It's games like yesterday that expose him, we may have been outnumbered in midfield but we were definitely overrun, and he was invisible. Looks OK on the ball, doesn't do anything conspicuously bad but has lost some pace and much of his attacking threat (which was considerable a couple of seasons back). We need an upgrade, bcos our midfielders tend to be defensive - we have stodgy paceless midfielders and airy-fairy attackers, and the stodge has great trouble delivering the ball to the twinkle-toed ones upfront - a better link between defence and attack has long been required, someone who can put their foot in AND add a bit of creativity either through passing or dribbling, a poor man's Colin Bell, maybe two of them, or a midfield general who MCarthy can look after. McArthur's been a great servant, he still gives all he can, but yesterday he was a passenger, and it's not the first time, he's never conspicuously poor but he is too often invisible or ineffective these days - we need a replacement similar to the Jimmy Mac who arrived, he belongs in Scotland or the Championship now imho.

The reason I'm 'picking' on him, is bcos we need Jimmy Mac, Jairo and Luca but we don't need McArthur or Meyer any more - we need an attacking midfielder, we only have Schlupp who can't play deep in the middle, Eze needs to be wide or in an advanced position - he doesn't pick the ball up deep in midfield, we need someone in there who can turn defence into attack, pass or move forwards effectively not sideways, supply the forwards quicker and better than we do atm. Everton have got Allan and Doucoure in, they protect the back four but they help to set up attacks like Jairo did yesterday, it's why we basically play 7-0-3 rather than 4-2-1-3. One of the commentators described McArthur as a 'ratter' - a spoiler if you like, but we're struggling partly bcos our midfield has too many ratters and not enough players, there's always more flair the further up the pitch you go, but virtually all our flair is in the final third and we need a bit more in the middle to make our supply less predictable, and McArthur cannot be described as unpredictable. I think he's a symptom of a bigger problem with Roy's approach.

I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen. He will leave Palace when his contract runs out and disappear into the abyss. His career fizzled out well before it’s time.

Absolute warrior for us. Fine to replace him if we have better options...but right now we don't. Be careful what you wish for...

Wise words.

spot on, and I'm not knocking McArthur as such, but as one poster said he can't play in a midfield pair any more, ain't got the legs and ends up chasing the game