Ian Snodin: Everton's James McCarthy outguns Jack Wilshire in my book
James McCarthy in action against Jack Wilshire
Two of the Premier League’s brightest young midfield talents went head to head on Saturday night at Goodison – in Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and Everton’s James McCarthy.
And I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that I would rather have McCarthy in my midfield.
That’s not an Evertonian being biased. I think that’s the general consensus in football at the moment – based on their performances over the past 12 months.
McCarthy was outstanding on Saturday, which is representative of how he’s been performing ever since he arrived at Everton.
When Paul Scholes said that Jack Wilshere hadn’t really come on as a player since his teenage years I hadn’t given it much thought.
As a 17 and 18 year old he was very promising, but comparing their respective qualities on Saturday and McCarthy was head and shoulders above Wilshere.
Quite simply he influences the game much more.
He covers a phenomenal amount of ground, he makes important tackles and interceptions, he uses the ball well and he gives a real presence and purpose to the Everton midfield.
Wilshere is neat and tidy, but you can’t really say much more than that - and when things are going against his side he gets prickly.
He was very lucky to only receive a yellow card for that late lunge on Gareth Barry.
I have to admit that when we bought James McCarthy from Wigan I didn’t know a huge amount about him.
I hadn’t seen him play all that often and I wondered whether we had paid over the odds for him.
But he very quickly grew and grew on me and I very quickly accepted that he is a terrific player.
His workrate is truly phenomenal and he seems to cover every blade of grass in every match, but he’s no headless chicken, he has a real sense of purpose about everything he does.
He’s been a great buy and I can honestly say that if you offered me Jack Wilshere in a swap deal, I’d say ‘No thank you, I’m happy with who we’ve got.’
Another player who was a non-stop presence on Saturday was Steven Naismith.
He was fantastic and was in Arsenal’s faces from first minute to last.
Perhaps the biggest compliment you could pay him is that Arsene Wenger was up out of his seat having a pop at him, the Arsenal players were surrounding him having a pop, and he simply shrugged, got on with his job and continued getting in their faces and upsetting him.
When you have someone like that in your side who keeps winding the opposition up you know you’ve got a valuable player.
He was part of an outstanding first half performance from the Blues.
Unfortunately a lack of match fitness on one or two individuals did appear to take its toll in the closing 20 minutes – but rather than be concerned I prefer to dwell on the positives from that first half display.
Arsenal are an excellent side strongly tipped to finish in the top four, and for long periods we outclassed and outplayed them.
That has to be a positive.
Source: Ian Snodin Echo
