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JAMES McCARTHY has been an Everton thoroughbred ever since he signed from Wigan in the summer of 2013.

But outspoken Irish TV pundit Eamon Dunphy thinks differently.

The RTE analyst slated McCarthy after the Republic of Ireland’s disappointing 1-1 draw with Scotland on Saturday.

And he labelled the Everton man “a talking horse” and “just no good” – suggesting that Norwich City’s Wes Hoolahan was a better prospect for the national team.

“McCarthy is just a talking horse,” he said. “Horses who are supposed to do great things on the gallops every morning but 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. You just don’t see him. You don’t see Whelan. You can’t go into a game like this minus two players.”

Toffees fans are acutely aware of McCarthy’s value to his club side - value which can be backed up by statistics.

Comment: Everton can't afford to let James McCarthy situation get out of hand

It is also worth pointing out that McCarthy and Hoolahan adopt different playing positions on the field, which is why the Norwich midfielder’s attacking stats are better than McCarthy’s, while the Everton man’s defensive contributions are much more impressive.

For Norwich last season Hoolahan racked up five goals and 10 assists in the Championship, dwarfing McCarthy’s two goals scored and one assist in the Premier League for the Blues. Not exactly a surprise to anyone.

However, what might surprise Mr Dunphy in particular is that the Everton man actually completed a higher percentage of take-ons (69.75%) than the Canaries player (63.04%) and also boasted a higher pass completion rate, with 85% of his passes finding their intended target.

Mr Dunphy is also previously quoted as saying McCarthy “doesn’t really move the ball forwards”, so perhaps all of those accurate passes have been in the wrong direction?

Again the stats prove that theory wrong.

In the league last season, 62.9% of McCarthy’s passes were forward ones, and just in case you still want to compare that to the more attack-minded Hoolahan, his percentage of forward passes in the league last season stood at 62.7%. Suddenly McCarthy’s attacking influence on the pitch, at least for Everton, looks a lot better.

For the Toffees, McCarthy provides a perfect link between attack and defence, is rock solid in the centre of midfield and, towards the end of the last campaign, started to add more goals to his game.

It’s obvious that the Blues miss him when he doesn’t line up in the centre of the park; Everton only managed a 10% win ratio without McCarthy last season compared to 39% when he did make an appearance.

This, however, is not the first time Mr Dunphy has been seen to unfairly criticise Everton’s midfielder and is also not the first time that the controversial pundit has come out in favour of Wes Hoolahan.

In March, he joined RTE colleague Liam Brady in again criticising McCarthy, claiming that the Glasgow-born midfielder was “enormously overrated” and suggesting that Stephen Quinn should be starting internationals ahead of him.

Last week, Dunphy launched a scathing attack on Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill for his treatment of Hoolahan, suggesting he would sack the manager for putting unnecessary pressure on the Norwich man when he turns out for his country.

So maybe it’s a case of just one pundit having a preference towards one player over another?

Because everything else suggests that McCarthy more than deserves his place in the Republic of Ireland starting line up for years to come.

OTHER PEARLS OF EAMON DUNPHY WISDOM

1. On Harry Kewell: “He’s fat and a clown, Bill, a fat clown for all to see.”

2. On Steven Gerrard: “Found out. A nothing player.”

3. On Cristiano Ronaldo: “Ronaldo is a disgrace to the game. His petulance, temperament, throwing himself on the ground. It was a disgrace to professional football. This fella Ronaldo is a cod.”

4. On his achievements: “I’ve never managed anywhere, I’ve managed to stay alive for 63 and a half years baby.”

5. On Kevin Kilbane: “Kilbane’s head is better than his feet. If only he had three heads, one on the end of each leg.”

6. On Djibril Cisse: "Here we have Cisse, right wing, attempts to put in a cross. Bang, he hits the full back. Bang, he hits the full back again. Bang, off the full back again. And once more, bang, smacks the full back again. Millions of euro and he can’t clear the first man. I mean, what’s he trying to do to the full back here? Kill him?”

7. On Niall Quinn: “Niall Quinn is a creep. The man’s an idiot, a Mother Theresa.”

8. On Mick McCarthy: “He’s one of the biggest whingers in world football… he’s a bloody eejit.”

9. On Wimbledon: “Well, I don’t like to make outlandish statements. Not all the time. But Wimbledon would have beaten them 10-0.”

10. On the Match of the Day pundits: “They just talk drivel. Whoever is winning is great, whoever isn’t, isn’t. It’s banal. And also semi-literate at times … they never criticise in an intelligent way. Anything that isn’t banal is said to be an outburst. They’ve created this cartoon world where everyone talks like Lineker and says nothing.”

11. On Jose Mourinho: “We’ll all see through Mourinho. We’ll find out he’s just a Bengal lancer.”

12. On his Ireland debut against Spain: “If ever a player was out of his class that night it was me.”

13. On his lack of footballing talent: “I’ll have you know that I am not a failed Third Division footballer. I am a failed Second Division footballer.”

14. On Michel Platini: “Michel Platini has no bottle. He is not a great player.”

15. On John Hartson, while analysing a clip of him in action: “That is NOT the arse of a £7million player!”

16. On Michel Platini: “Not a great player."

17. On Diego Maradona: “Not a great player.”

18. On Zinedine Zidane: “Not a great player.”