catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
I think once again people are seeing the impact McCarthy has when he is gone. He is a real leader on the pitch.
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James McCarthy
- Thread starter GrandOldTeam
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Goodison87
Player Valuation: £35m
For me, he's the first name on the team sheet. Integral for both defence and attack to do their job effectively. Can't come back soon enough...
The Equaliser
Player Valuation: £50m
Yes he's a big miss. I'm just wondering what will happen to Cleverley when Macca comes back. Likely to be moved out to the left again and Kone dropped would be my guess so it could be bye bye Mirallas.
dannyboy
Player Valuation: £60m
Don't be fooled. We were lulled into thinking he was the answer to our problems last year and his return didn't alter much.
It did. He came back from an injury around Christmas and then quickly picked up another injury. He came back in February, and IIRC, we got beat by Chelsea, then went on a 5/6 game unbeaten run that pretty much got us out of any danger.
MartSlinger
Player Valuation: £40m
Offensively we dont miss him although before he got injured that side was improving. But defensively he's a massive miss. Ever since he went off at 2-0 against Bournemouth look how its went. A lot of teams seem to be creating chances and getting set pieces after counter attacking, McCarthy is brilliant at stopping a counter attack, plus he's not scared to tackle and possibly take a yellow card if need be.
Absolutely right, mate. I can't understand how some fans can't see how important his job is.
I don't recall him being particularly effective at stopping counter attacks when United were waltzing unmolested through our midfield at will. Or when Sunderland - SUNDERLAND! - came to Goodison and took us on like a basketball game. We conceded two to West Brom and Watford with him in the side too. I'm not saying he isn't missed, but let's not put two and two together to get five.
davek
Player Valuation: £150m
In games when we're dominant he does add another body to attack. Doesn't do it enough for my liking, but he has very gradually been adding a forward run to his game at Everton.
West Brom's goals were not from counter attacks. Sunderland's was, but it was one long ball in behind our defence (Stones, IIRC).
United was one of those days, the entire team played badly.
And I don't think anyone's suggesting that having him in the teams stops the opposition all together - far from it - but you only have to look at our results since he went off at Bournemouth to see how important he is and why he should be the first name on the teamsheet.
How many Bournemouth goals were from counter attacks? Or Leicester? It's not just about the goals, Sunderland were walking through our midfield all day with him in there. Our results prior to Bournemouth weren't exactly brilliant in case you hadn't noticed.
Last season Leicester came to Goodison bottom of the league and scored 2 goals in a game where they had 15 shots. This season they came as league leaders and scored 3 goals but only managed 10 shots. Which one was McCarthy playing in?
Again, i'm not saying it wouldn't be good to have him back but the idea that these things don't happen with him in the side is a nonsense.
Abraders
Player Valuation: £60m
Him and Jags as the leaders there for me. We wouldn't have thrown 6-9 points away with either or both of them on the pitch.
As I said, I'm not saying he stops them all together. Far from it. But the difference is plain to see, for me anyway, from when McCarthy is there alongside Barry rather than Cleverley.
Also, you say the results hadn't been great, but we'd won the two home games at a canter and were unlucky against West Ham. Before that, we'd lost to Arsenal and United, nothing to be too ashamed of.
We'd have taken more points from the last four league games if McCarthy had been playing, I'm certain of it.
I suppose we'll never know.
The stats don't really back up your argument though. The game we were 'unlucky' in, against West Ham, they had 16 shots. The next away game without McCarthy was Norwich, who had 9. The Villa game which we won at a canter with McCarthy playing saw them have 10 shots, the same as a much better Leicester side had when Cleverley was in. The problems we have are much more to do with our tactical set up than with individual players being missing in my opinion.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
I can buy that we'd have drawn with Palace, we concede goals from corners regularly. However we'd have beaten Bournemouth and Norwich in my view with them in the team. 4 points more would make things look a lot rosier.
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