https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBYtwFbXDqM
James McCarthy and Glenn Whelan came in for particular criticism from Eamon Dunphy after Ireland drew 1-1 with Scotland. Dunphy said that "we can't go on with this myth that these are good quality international players".
He referred to McCarthy as a "talking horse", a player that is supposed to do great things but never produces on the pitch.
We can't go on with Glenn Whelan and McCarthy. They're paper players.
Well, McCarthy's just a talking horse. Horses that are supposed to do great things on the gallops in the morning and never produce it on the racecourse.
This guy never produces a real performance for Ireland and he rarely produces it for Everton. He's just no good. He wasn't in the game at all today.
Look at the work and the ground Wes Hoolahan covered. There's nothing from McCarthy. Really, you just don't see him. You don't see Whelan at all.
You can't go into a game minus two in midfield.
He also had this to say about Glenn Whelan.
I was having a conversation with Brian Kerr the other night on a panel. Brian had him in the underage teams.
As someone whose opinion I respect, I asked Brian 'could you tell me what Glenn Whelan does?'
And he says "he fills the space".
That's not good enough.
