Season › 2014-15 › News Barry sustains ankle damage but no break , 9 November, 31comments | Jump to most recent Roberto Martinez has revealed that Gareth Barry did not suffer a fracture to his ankle in the draw at the Stadium of Light but will need to have the injury assessed. The midfielder was passed fit to play despite picking up a knock against Lille but was caught late by Sunderland's Jordi Gomez with just nine minutes gone of today's match and had to be stretchered off. "I'm happy to confirm that it's not the broken leg we were worried about," Martinez said afterwards. "There is damage to the ankle that we must assess." Barry has been virtually ever-present for Everton this season but must now wait to find out how long he will be sidelined with what could be damage to the ligaments. Martinez has already lost John Stones to a similar injury this season and also has James McCarthy as a fresh injury concern after he pulled up with a hamstring problem late in the match. The Irishman finished the game with his upper leg strapped but Martinez says he too will need to be looked at by the club's medical staff. "It is a concern, he needs assessing and hopefully it is just fatigue," Martinez said of McCarthy. "It's important to have Darron Gibson, who is still working his way back to full match fitness. Him and Besic give good competition." Reader Comments (31) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Stephen Brown 1 Posted 09/11/2014 at 17:02:48 I hope it’s not too bad an injury as at 33 he could find recovery more difficult. And he’s got a 3-year contract on 㿨,000+ per week. Just as he was playing into form too!! Get well soon Kunal Desai 2 Posted 09/11/2014 at 17:29:04 Won't see him back this year. Time for Besic to step up. Steve Barr 3 Posted 09/11/2014 at 18:36:07 60,000 quid a week. How can these types of wages be sustainable, never mind justified?The whole Premier League structure has to be setting itself up for a massive fall at some point in the future. Football can't be any different from the real world where financial crises is an inevitable result of poor financial management. Michael Kenrick 4 Posted 09/11/2014 at 18:46:15 Steve, People have been saying that on here for years, predicting financial meltdown of the Premier League.Instead, the financial side gets more massive in leaps and bounds, an endless upward curve, with no sign of the 'bubble' bursting. I'm not saying it won't... but how long can something be sustained while supposedly being unsustainable? Steve Barr 5 Posted 09/11/2014 at 18:54:11 Michael, I'm baffled. Whenever I see these weekly salaries in black and white it just stuns me. Particularly when the teams that are paying them are allegedly in financial crisis themselves.When an economy as big as the USA can go into financial meltdown how the hell does the Prem keep its head above water?One of life's conundrums I guess! Kieran Riding 6 Posted 09/11/2014 at 19:14:00 Steve, don't Google 'Tranmere Rovers salaries ' Al Reddish 7 Posted 09/11/2014 at 19:41:53 I thought Barry should have been rested today. He was rated 50/50 and with Besic and Gibson fit, they would have been good cover. Barry seems to play every game, which at 33 is a credit to him, but it annoys me when much younger players get rested every two or three games, especially when they are in good form. Colin Glassar 8 Posted 09/11/2014 at 19:51:19 I agree Al, it was an unnecessary risk IMO. I know Roberto has his favourites but sometimes caution is better. Like you said, Besic or Gibson or even Ross could've played there. Allan Barratt 9 Posted 09/11/2014 at 19:53:58 Those Tranmere salaries are ridiculous!!! Tony Abrahams 10 Posted 09/11/2014 at 20:21:50 Glad itÂ’s not broke because heÂ’s an important player who was missed when he went off, even though his partner James McCarthy was absolutely brilliant today. Steve Barr 11 Posted 09/11/2014 at 21:42:35 Kieran, I'm even more stunned now..and I don't stun easily. Chris Burns 12 Posted 09/11/2014 at 21:45:10 Frighteningly, he was on at least double that at Man City. Patrick Murphy 13 Posted 09/11/2014 at 21:43:58 Perhaps the enforced absence of Barry might provide Ross with an opportunity to play centre-midfield in the upcoming games and give us a less defensive minded shape. Gibson and Besic can't do the same job as Barry and let's be honest we haven't set the football world alight with our attacking prowess in the last few PL games. Obviously if McCarthy's hamstring proves to be a problem then we'll have to reshape the team significantly but I would still like to see if Ross can contribute more from the middle of the park rather than out on the wing. James Stewart 14 Posted 09/11/2014 at 21:55:40 McCarthy is a big loss. Saved us from defeat at the end. Barry and McCarthy have been playing far too much so injury was inevitable. Time for Besic to step up. Colin Glassar 15 Posted 09/11/2014 at 22:26:01 Sounds like McCarthy has done his hammy as well. When it rains it pours I suppose. John Malone 16 Posted 09/11/2014 at 22:00:31 Barry out is a massive blow he is our best player by a mile the lad is pivotal to everything we do well under Martinez. Harold Matthews 17 Posted 10/11/2014 at 01:27:41 Hope he makes a swift recovery. Gibbo did his best but he's not a natural defender. Chris Williamson 18 Posted 10/11/2014 at 08:24:09 Injuries .... oh please let it stop! Colin Glassar 19 Posted 10/11/2014 at 08:28:50 Kone might be going back to Levante in January. With so many injuries, will we buy in January? Jim Bennings 20 Posted 10/11/2014 at 08:48:36 Doesn't sound too good regarding McCarthy either judging by the early reports, I just hope he gets left out of the Ireland squad and they don't start trying to be stupid selecting the lad.I have not known a season where every week a player seems to be sustaining a new lasting injury.It's bad enough losing Barry who keeps things ticking along but McCarthy would kill us. The prospect of Gibson playing that many is remote whilst Besic and Barkley wouldn't be greatly disciplined. Hard times indeed. Trevor Lynes 21 Posted 10/11/2014 at 09:27:59 Talk of Barkley covering Barry's loss is surely not an option.Barkley is supposedly an attacking midfielder and should be scoring goals not stopping them.We have Besic to cover Barry and perhaps Oviedo will soon be playing again.I really hope that McCarthy is OK as I do not see Gibson in his role long term. James Stewart 22 Posted 10/11/2014 at 10:49:25 @16 not so. Coleman and Baines, simply put, are the best players we have. Barry is nowhere near as vital as them. Brian Cleveland 23 Posted 10/11/2014 at 14:42:01 So looks like Barry and McCarthy out... time for the new midfield combination sicky and psycho?! ;-) James Stewart 24 Posted 10/11/2014 at 14:49:19 Maybe Ledson will get a look in. Playing youngsters is certainly not doing Newcastle any harm... James Hughes 25 Posted 10/11/2014 at 15:36:01 Brian – I didn’t know we had a psycho on our books anymore care to elaborate. Is Pat and den Hauwe back then? Patrick Murphy 26 Posted 10/11/2014 at 16:04:48 I see that James McCarthy is to join up with the Republic of Ireland squad let's hope they don't risk him as he didn't look too good at the end of the game yesterday did he? Bob Heyward 27 Posted 10/11/2014 at 16:05:25 Kundalini: Â’Time for Besic to step upÂ’. He is not fit to shine BarryÂ’s shoes. And as for Gibson, donÂ’t even start me. Sorry, but now we are in a bit of a pickle. Just hope our CDÂ’s keep fit... lose one of them and weÂ’ve really had it. Linda Morrison 28 Posted 10/11/2014 at 16:37:22 McCarthy finishes the last game with his leg strapped up. Why then is he being allowed to join up with the Republic squad? Ian Jones 29 Posted 10/11/2014 at 18:03:32 Hi Linda. Unless it's an obvious injury like a break don't injured players generally have to turn up for international duty to be assessed before being sent home..a pointless exercise sometimes.Hopefully McCarthy will be sent packing. Brian Wilkinson 30 Posted 11/11/2014 at 01:59:16 I may be a minority of one on here in regards to those calling for Besic to step up, personally I would give Oviedo a go there, he seems versatile enough. Brian Cleveland 31 Posted 11/11/2014 at 14:33:59 James (25)... Sicky and New Psycho doesn't sound right! Just trying to be a bit light-hearted in the doom and gloom of the injury situation. Besic is rather prone to picking up cards for silly tackles. Still learning where he can and can't get stuck in I think... but I think he has the potential of being a class act for us once it all comes together. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads © ToffeeWeb