McCarthy left out of Ireland squad

I'm 99% certain that Roy Keane said in his autobiography or in an interview sometime ago that the only player he was ever scared of was Big Dunc.

What on earth will we fill our time with over the next fortnight?

Maybe Coleman will get injured so we can have a good moan.

Put Lennon and Bolasie, on the flanks, and suddenly we would have a team full of energy?

God work by Koeman on this. He sorted it out privately with McCarthy and cut soft arse out of the loop.

I suppose it plays well with the Irish media.

Shithouse of a player though? The greatest midfielder of the last 20 years in the UK and Ireland in my opinion.

He behaves like a spoiled brat, has to have the last word and had a propensity from time to time to mete out revenge as a player.

"We've had a problem with Roberto Martinez previously – I always felt the Everton players were going to turn up on crutches” said Keane.

“They shouldn't be so quick to stop Irish players coming to play for Ireland.

“(Darron Gibson) misses a hell of a lot of games for Everton… so maybe they need to look at their own training schedule.

“I'm not sure when they last won a trophy, so maybe as a club, their players need to toughen up a bit.”

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/12020/10650022/roy-keane-lashes-out-at-Everton-after-james-mccarthys-exit-from-ireland-squad

In this latest tirade he actually praises the club as well as knocks it. His criticisms make no sense whatsoever and he gets more air time than any other assistant manager because there's no bigger draw for the media. Roy is box office.

I agree with a lot of what he says but not on this occasion. But a legend of the game he will always be in my mind.

Just sayin'...

Box to box to box to box to box — work work work work.

Always available to receive a ball because he always passed and moved – immediately (none of this pass then... stand there like a prick).

He dragged those around him to greater effort and wouldn't tolerate team-mates slacking. His influence on (and importance to) Man Utd's success, was proven a thousand times.

However, as a feller, imo, there are obvious problems (taps temple) up here. I see him as a 100% inflexible, tight knot of boiling frustration and anger who sees everything that doesn't go his way as an injustice.

As a player, he only had to deal with himself. As a manager (or 'coach'), things are very different and I believe he will never truly succeed because he can only deal with problems in a stupidly aggressive, irrational and confrontational manner.

And as second in command with ROI, others in the game (players, managers, clubs) can ignore him or tell him (polite-ishly) to 'fucking do one' (without him having the option of crippling them).

Imo, he is the victim/prisoner of some deep-seated macho bollocks that makes empathy with others genuinely impossible, and that is a problem for him as a coach.

A Pundit: "Some players need a bollocking Roy, but Ronnie Flache-Gette is one of those who probably needs an arm around him?"

Koeman: (stares hard at pundit for 7 minutes) "An arm around him? Which arm? An arm for what? Are we talking about men? Ridiculous... Ridiculous nonsense."

Goes home, weeps under duvet for an hour.)

He's right, we've all said it numerous times that our players lack the passion and commitment that is required to compete at the top. We don't compete at the same level that you see Liverpool competing, or Leicester last season.

Our players have grown comfortable with losing, it doesn't bother them. And going by a hell of a lot of posters on here, it doesn't bother many supporters either. It seems a lot of people are still happy to just wait and see for a couple of years.

Our mob (and owners) are just content to be in the Premier League.

I think Keane has long realised his impatience with average players is his major managerial downfall but knowing it and dealing with it consistently is another thing.

He does come out with some cracking lines over the years though.

I also agree with David Barks.

Last season, I was by the players' car park, looking at the cars and wondering just WTF is going on with football these days, and Roy Keane walked towards me and the exit. I mentioned to him as he passed that I had just finished and enjoyed reading his autobiography.

He stopped for a few minutes and thanked me for the complimentary comments and was the opposite of the persona we would normally associate with him. Polite and courteous, he apologised for having to go but he was wanted in the commentary box.

(Okay, he may well have just wanted to get away from a scouser, albeit one who had at least read his book, but he did it the right way)

And then we see the comments in the press about EFC and McCarthy...

Everton players always being injured has been well discussed on here and training regimes questioned.

When was last time we won something and EFC need to toughen up mentally, again debated many times on here.

I reckon Keane is a visitor to TW...