Doherty becoming a hard man to ignore for Mick McCarthy
AS THERE was no live football yesterday, Mick McCarthy will have spent some of his 60th birthday contemplating his likely Republic of Ireland team for the Euro 2020 qualifiers. In particular, he might have reflected on the right-back position, currently the preserve of Seamus Coleman, the captain. Coleman (Everton) is one of three Premier League right-backs McCarthy has at his call, along with Matt Doherty (Wolves) and Cyrus Christie (Fulham). It is less than four weeks since McCarthy gave a ringing endorsement of Coleman’s qualities, as player, personality and leader. He pointed out how Jack Charlton had stood by him for Ireland when he wasn’t always playing at Lyon or Millwall, and stressed he had no concerns over Coleman’s form. That same weekend, Coleman returned to the Everton XI having been temporarily overlooked by Marco Silva and helped them to a 2-0 home win over Bournemouth. McCarthy’s supportive comments seemed timely and there was little to suggest Coleman might not win his 50th cap in the Euro opener against Gibraltar on March 23. Since then, he has found himself dragged into the quicksands starting to envelope Everton. His waning FA Cup’s dreams were dashed by Millwall (McCarthy’s old club) while last Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat at home to Wolves was the 10th in the Premier League this season. Once again, Everton’s frailties from set-pieces was ruthlessly exposed. As a member of the defensive unit, Coleman was, in part, culpable. Last night, Everton had to deal with Manchester City while Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are the next visitors in line for Goodison. Things are not likely to not get any easier for Coleman, or underfire Silva either. What made Saturday’s result relevant to McCarthy’s Euro 2020 game-plan was the impact of Matt Doherty. Operating as a wing-back, Doherty repeatedly punched holes in the Everton flank, and it was his enterprising dash into the penalty box which led to a foul by Leighton Baines, from which Wolves scored. On Match Of The Day, Doherty’s contribution of Doherty was highlighted by Alan Shearer who conversely tore strips off Everton’s defending. This season, Coleman has started 20 Premier League games out of 25, and chalked up 1,750 minutes. In that time, he has scored one goal and not had a single assist. In contrast, Doherty has started 24 out of 25 games, played 2,138 minutes, scored three goals and had four assists. He has helped fire newly-promoted Wolves to seventh, he has also scored three goals in the FA Cup, including a brace in Tuesday’s win over Shrewsbury. With a run of games to come against Newcastle, Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Cardiff, he can keep catching the eye of McCarthy while strengthening his claim to be the first Ireland international on the PFA Team of the Year since, irony of ironies, Coleman, in 2014. At 27, the longestserving player at Molineux (he was signed by McCarthy from Bohemians in the summer of 2010) has had to bide his time for international recognition. Thwarted by Coleman’s class, and then by Martin O’Neill’s hesitancy when Coleman was out injured, the Dubliner has won just five caps. That could be about to change. Since McCarthy made his debut 35 years ago, the likes of Davy Langan, Chris Hughton, Chris Morris, Denis Irwin, Gary Kelly and Steve Finnan have stood tall in the No 2 position. McCarthy is hard-nosed enough not to be swayed by sentiment and will select the best team available to him. Whether it’s a 4-4-2 formation, which McCarthy prefers, or 3-5-2 with wing-backs, on current form, Doherty is ahead of Coleman, and Christie too.
‘On ‘Match of the Day’, Doherty’s contribution was highlighted by Alan Shearer