Republic ofIreland's Assistant Manager Roy Keane typically pulled no punches whenresponding to James McCarthy pulling out of the latest international squad -after being urged to do so by Everton manager Ronald Koeman.
Speaking to journalistsahead of Ireland's World Cup qualifier against Austria, the former Manchester United captain accused Everton of 'massively overloading' players.
We've had a problem with Roberto Martinez previously. I always felt the Everton players were going to turn up on crutches or crawling in the hotel door,� he said.
Keane continued to takeswipes at Koeman and Everton and called the club'straining into question.
They shouldn't be so quick to stop Irish players coming to play for Ireland. [Darron Gibson] misses a hell of a lot of games for Everton¦so maybe they need to look at their own training schedule."
The 45-year-old, who won 67 caps for his country, left his biggest dig until last, calling into question the mentality of Everton and their winning record (or lack thereof).
"If you're overloading players that's a good thing. It means you're playing a lot of games and having success...I'm not sure when they last won a trophy, so maybe as a club, their players need to toughen up a bit,� Keane added.
Roy Keane dropping bombs aots #EFC https://t.co/KFAXRFH8cR pic.twitter.com/Je1Bx1hFVN
To clarify for Roy's benefit,Everton's last trophy came in 1995, when the Toffees won the FA Cup thanks to a Paul Rideout strike.
Perhaps Keane has blocked the event from his memory, as he was in fact on the losing side that day, playing for Manchester United.
Since then, the Goodison Park side have had seven different managers and came closest to success under David Moyes when they reached the FA Cup final in 2009.