Looking after magical McCarthy

TO watch Roberto Martinez, you certainly wouldn’t think he and his Wigan Athletic team are “fighting for our lives” — as he puts it himself.

He bounds into the cafe beside the club’s DW Stadium, all smiles, thumbs up and enthusiasm. Further illustrating that he’s a manager who approaches everything at a different angle to the norm, Martinez has come up with an unique incentive for Wigan’s relegation battle — a fight that was boosted by a vital 3-1 win at Blackpool on Saturday.

“I’ve promised the boys that if we get the points we need over the next three weeks, we’ll go over and watch one of the games between Barcelona and Real Madrid.”

For most of his squad, the Clasico would be a mere reward.

For one member, however, Martinez firmly believes it should serve as research.

“James McCarthy is someone that — potentially — can play in any team in world football. The Republic of Ireland have got an unique, world-class talent. I think it could make the difference [for the team] in the future.

“What you’re getting is the whole package, the complete midfielder. It’s not many times that you see in a player huge tactical awareness, beautiful technical quality with both feet but then also the physicality to go with it. You look at the stamina and energy levels he’s got and the way he goes around the pitch, he’s phenomenal.

“You can understand why countries have been fighting for him. And clubs. You’ll see that in the near future because he’s got that kind of talent.”

The impression over here, of course, is that Martinez created some of that fighting.

Amid an awful lot of ambiguity and accusations that the Wigan manager actually prevented a fit McCarthy from travelling at times, Martinez did occasionally appear to imply a definitive decision had yet to be made by the player over choosing Ireland ahead of Scotland.

Back in February, Martinez made oblique references to “the country he is going to represent”.

But part of the reason that Martinez has agreed to this interview is to correct that impression.

For a start, he says he knew McCarthy was never going to switch allegiances. The player explicitly chose Ireland because of a promise made to his late, Donegal-born grandfather.

With that knowledge, Martinez insists that the meaning taken from some of his statements was not as intended.

Secondly, every single thing he said was merely to protect a talented young player he describes as a “diamond” from an unusually-pressurised situation.

“I think it’s quite clear I’ve never tried to persuade James to change his mind, or that I put things in his mind. All I want is for James to be happy, to be respected — because he deserves to be respected.

“And the situation just put James under massive, massive pressure without needing it.”

Indeed, Martinez maintains that the escalation of the issue actually caught Wigan by surprise.

“James had only been in the under 21s and it felt that, all of a sudden, he had to play in the [Ireland] first team. But he had always made his mind up. That was clear from the beginning. When he played against Brazil, it was because he wanted [to]. But, after that, he wasn’t called up to the senior side.

“He was in the under-21s, then got injured in October, had three months out of the game and it’s the first major injury he had. The priority was for him to come back to full fitness and start playing with the team again.

“So it’s been a difficult year and a difficult season for him.

“Then [in February] it was a panic situation that someone who was injured wasn’t going to play for the first team and I felt that was a little bit rushed.

“A situation was probably created because of the fear of losing the player — and I can understand that — but James never changed his mind. He just wanted to get back to full fitness.

“From the outside, I’m sure it’s been created that James has different options or that I’m trying to force him but that wouldn’t be accurate.

“The problem was it happened in the media so everything was blown out of proportion. The first question that everyone would ask was ‘what are you going to do, what are you going to do?’

“I felt that was a little bit rushed and we had to respect the health of the player. That was the important issue, not the possibility of playing for another country. That was just something that came out. All I wanted was for James McCarthy to be happy. And that comes from stability. And I can guarantee you that when he came back from playing against Macedonia and Uruguay, he said he really enjoyed it, he loved the chemistry he developed with the fans. That’s all I want, him being happy.”

Part of Martinez’s narrative synchs up with some of the more perplexing suggestions from those close to the player. Although he was never going to switch his allegiance, McCarthy is understood to have been slightly confused by Trapattoni’s attitude towards him.

Having only been selected for the under-21s for most of 2010 and gone on long periods unwatched by the Irish management, McCarthy is said to have found it jarring that Trapattoni suddenly made such a fuss of getting the player on the pitch in February.

A face-to-face meeting between manager and player eventually eased any misunderstanding. And, in any case, Martinez waves away any suggested tension — particularly between himself and Trapattoni.

“Not at all. I spoke with Trapattoni once and really respect him. He’s a phenomenal football man and I’m sure we’re going to carry on having a good relationship because it’s for the welfare of the player.

“From my point of view, you can understand I want someone who is a happy player. I don’t want someone who is a bit of a mess in terms of the media speculation about something that was never really an issue.”

Martinez actually thinks the future is exceptionally promising for the Irish team as a whole. He is a huge fan of Seamus Coleman and lets out an impressed whistle after mentioning Aiden McGeady’s name. With those two either side of McCarthy in midfield, Martinez believes Ireland could soon have an attack to match the international elite.

Marco Tardelli would have got a glimpse of that the last time he travelled to the DW Stadium in early February. On that day against Blackburn Rovers, McCarthy scored twice in a rip-roaring individual performance to inspire a crucial 4-3 win.

Even that, Martinez insists, doesn’t come close to capturing the full quality of the boy.

“I don’t think the Irish public has really seen the best of James McCarthy. They need to get really excited about him. I think they’re going to be surprised when they see James playing 20-25 games at a level that he can be arrogant enough to express himself.”

Expression is something the purist Martinez talks about an awful lot. Early into his Wigan tenure at the start of the 2009-10 season, he notoriously stated his disappointment that the team didn’t have the confidence in their passing game to go toe to toe with Arsenal. They rectified it later that campaign, of course, with the 3-2 win that secured survival. And Martinez believes the key to this season is the exact same. Wigan’s young players don’t need to compromise their passing approach to survive. They need to have more confidence in it.

“It’s about finding the right context in the way you want to play. If you follow the team, the progress has been phenomenal. I felt last season we had five or six outstanding performances and then we performed really, really poorly. We had the two extremes.

“This season has been a little stop-start. We conceded 10 goals in the first two games and that delayed the process in a way. We had a lot of new faces. A very, very young squad but talented. We’ve invested in youth but it takes time. We’ve been very consistent and I think we’ve improved in every department but the lack of experience has cost us. I think in the last eight games we’ve clicked as a team. We’ve played against five of the top six teams and I just feel we are ready for the next step. The whole squad has a clear understanding of how to win games and I feel that the next six games we are ready to show that.

“I think the next 18 points we have a real opportunity to finish the season on a real high. The players can get the credit they deserve because their season hasn’t really reflected the performances.

“If we do that and if we can stay in the Premier League, we’ll see the full potential of this squad. I think that will allow the team to go to the next level over the next few years.”

Whatever happens, Martinez expects McCarthy to leap several levels.

By then, of course, it mightn’t be for Wigan. But — mercifully — it definitely will be for Ireland.

* Follow Miguel Delaney at twitter.com/MDelaneyST