McCarthy forced off with hip injury

Plenty of cover for McCarthy in Besic, Gibson, Cleverley so no point playing him if not 100% fit.

Only an injury or suspension would make RM break the Barry - McCarthy partnership and with the likes of Cleverley, Besic and Gibson, we have to start to see if another combination can provide something different. Barry’s legs are not going to last forever either.

I assume he’ll play Cleverley but it could be Besic I guess; I can’t see it being Gibson as a Barry - Gibson CDM combo would have zero pace or stamina to cover properly. He could also rest Barry but I don’t think he should tinker too much.

McCarthy's injury and Baines being fit again, plus the Kone - Barkley performance would suggest at least 3 outfield changes for Tuesday. Robles would make it at least 4. That’s already enough for me – this game is more important than Palace as it’s the next game and with the Palace game being on Monday, we have enough time to rest and recover.

We really need a result on Tuesday otherwise I can see another grim December coming up.

He covered every blade of grass, and protected the back four, before being replaced by your man Cleverley. Did you not see what happened when he went off injured? I give up.

Cleverley is not a defender but is very willing, Naismith will try anything, Gibson has the know-how but lacks mobility and Besic has been coached for the No 6 role, which covers the centre and left side. The area Barry is supposed to cover but no longer has the legs to manage all of it.

It’s a big blow but I’m sure we’ll sort something out. After studying the final 27 minutes of the Bournemouth fiasco, the manager and the players will have a fair idea of how it all went pear-shaped when McCarthy departed.

There is a footballer in there somewhere, wish he’d show it more often like the Villa game for instance!

This makes Galloway a sitting duck and once Eddie Howe brought on Smith in the RB position we were in trouble. Nothing to do with our boy being a young novice. Baines and Garbutt suffered the same trouble last season.

He's covered more ground than any other Everton player in pretty much every game this season!

Hope that Cleverley or Besic can step up as think they are both capable of replacing him though have obviously been out with injury for a while.

Not a Howard fan these days. Agree with many that we need a commanding goalie so his overall performance may not have exuded confidence. His attempt to get to the ball which led to Stones hooking off the line is perhaps a reason he shouldn’t stray from his line too far. :)

I didn’t see the game apart from highlights of the goals on MotD so perhaps I'm not in best place to comment! But from my 10-minute snipppet, not sure how Howard was to blame for any of the goals. No-one closed down the player for their first; good shot. Second was a decent cross; I think Cleverly stopped running to cover Stanislas. As for third; poor defending.

Butland would seem a decent keeper to go for but most clubs would be after him.

It’s not about how many kilometres Barry covers in a match. It’s how quickly he covers ground when our attacks break down. Or more to the point, how quickly he can no longer cover the ground.

The "stats" don’t tell you that for example 20% of his distance covered probably consists of trotting back, taking the back off Howard and knocking it square to either centre half, then trotting back to midfield.

Harold and Frank are spot on in saying Galloway is exposed every game because Barry cannot get across quickly enough and Kone’s natural tendency is to drift inside which leaves the opposing right full in space. It was the same last week versus Villa but they had a full back in Hutton that couldn’t take advantage and didn’t have a midfielder capable of picking the right pass for a 2 v 1.

Coleman on the far side has McCarthy whose positional sense when we lose the ball is second to none and Deulofeu who hugs the touchline and tracks the full back.

That’s not to say Barry has not been playing well because he has. But he just can’t get cover quickly enough at times through no fault of his own.

Maybe this is the tactic RM is installing rather than Barry covering Kone’s absence. However, one thing I do know is that Kone cannot carry on being utilised on the left any more. Granted he has had some very good games cutting in from that side and, at times, has done a decent defensive job but the fella is a forward who wants to cut in and support Rom and that doesn’t work for us defensively.

Mirallas and Lennon are natural wide players who should be played out there and in Lennon’s case will give much better support to the LB. The right-hand side is balanced well with the Coleman - Deulofeu - McCarthy triangle and that needs to be mirrored on the other side. A lot of our defensive problems this season (and last) have been from our left side.

Not a Barry fan but, to his credit, I will say he has done a great job this season and captained the team well in Jagielka’s absence. He’s been back to the form of two seasons ago but Besic has to be given more game time as a Besic - McCarthy combination will be fantastic.

If Barry is out too, I would put Barkley back there alongside him and then you could bring Mirallas into his position in attack. You would obviously have to tweak it slightly as Besic would have to cover defensively all across the pitch.

If we can’t manage without McCarthy for a week or so, then we may as well pack up for the season and go home. It’s not like he’s Messi ffs.

What’s the point of having the likes of Gibson, Besic, Cleverley etc if they can’t step in when needed? Also, our manager has said we have excellent competition throughout the squad (apparently) so I’d like to see an example of this for myself.

Re Barry – people going on about the distance he covers in matches are just angling for an argument. It’s obvious that it’s primarily his pace that’s being talked about. Even a snail can cover 10 km given enough time. The number of yellows he picks up is because he has to foul the opponents a lot to stop them jogging past him.

McCarthy going off did affect us, but we still should have won this match at a canter. Too many players just going through the motions after we went two-nil up – job done kind of mentality.

Martinez said recently he trusts Barry to show the younger players how to play and how Barry never panics. Well, how can a player of Barry's experience let a quick free kick be taken? Bournemouth score from it, as we know. The more I see it the more angry I get. It’s just basic stuff.

Howard showed once again he is past it and was all over the place on a few occasions, and could have done better for their 3rd IMO. Martinez left it too late once again with substitutions and why Mirallas didn’t get 25 minutes is beyond me.

Also, I agree with Sam (#13), that McCarthy has not been too clever this season, but he never gets caught out by the pace of a game, unlike Barry.