Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Sir Alex’s tribute to Wolves boss
Tuesday 15th December 2009, 2:00PM GMT.
Sir Alex Ferguson has backed Mick McCarthy as the man to lead Wolves to Premier League survival.
The Manchester United boss pits his champions against McCarthy’s men tonight at an expectant Old Trafford following Saturday’s surprise defeat to Villa.
In a tribute to the Wolves boss, Ferguson outlined his respect for the work the Molineux chief is doing at trying to re-establish one of the clubs the United boss revered as a youngster.
He said: “As you expect from a manager like Mick, Wolves will not stop battling as they seek to climb away from the relegation danger area. They picked up an important win the other weekend, not only collecting a valuable three points but at the expense of Bolton – one of their other fellow teams in distress.
“Then they signalled their determination by beating Tottenham, currently one of the most successful teams in the Premier League.
“Mick has been in dogfights before in his career and he will not give up easily – as we will probably discover this evening as we pursue our own agenda of making December a key month in our championship campaign.”
Wolves haven’t won or even scored at Old Trafford since Mel Eves’s single-goal winner in February 1980 some six trips ago.
But buoyed by back-to-back wins against Bolton and Tottenham, McCarthy’s side will fancy their chances of at least stalling the United bandwagon.
Wolves have managed to score early and first in their last two games, to pave the way to victories that have lifted the team out of the relegation zone.
But the results have been achieved with a highly disciplined approach that saw the wide men subdued and a deeper-lying defence.
McCarthy will no doubt insist on a similar approach at Old Trafford, even though it will be a slightly changed line-up.
Kevin Doyle could be a casualty as McCarthy looks to keep players fresh for the more winnable game on Sunday against Burnley.
The manager said: “We started well at Tottenham, got the goal and we were disciplined and organised. The players deserve the credit.”
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Be great to get a result tonight but I’d take a thrashing if we can beat Burnley on Sat. If we can beat Burnley and get a positive result V Man City at home we will be in a great position. Our form has been good recently. Arnseal and Chelsea are void games. Villa, Stoke, Everton, Bolton, Spurs
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I wish people would get off his back when we have a bad result, i agree the blues game was not good enough but since that bad result the players have pulled there socks up.
Im still support you mick ignore these muppets on here.
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Respect from the greatest Manager of them all, Take that you silly Mick dissenters! Lets get behind this young team! Away with Ye Boo boys!
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Well well sir Alex, kind words for Micko I guess we all have opinions and I see were he is coming from.something I can become oblivious to due to my Love for Wolves when we struggle and are not fightng for our lives like against Birmingham.
I am behind the team at all times but I remain of the beleif longterm Micko will go as Wolves need more than just a grafting Boss we need this but we need a sharp more forward thinking manager then Micko to become an established team in the prem.It is my opinion but sadly I am aware that all the (Micko stay) fans will agree with me sometime soon but I hope its not when we are relegated. In the meantime I am behind micko but more importantly my beloved Wolves.These are my own views which I share to be proved correct but to voice my forward thinking abilites.
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Far too much mutual butt kissing going on before this game. Chuck respect out of the window and go up there and kick ‘em round the park lads!
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I’d put Doyle on the bench & start with Iwelumo. Iwelumo holds the ball up better than SEB as a lone striker. If we start with 2 strikers, (hopefully), then start SEB & Iwelumo together. SEB came to life when Iwelumo came on & they started looking like their old partnership again.
I’d bring the Hoff on at some stage & really go for it. Stick with what were best at, & try & make the most of our set pieces again. Our biggest weapon is Milijas’s deliveries, which are very difficult to defend against. Craddock, Berra, Iwelumo & the Hoff may not be the best technical headerers of the ball, but put it accurately on their head & anything can happen.
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Forget this game tonight we will lose as simple as that! The pressure comes on Saturday against Burnley, our record so far against teams we ought to have a chance of beating has not been that good and this game is followed by Liverpool away and then Man City. We will be counted come early May on how we perform against our fellow strugglers.
I hate to remind us of the fact but how many of our goals this season come from open play? We need more goals (wake up SEB) or we will not survive, we can’t rely on scoring all our goals from set pieces. Halford back in the side…Oh my God, may as well play The Hoff and get on the end of his long throws tonight then.
Fight, fight wherever you may be.
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Make me proud tonight boys!!
I’m travelling to the game from Sheffield with a couple of Man U fans. Make the journey back home, the best trip over the Pennines I’ve ever had!
In Mick we trust!!
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Let’s worry about Burnley on Sunday and concentrate on getting 3 points tonight.
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Staying positive here in the Carolinas.Let’s
nick a point tonight.This will certainly help
Morgan & Moxey to invest more in January thus
making us(fans)more understanding as to the intentions of the club/owners.
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Stoke wolf, get a grip son were playing on
Sunday not Sat. Does make you look a bit silly.
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IN MICK WE TRUST!
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I think that Sir Alex is softening us up.After their home loss to the Villa,i feel we may get the backlash.
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stokewolf, it doesnt matter how the goals come just ask wigan. utw
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No 11.
Bobby b…..you sound like some failed pub singer!
Get a life, he got the day wrong….big deal!
Pratt!!!!
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Well said Sir Alex. By your tribute the anti-Mick Brigade should shut up once and for all. What’s the use of changing the manager after a few years like we had in the past like Graham Turner, Mark McGhee, Colin Lee and Glenn Hoddle.
If one remembers Sir Alex had the sack ready after three years without a trophy but then came the FA Cup and all was forgotten.
Now he has been around 24 years at OT and look how their trophy cabinet has been changed several times to accommodate the titles United win year in year out.
Oh by the way as Sir Alex said he used to follow Wolves as a youngster. So this shows what a great team Wolves had in the Stan Cullis era.
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10 changes !!! i feel for the fans who have paid there £42 …for there tickets !!!!hope this doesn’t blow up in his face .
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Wow! Just seen the starting line up. So much for Mick promising not to ‘do an Albion’ & field a weaker side.
Hahnamann + 10 changes!
I think Mick learned that the Chelsea defeat destroyed their confidence so much that he’s opted to let our reserves lose 5 or 6 & keep first team confidence on a high for the all important Burnley game.
Its a smart move cause only bad things would have come from Old Trafford
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StokeWolf, I can vouch that we will lose tonight as I have just seen the team Mick’s put out!
I know Burnley is a ‘must-win’ game but tonight’s team?
I just hope Burnley don’t turn us over after this!
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You are a joke McCarthy,no guts,no ambition,your not fit to be a Premiership manager,,you might have no pride but we have.
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big mistake picking that team.to try and save the players for sunday diddums let them try working 40+ hours a week for a pittence then i could understand we needed something out of this game now if we dont beat burnly sunday i hope mick is going to do the right thing and walk we need a manager thats positive not negative,,,,WE ARE WOLVES,,,,ilk
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burnley
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Whata poor decision by Mc Carthy – have supported him til tonight but to be 4th from bottom playing at Utd and we send our reserve tea, Wrong signals sent out – tells players their not capable of two good results tonight and Sunday Kick in the teeth to travelling supporters tonight- ten changes
We need all the points we can get and p;aying massively understrength team is totally unacceptable. One imagines the bullets will fly if we do not beat Burnley Sunday after this
incredible decision
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like i said, dont get too depressed if we get hammered, utw
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Sir Alex doesn’t follow Wolves every week and see the stupid decisions and tactics employed by Mad Mick.
SAF does not continuously play people out of their natural position, MM thinks this is an intelligent thing to do. Who is right?
We do watch every week, and those of us with any understanding of football realise how incompetent MM is at this level of football.
I dearly wish that it was different!
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Unbeleivable decision tonight on team selection
Fourth from bottom playing at Utd desperate need of any pointswe can get and we put out a reserve team Real strange thinking by Mc Carthy in our current position
Only if we win Sunday can such a decision be valid – to be hopes we beat Burnley justified
What happened to playing your strongest available team and providing solid opposition
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Alex has nearly lost as many marbles as McCarthy.
If we fail to beat Burnley,he HAS to go.
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Number 4 Spot on. Good result Saturday but to all the happy clappers time will tell.
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Good to see all the happy clappers getting behind a clueless manager.
I see that whilst Burnley beat Man Utd, Mick makes 10 changes and gives us 37 games to obtain enough points.
In Mick you trust, you are clueless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sack the idiot now!!!!!!
Bet Mad Mick says we dont need to win on Sunday!
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I am a big mick fan
however i feel his team selection tonight is very very negative and has now put himself under serious pressure for sunday, if he is putting a team out that is not capable of beating man utd then u’d better get 3pt on sunday mick!
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Hope it don’t go pear shaped on sunday or MM’s team selection tonite will make him look a right muppet.I could of gone and watched tonites team at Telford in a reserve game for next to nothing !! Feel sorry for the fans who wasted thier wll earned money.
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At the end of the game the Wolves fans were chanting “We want our money back”.
That sums it all up really, this was a despicable tactic, that deprived us all of a proper game of football.
I think that the Premiership should investigate this blatant defiance of Premiership rules!
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I’m an avid reader of this blog but this is my first comment.
Wolves fans are proud, very proud brought up on a history of Wolves success.
We will always support the team on the pitch but expect our best selection.
But we do not roll over, for anybody.
Mick you have gambled tonight and i am glad i put a shift in (For Christmas)rather than travelling to Old Trafford.
But if we lose on Sunday your gamble could backfire, if we win and we stay up you will be forgiven.
Wolves away suppory is renowned. If your tactics lose their support you will become yet another failed Wolves manager.
You can make this job your own!
But why did you make this astounding decision to change the whole team when we play a weakened Man U team having recording back to back wins at WHL?
I hope your clever than me Mick and i hope Alex has got a few loanees in mind!!
But Blues and Villa have won again tonight and
we’ve shown less ambition and are back in the bottom three.
The Molineux needs to be a coudron on Sunday, we need to play a high tempo physical game and get an early goal, hopefully your gamble will pay off Mick.
At the end of the day you will be judged on your decisions.
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Just got back from Old Trafford feeling robbed,let down and as a fan who travels to all away games disrespected by the Wolves. I’m sure most fans that went feel the same given the conversations at half-time.
Okay nobody expects to win there, nobody expected us to win at Spurs but we went, worked hard and got our rewards. Tonight we went and never could have got anything if we had still been there at 1:30am. The team that played, to their credit, deserved all the applause they received when they came to the Wolves fans – they worked at it and for the first 20 minutes were the better side. Didn’t see MM leave the half way line though at the end. They may have had some 1st team experience but they were not the 1st team by any shape or form, although Macienne and Foley stood out tonight.
My thoughts are for the players that missed out tonight, they must have been thinking we could have beat Utd based on their performance.
Sunday is certainly a big game now, as was the Birmingham game, but to keep the consistancy going and a team performing at it’s best you don’t change it unless you have to. What if we had kept the team from Saturday and had got a point tonight – I doubt anyone would be asking for their money back then!!!
Good Luck to the lads on Sunday and let’s make Molineux rock. 3 points now is a must!
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UNFORGIVABLE. WE SHOULD HAVE GONE THERE AFTER SATURDAYS RESULT AND FOUGHT. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN A BOX WITH PRAWN SANDWICHES AND FREE BEER. IT WOULD STILL HAVE COST 200 NOTES EASY. REFUND FOR THE FANS WHO PAID 42 NOTES AND WERE SHOCKED BY SELECTION OF MM. THAT MEANS MAD MICK/ MERLIN MICK.
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LETS GET REAL WITH OUR FULL STRENGTH TEAM WE WOULD NEVER BEAT MAN UTD, WE ARE PLAYING ONE OF THE BEST TEAMS IN THE WORLD NOT JUST ENGLAND,TO BE FAIR WE DIDNT DO TO BADLY, TAKE AWAY THE PENATLY (WHICH WE GAVE AWAY)AND THE SECOND GOAL CAUSE NOBODY WAS ON THE POST.
OUR SECOND TEAM DID WELL.
JUST SHOWS OUR DEPTH IS NOT AS BAD AS PEOPLE SAY.
YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE.
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An expected defeat last night – as in reality no-one expected a result against Man U
Not forgetting the last 2 wins against Bolton and Spurs – MM fielded a far weakened side to maintain the players confidence/ fitness/ availabillity?
The losses againts West Ham, Portsmouth at home and the draw against Hull at home may well reflect on whether we stay up or go down
3 draws imv would have meant that any losses against Chelski, Arsenal and Man U would have made no difference and we would still be sitting outside the bottom 3
Imv we must win the battle of the Prem mini league and cannot afford to drop points against teams like Burnley especially at home
The team needs a min of 3 Prem Proven Players – and imv cannot afford the luxury of “project players” who may/ or may not cut it in the greed league
We have plenty of talented youngsters who really need tried and tested Prem experience to help them through the battles to come
We live in hope that Mr Morgan insists on making this happen in the Jan transfer window to enable the club to achieve its goal of staying up
More performances like the one against Spurs and Bolton and 3 quality additions should see us through
Hoping that the club matches us the fans ambitions to make this a very Merry Christmas and a far Happier New Year for all associated with our great club
Up the Wolves!!!
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well well wasnt that a waste of money mick has last night managed to split the fans but those fickle fans who believe he was correct will be justified with a win at burnley personally think it was a terrible decision and dont want to say this but a loss to burnley will do it for me cause that is the only way the pillock can get the push steve coppell alan curbs and we may climb back out the mess mc carthy making last night he more or less showed he had no faith in the hoff or halford 2 million wasted steve bet you wouldnt let that happen in the building trade
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Gotta say i see where Mick is coming from but if we don’t win at the wknd ….what was the point!!!!!!
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we will beat burnley 3-0 utw
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There is no such thing at Wolves as no commitment somebody at Mol should tell that to mad mick look back in our history especially the Cullis era and you will never find a player not trying even if they played 3 times in a winter week if Cullis did they were out just like McCarthy should be
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