McCarthy gets the big call

AS an attacking midfielder, James McCarthy is not unlike Stephen Ireland and could give Giovanni Trapattoni the chance to experiment tactically.

That was the message from the Ireland manager yesterday as, to nobody’s surprise, the Wigan Athletic youngster was given his first senior squad call-up for the March 2 friendly against Brazil in London.

Arguing that it’s the quality of the players available which would allow him to change his system, Trapattoni likened McCarthy to the Manchester City man and hinted that he could play him in the ‘number 10’ position behind a striker.