Former Republic of Ireland manager John Giles has expressed the hope that Everton's James McCarthy can fulfil his potential and really deliver during the forthcoming European Championship campaign which gets under way on Sunday in Georgia.
The 23 year-old is widely regarded as one of the country's most talented players. Speaking at an event yesterday to publicise the involvement of his charitable foundation and Down Syndrome Ireland in the sea2summit adventure race in Westport on November 8th, Giles said the midfielder still needs to assert himself more in games if he is to make the sort of impact that new manager Martin O'Neill would be hoping for.
“He has the ability which is one thing,” he said. “The mind is a different thing altogether. He has to impose himself more I think. But all lads are different and he might have a mentality where he thinks ‘I don’t want to do that’.
“I played with lads,” he continued, “one at Leeds for a long time whose name I won’t mention, and I used to be onto him in matches. He was a good lad, a pal of mine. On a Monday he would say to me, ‘you might want to be the best midfield player in the world but I don’t’.
“What he was saying was ‘leave me alone’. Okay, that’s no problem; a lot of lads don’t want the responsibility and don’t have the mind for it.”
Asked if felt McCarthy might fall into that category or whether he will start to really control big games, he said: “I haven’t seen it so far. He has the ability but you have to demand the ball and I’ve seen him in matches when he’s in good positions but he doesn’t demand it.
“When you’re playing football and if you’re on the ball as a fullback, you can’t think of everything. You don’t know if I’m in a good position because your mind is occupied with doing something else.
“ If you shout your name loud, you get all that stuff out of your head and that’s demanding the ball. With McCarthy I don’t think he says anything and he lets you kick it up the line. The game is passing him by.
“He has the ability; I have seen him knock the ball 40 yards but it’s no good if you don’t let your team-mate know you’re there and I haven’t seen him do that yet.”
Both O'Neill and Roy Keane look like perfect candidates to bring him on in precisely this regard but, observes Giles: "McCarthy could be the type of lad who doesn't want it. Some lads are natural at demanding the ball. Hoolahan does in fairness to him. McCarthy has a lot of ability but you have to be a certain personality."
