Availability of Everton players may become an issue, says Roy Keane

Roy Keane has suggested that the availability of two of Ireland's most talented players, James McCarthy and Seamus Coleman, may need to be addressed in talks with Everton manager Roberto Martínez if there continue to be doubts about their ability to participate in even the most important of international games.

Both have both missed Ireland games this season through injury, but McCarthy's case is particularly stark, with the midfielder playing from start to finish in 10 of Everton's 11 league games while featuring in just one since the summer for Martin O'Neill, the win in Georgia.

Keane made it clear that he was not questioning the fact that the 24-year-old was not fit enough to play in Glasgow on Friday, but said that, in the wider scheme of things, O’Neill’s first interest has to be Ireland, just as Martínez’s is bound to be Everton. If the availability of McCarthy, or Coleman, continued to be an issue, the managers might have to sit down and discuss the situation.

‘Difficult’ situation

“It’s a difficult one,” Keane said. “When a player turns up and they’re not sure if they’re going to be fit, you have to try and be fair to the club and you obviously have to try and be fair to the player, but obviously you’re working for your country and you want to get the right result.

“It’s a difficult one for James as well. I worry that he’s under lots of pressure, particularly from Everton’s point of view, because every time there is an international match, it does seem to be Seamus and James under lots of pressure: they’re turning up or they mightn’t turn up or they’re struggling.

“There are two sides to the argument, I’ve experienced it myself, [but] you always get the impression from Everton that Seamus and James are both barely able to walk, that type of thing. So when they actually turn up and they are walking through the reception, [you think] ‘Praise the lord, it’s a miracle’.

“But if the player is not fit, he is not fit, and I don’t think Martin has ever had a problem with that. Whatever way you look at it, James didn’t train all week. To be fair, he has come over and got his medical treatment and felt he wasn’t right. So there was no issue with Martin.

“But if it carries on for the next year or two, I think it would put a lot of pressure on James, and that is unfair on the player. Roberto Martínez has to look after his club and he is probably thinking they have European games. Roberto, I don’t think he has ever played senior level at international level and maybe he doesn’t appreciate how big it is for us . . .There has to be, I think, some sort of sit-down conversation and say, ‘listen’, because I think Martin’s been more than good enough here, particularly [with regard to] the friendlies, but these are big qualifying matches now. You’re just, I think, looking for a bit of fairness.”

The assistant manager made it clear that this is all part of a conflict that goes on between clubs and national teams all the time. He suggested that most of the squad are fielding calls from club physios while they are with Ireland, but he maintains that people have to be reasonable. “I always hear about people talking about players being 100 per cent fit,” he said, “but I don’t know too many players who are 100 per cent fit. I don’t know what that means.”

Gibson released

Darron Gibson, meanwhile, is sufficiently short of that figure to have been released back to Everton on Saturday for treatment on what was described by the FAI as a minor knock to the knee. And

Robbie Keane

has returned to LA Galaxy to focus on the club’s forthcoming MLS play-offs. Keane insisted, though, that the player had taken the decision to drop him well. “Robbie is brilliant for the group and brilliant for the team, and the way he reacted to the disappointment at Saturday’s training session was fantastic, absolute different class. Robbie Keane is as good a professional as I have come across.”

Asked about the player’s comment that the tactics do not suit him as he is not the ideal lone striker, or as he put it, “I’m not f**king Niall Quinn”, Keane said simply: “No, he’s a lot better than Niall Quinn.”