bone. It was an injury even worse than the one which Coleman had suffered while on international duty the previous year and as his teammate was returning to fitness, McCarthy leaned on him for support.

“Seamie said to make sure you get home and spend some time with your family. Switch off from football. There were dark times during that injury when I could hardly get off the bed. I was basically bed-bound for six weeks and it was a long road, but after you get back walking, jogging and cycling and doing a few things you start to think there’s light at the end of the tunnel and it is not too far away.”

As it happens McCarthy has been fit for nearly a year now, but much of that time was spent unsuccessfully trying to win round the latest Everton manager on the block, Marco Silva, who made it clear that McCarthy wasn’t part of his plans.

Palace manager Roy Hodgson has long rated him highly and James McArthur has been a friend since he played with him at Hamilton as a 15-year-old, so McCarthy’s first move down south made sense. With him have come his partner and their seven-month-old son. Palace’s steady start to the season has meant that it has been difficult for McCarthy to break through and so far he has made only one start in the Premier League, when Luka Milivojevic was suspended. Clearly, club football is the priority for McCarthy at the moment. When he was named in the provisional squad for the last two competitive games, a conversation was had with his namesake Mick and the midfielder didn’t make the final list.

“I spoke to him and he understands that I need to get back playing again,” McCarthy says. “I want to play week in week out and hopefully we can qualify for the Euros next summer with the game against Denmark, but I want now to stay injury free, get a run of games here at Palace and ensure that once I get in the team I can stay in the team.”

That probably means that when Mick McCarthy cuts down his latest squad for the game against Denmark, James McCarthy won’t be in it. It is a frustrating position for Ireland supporters especially since the New Zealand friendly a few days before the Denmark game, could be used to sharpen up McCarthy.

Still such is the dearth of quality in Ireland’s midfield at present that the manager can only hope that McCarthy rediscovers his best form from his days in the Premier League at Wigan Athletic and is then prepared to resume his Ireland career, which has been stop-start from virtually the word go.

One thing is certain; the Ireland manager and Palace will work things out without the public slanging matches which marked McCarthy’s international career when he was at his last club. The medical theme in the Ireland camp was later repeated when it came to the fitness or otherwise of Harry Arter and Jon Walters, and it contributed to the demise of the O’Neill/Keane reign.

Mick McCarthy will avoid falling into that trap, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be all over the moment when James McCarthy returns.

[elroy]

Don’t really get the logic. Game time would’ve been good for him against NZ, no??

[Olé Olé]

Came on for the full second half as Palace beat Bournemouth down a man.

[Stuttgart88]

Palace in 5th!

[OwlsFan]

McCarthy and Brady in the team for the play offs ?

[Diggs246]

McCarthy and Brady in the team for the play offs ?

I would have Mccarthy anyway, he is our best DM by a country mile

[samhaydenjr]

McCarthy and Brady in the team for the play offs ?

Have to be, if playing regularly and well. We've had a bit of a makeshift look precisely because they have been absent injured for so much of the campaign (Clark and Long, also, to a lesser extent)

[tommy_c12000]

Starts today for Palace. Whether he’s still interested in playing for us is another story

[Charlie Darwin]

Starts today for Palace. Whether he’s still interested in playing for us is another story
Probably a bit late for that Scotland call-up.

[Diggs246]

Probably a bit late for that Scotland call-up.

I would go for it with Connolly on the left, Doherty on the right and have James McCarthy and josh as DM pairing

[Stuttgart88]

I just can't get enthusiastic about James McCarthy.

[irishfan86]

Watched the match. James did ok without being particularly impressive. He botched a few passes but maybe that’s understandable due to rust.

His best moment came around the 70th minute, where he was able to pursue Almiron (not an easy guy to catch) and put in a great sliding tackle. It was an extended sprint to make the challenge and shows he is fit and fast.

[tetsujin1979]

Believe it or not, it was the first time he's completed 90 minutes in three years!

[irishfan86]

Believe it or not, it was the first time he's completed 90 minutes in three years!

When you put it that way, it really is understandable he’s putting international soccer on the back burner until he’s truly playing properly on a regular basis.

[tetsujin1979]

I was slightly wrong there, he did play 90 minutes in a league cup game in August, however last Saturday was his first 90 minutes in a premier league game since December 2016

[Closed Account]

When you put it that way, it really is understandable he’s putting international soccer on the back burner until he’s truly playing properly on a regular basis.

In an ideal world it should work conversely, the least we should require of our international representatives is that they can demonstrably play 90 mins

[tommy_c12000]

Starts today

[IsMiseSean]

Another 90mins for James today - while it seems Glenn Whelan's time at Hearts looks to be endiing (https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/latest-hearts-news/hearts-boss-daniel-stendel-admits-glenn-whelan-finished-maroon-1350703)

[Olé Olé]

Hopefully Whelan can get a Championship club. Mick McCarthy can surely recommend him to an old contact of his at that level.

That said, League One is probably on a par with SPL so that would be as sufficient- but as I type that, it doesn't really feel sufficient.

McCarthy in for Whelan would be no bad thing, at all, even though Whelan has performed admirably at times for us, including against Denmark.

[Fixer82]

Whelan hasn’t let us down and he won’t if called upon in the new year

[irishfan86]

Watched McCarthy’s latest match. Once again looked OK but a bit of a passenger. Decent enough positioning to neutralize opposition but doesn’t look very influential right now. Clearly still rusty, Hopefully he can get a run in the team now— we could use him in March assuming he can find a bit of form between now and then.

[liamoo11]

3rd start in a week for him today and 4th start in last 5 crystal palace games fair play to him deserves a good run given his injury hell

[IsMiseSean]

Milivojevic given a straight red for violent conduct today, which usually carries a 3 game ban. Should see more game time for McCarthy.

[Diggs246]

Starts again. If he doesn't play against Slovakia it will be in violation of the Geneva convention

[Olé Olé]

But Shane Long starts too.

[TrapAPony]

Starting today again for Crystal Palace against Man City

[jbyrne]

Starting today again for Crystal Palace against Man City

makes bbc team of the week along with clark. seems like both had stormers....

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51170745

[DeLorean]

He made a great tackle and pass in the lead up to the second Palace goal.

[tetsujin1979]

Taken off injured at half time for Crystal Palace

[DeLorean]

Terrible timing. Hamstring - https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/2020/february/roy-hodgson-on-james-mccarthy-injury-from-brighton-v-crystal-palace/

[geysir]

Terrible timing. Hamstring - https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/2020/february/roy-hodgson-on-james-mccarthy-injury-from-brighton-v-crystal-palace/

As my daughter (dressed like a princess) once loudly exclaimed to a packed parlour on the occasion of her 3rd birthday, "Fcking hell".

[DeLorean]

Back into the starting line-up for Palace today. Will he get the call up? Will he accept the call up if he does?

[liamoo11]

That's a real bonus for us

[tetsujin1979]

interviewed today on skysports.com: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11706/12004174/james-mccarthy-interview-injury-nightmare-at-everton-and-new-lease-of-life-at-crystal-palace

[DeLorean]

He is certainly playing without inhibition again - he hopes his club form will earn him a Republic of Ireland recall and has already been in contact with new head coach Stephen Kenny - but after all he has been through, he is too superstitious to say his injury troubles are fully behind him.Great to read this. Would prefer to have seen a direct quote but we'll take it.

[geysir]

Where's Tricky when you need him to relay the formidable stat.

That Sky Sports article/interview
'According to Opta, he has averaged more successful tackles per 90 minutes than any other Premier League player this season.'

[tetsujin1979]

Linked with Leeds, West Ham, Aston Villa, and Newcastle: https://www.90min.com/posts/leeds-newcastle-west-ham-aston-villa-crystal-palace-midfielder-james-mccarthy
Be interesting to see him play under Bielsa

[Kingdom]

Linked with Leeds, West Ham, Aston Villa, and Newcastle: https://www.90min.com/posts/leeds-newcastle-west-ham-aston-villa-crystal-palace-midfielder-james-mccarthy
Be interesting to see him play under Bielsa

It would absolutely. Wonder will the magician have any mad new formation to thrust upon the PL, like he did with Chile.

[Bielsa´s irish]

Bielsa is a big fan of James Mccarthy.
He shoud be the first name in our teamsheet.
According to some reports and Miguel Delaney, "el loco" Marcelo almost got the Ireland job in 2013/2014 when Derry finest took the job.
Remembered Trapattoni compared McCarthy as a classic number 10 like Platini and Gerrard

[elatedscum]

i was interviewed by RTE leaving Landsdowne after Trap had left. I guess King was in charge and they were asking people who should the next manager be and I said Bielsa citing the work he did for Chile primarily and also the Bilbao job and the fact he was available. The swine didn't use the clip, instead just used people saying either Martin O'Neill or Roy Keane

[Bielsa´s irish]

Yes Bielsa was asked and approached by then, but Martin took over

[brine3]

Delaney is some muppet isn't he

[seanfhear]

Delaney is some muppet isn't he
The Muppets rejected him for not being up to Muppet Standards ! !

[Bielsa´s irish]

Actually as i remembered it was a three horses race.
Martin, Mick and "el loco Bielsa". He had stepped down as manager of Bilbao Athletic in June 2013.
The main issue was he isnt fluent in any foreign language. He only speaks "porteño". An upper class argentine version of spanish with a bit of italian accent and flow, plus some phrases and expressions like metathesis in words that come from France (for example "gotan" instead of "tango" in frenche "ripoux" instead of pourris that "tango music subculture" that was more less about thugs, scoundrels, horse races, thieves and unfaithful women).

So they tried Martin after the Giovanni fiasco

[DeLorean]

Oh-oh...

1298303654412324866

[Diggs246]

Jesus christ on a bike

[irishfan86]

It's pre-season -- hopefully he's just being extra cautious. Might just be a little twist or a sprain...fingers crossed.

[Diggs246]

Any update on this? I really hope its nothing