Giles presses for Noble amid fears over McCarthy ‘mentality’

John Giles is yet to be convinced that James McCarthy can impose himself as a commanding midfield presence for Ireland. And he believes West Ham’s Mark Noble, should he declare for the Republic, might be good enough to go straight into Martin O’Neill’s European Championship qualifying team.

Giles, one of the most complete midfielders of his generation, has closely watched McCarthy since he became a mainstay in the senior team after Euro 2012 and, while he has no doubts about the Everton man’s quality, he is concerned the player’s mentality means he might never fully realise his potential.

“He has the ability which is one thing,” says Giles.

“The mind is a different thing altogether. He has to impose himself more. But all lads are different and he might have a mentality where he thinks ‘I don’t want to do that’. I played with lads, one at Leeds for a long time who I won’t mention, and I used to be onto him in matches. He was a good lad, a pal of mine. On a Monday he would say to me ‘You might want to be the best midfield player in the world but I don’t’. What he was saying was ‘leave me alone’. Okay, that’s no problem. A lot of lads don’t want the responsibility and don’t have the mind for it.”

And Giles, who fears that games can pass McCarthy by, is still looking for evidence that the 23-year-old is ready to take on that added responsibility.

“I haven’t seen it so far,” he says. “He has the ability and I’ve seen him in matches in good positions but he doesn’t demand the ball. You have to demand the ball.

“If you’re on the ball as a full-back, you can’t think of everything. You don’t know if I’m in a good position because your mind is occupied with doing something else. But if I shout your name loud, you get all that stuff out of your head — and that’s demanding the ball.

“With McCarthy, I don’t think he says anything and he lets you kick it up the line. The game is passing him by. He has the ability, as I have seen him knock the ball 40 yards. But it’s not good if you don’t let your team-mate know you’re there — and I haven’t seen him do that yet.”

Giles shares the hope — if not necessarily the conviction — that having Roy Keane as a midfield mentor with Ireland might help McCarthy kick on to the next level.

“I hope so, and Martin [O’Neill] too. Yeah, yeah. But I’m only saying McCarthy could be the type of lad who doesn’t want it. Some lads are natural at demanding the ball. [Wes] Hoolahan does it, in fairness to him. McCarthy has a lot of ability but you have to be a certain personality, and some lads never do it.”

Meanwhile, the former Ireland manager — who says he is honoured by the decision to make him a Freeman of his native Dublin — would have no hesitation in selecting Noble if he is willing to play.

“When I was manager I would have picked anyone that would improve the team,” says Giles.

“You are obeying the rules. It’s a multi-cultural world now and it proved to be right because Ray Houghton, Andy Townsend, [Tony] Cascarino, [John] Aldridge — none of those players could have done any more, played any better or tried any harder for the Irish team, and that is all you want. You could have an Irish guy coming in who wouldn’t try a leg.

“I would take Noble tomorrow as he would improve our team. I would have him in the squad starting off and then have a look at it. He is a good Premier League player and we don’t have many good Premier League players. I think he would get into the team straight away.”

* John Giles was in Dublin yesterday, with fellow former international Kevin Kilbane, to help launch the 2014 Westport Sea2Summit Adventure Race, a charity fund-raising event which, this year, is taking place in association with the John Giles Foundation and Down Syndrome Ireland. For further details of the event, which takes place on Saturday November 8, see www.westportsea2summit.ie