EVERTON MANAGER RONALD KOEMAN has said that the Republic of Ireland’s decision not to select James McCarthy for the recent World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Wales was ‘the first time they did a good thing’.
Asked about Roy Keane’s recent comments regarding the midfielder’s persistent injury struggles, in which the Irish assistant boss said clubs ‘needed to look at what they are doing themselves’, Koeman didn’t shirk his response.
“First of all, I don’t know what (Roy) Keane said about the situation. I’m not interested in his comments,” Koeman said.
“The player, for a long time, had several problems – physically – and we tried to solve that problem. He’s now back. It’s the first time they did a good thing – not to use the player in his state of fitness. We like to bring him back. He’s a good boy. An important player for us. But we don’t take risks. It’s good for him. It’s good for us. Let’s hope he’ll be totally fit and available for next weekend.”
McCarthy has not played a competitive game since March but was with the Irish squad ahead of the crucial qualifiers and did train before the Moldova game. However, he didn’t even make the bench and was later ruled out of the Wales clash and allowed return to Merseyside.
Koeman, speaking ahead of Everton’s league assignment with Brighton, said that McCarthy won’t be involved but will feature for the club’s reserve team next Tuesday. After that, he expects the 26-year-old to subsequently be ready for a first-team return.
The Everton boss has been involved in a long-term, simmering stand-off with the Irish management team over their handling of McCarthy, who hasn’t played a single minute this season because of a knee problem.
The back-and-forth began almost one year ago exactly, when Koeman initially criticised Martin O’Neill for ‘overloading and killing’ McCarthy by selecting him for Ireland fixtures, despite him being eased back from injury by his club.
Things escalated back in March when, after more criticism from Koeman, O’Neill issued an official statement and described the Dutchman as ‘a master tactician of the blame game’.
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