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James McCarthy

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chicoazul said:
We don't need him now we have John Stones. Johno is capable of fulfilling both his defensive duties and stepping out into midfield to control the play and urge the whole team on forward.

I would put McCarthy up for sale. He's a ginger.
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He's also gonna start wearing the goalies top as well mate, thus allowing us to play a 0-4-4-3 formation

To be known as a false number 1 or the reverse Spain formation
 
Royal Blue Jersey said:
I don't disagree with the usefulness of statistics in principle, because they are merely a measurement on whatever scale you wish to judge a player's contribution, and in that respect can only provide you with more information, which is never a bad thing.

But treating each stat as a discrete, singular entity is where I think you're bound to go wrong. You just can't do it with a player's contributions over 90 minutes or even over 4 or 5 games and get an accurate picture. Pienaar may, say, have 2 assists in 10 games. That stat alone, that measurement of 'final pass' productivity, suggests he hasn't contributed much. You have to augment it with, say, how many 'key passes' did he manage in the final third? How many through balls behind the defence did he accurately play? How many chances did he set up for his teammates? You start putting those stats in and you see well, he may have got only 2 assists but he played the pass before that 4 or 5 times; he managed to set up 6 or 7 shooting opportunities which teammates missed; he played 4 or 5 through balls that set someone in behind the defence. How about when he draws the fullback and winger in on him and manages to squeeze it through to Baines (somehow!) who is then completely umarked? How do you measure that contribution if Baines messes up the cross? None of our other players can create so much space, so cleverly, for their teammates. It's the kind of inventiveness that in the grand scale of statistical judgement - goals & assists - just gets lost. But watch it with your own eyes, and look a little deeper into the stats available, and you know it's a far too simplistic evaluation of his contributions.


In short: Pienaar is ace.
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been banging on about this for weeks...but youve described it perfectly.
 
Socrates said:
Goals and assists eh?

They are not important regarding James McCarthy.

His role is to allow the other 9 outfield players the freedom to express themselves and take chances safe in the knowledge that if anything braks down, he is there to pick up the pieces.

As one of the resident arlarses, Paul Bracewell was the glue that held the 80's team together and I'm sure others will back me up who witnessed his contributions.

He didn't score many or provide many direct assists but what a player. fearless and fearsome.
We were never quite the same after he had that serious injury.

The best player we had since then was Joe Parkinson. Pity his career was cut short too.

That's the type of player James is, a destroyer, a disruptor, a baby faced Bracewell and I for one am glad he's ours.
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Macca gets compared to Keano which i something I said when we were linked with him first, and this ties in to what you are saying because basically Scholes became the player he was because he never ever had to worry about what was behind as Keano usually had it covered.

Macca will be our Keano to Barkleys Scholes in a way..
 

bluestevon said:
True story mate, he had a boss motor like, was fuming with my mate then saw who it was driving and never been happier about nearly being roadkill, must have thought we where a right pair of tits shouting stuff and waving our arms around at the car, he just put his foot down and sped off sharpish like

Nearly got hit by Amokachi as well just by goodison, he was sound though, mate was nearly on his bonnet and then started chanting his name like, he waved at us buzzing off his head lol
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You should defo try pavements, much less traffic.
 
Really interesting watching McCarthy develop as an Everton player and how he has grown into the role. I saw him turning out for Accies when he was pretty much a kid, and he was head and shoulders above the rest of what was a reasonably talented group. Played wide, up top and more centrally and looked like he could do anything.

Interesting at the comments about his lack of goals. He certainly can finish, but his play is so disciplined that he just doesn't find himself in the positions he did.
 
Every successful team needs a McCarthy type of player. There is no doubt his appetite to win and competiveness has allowed our 'luxury' players to be more effective. He is also very solid with his distribution never gives the ball away. However I don't go along with the idea that he doesn't need to contribute in the final third. He has shown flashes of breaking forward but not enough across the season in my opinion. It's not a critisism, he has been an excellent signing I just think he needs to develop that side of his game. There has been comparisons with the likes of Keane and rightly so. However in his pomp Keane chipped in with 5 to 10 goals and helped drive his team foward. Modern day you look at Toure and see someone providing the type of protection McCarthy gives you but also driving forward with the ball at every opportunity. While I wouldn't expect him to be that good I think he is someone McCarthy should model his game on. I want to see him shoot more from distance and drive with the ball. I also think he should be getting on the end of set pieces as I don't see that happening. It sounds like I am destroying the lad but he is honestly one of my favourite players, I just think he could end up genuinely being spoken about in the Keane/veira mould if he develops that side. He has time on his side so in 2 years I think we will have a player who continues to compete but is also capable of making the difference in big games.
 
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pablo315 said:
Modern day you look at Toure and see someone providing the type of protection McCarthy gives you but also driving forward with the ball at every opportunity.
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Agree with what you're saying but Toure is a bad example. He doesn't bother with the defensive side of the game like tracking runners or getting goal side anymore. He used to play defensive mid at Barca because he was the worst technical midfielder in their team but he doesn't suit that role.

Keane is the best example of an all round midfielder.
 

His assist for Lukaku showed what he's capable further up, he just doesn't need to so often.
 
AJC5 said:
Agree with what you're saying but Toure is a bad example. He doesn't bother with the defensive side of the game like tracking runners or getting goal side anymore. He used to play defensive mid at Barca because he was the worst technical midfielder in their team but he doesn't suit that role.

Keane is the best example of an all round midfielder.
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Honestly mate watch Toure in their next game. He always starts from a really deep position, silva is always far more advanced. That's what makes it more amazing that he gets so many goals because he always breaks late. But watch who makes the defensive tackles it is still Toure, they have Fernandino in doing the Barry role as extra seturity but Toure is our equivalent to McCarthy (in terms of position on the pitch)
 
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Hard to believe how good he was today, Coleman and Baines do whatever they want going forward as James McCarthy covers both left and right back at the same time. Absolutely everywhere again
 

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