Former Ireland defender Kenny Cunningham believes James McCarthy has the tools to play as the Boys in Green's main holding midfielder heading into the future.
The Everton midfielder fulfilled that role with aplomb against Germany before Glenn Whelan returned to take on that role with McCarthy playing slightly further forward against Poland yesterday.
Speaking on Off The Ball, as he analysed that latter defeat which consigns Ireland to the Euro 2016 playoffs, Kenny looked at the case for McCarthy to be assigned with the defensive midfield role.
"I think his best position is probably in that holding midfield role, very similar to Glenn [Whelan] in some respects. But he probably just gets the edge over Glenn in terms of just his mobility and he's a little bit more dynamic over the ground as we saw against Germany, eating up the ground and making tackles," he said.
"Potentially going forward, if everybody was available, you'd probably see James slip into that kind of holding midfield position. He'll probably tell you that maybe that's his preference if he was to be asked."
Kenny was also satisfied with the selection for the Poland game.
"I certainly wouldn't be laying the blame at the manager's door," he said.
"Certainly when I saw the team, I was very much happy with it and in Wes' absence, without that obvious No 10, we haven't got another one, so you really have to go with the three orthodox midfielders in there and you just take your pick."
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