Roy Keane has been speaking to the assembled Irish sports media at Abbotstown this afternoon ahead of the mega World Cup qualifier in Vienna, and one of the main topics for discussion surrounded James McCarthy. The Everton midfielder has withdrawn from the Irish squad through injury, following somewhat of a war of words between Martin O'Neill and Ronald Koeman.
The Dutch manager complained of Ireland's treatment of McCarthy during the last international window, claiming that they had pushed an injured midfielder too far.
Martin O'Neill refuted this completely, saying that Koeman had been "bleating" on about it.
Following McCarthy's withdrawal from the squad, Keane was asked about the situation, with Keane saying that he is not in the squad as he has a hamstring injury, before aiming a dig at Everton in trademark Keane fashion.
We’ve had a problem with Roberto Martinez previously – I always felt the Everton players were going to turn up on crutches.
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.
When asked about Ronald Koeman, Keane replied:
I couldn't care less about his opinions.
Watch it below:
https://youtu.be/OJTjreKUPFE
Harry Arter is expected to make his first competitive appearance for Ireland in McCarthy's stead.
