Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
McCarthy unfazed by away days
Thursday 11th March 2010, 11:00AM GMT.
Bullish boss Mick McCarthy has greeted Saturday’s big clash at Burnley by insisting the three successive away games Wolves now face pose “no problem” to him.
Saturday’s trip to Turf Moor kicks off a claret and blue treble on the road that sees the team go to Villa seven days later, before the re-arranged trip to fellow strugglers West Ham the Tuesday after.
Wolves go into the weekend with the psychological advantage of still being out of the drop zone on goal difference, after Burnley were held 1-1 by Stoke last night.
A point moved them above Hull and level on 24 points with McCarthy’s men, who join all the strugglers apart from Bolton in now having a game in hand on the Clarets.
But with Wolves having scored one more goal on their travels than at Molineux and conceded fewer away than anyone in the bottom nine apart from West Ham and Portsmouth, McCarthy is more than optimistic about the next three games.
He said: “Pundits keep saying – although I don’t really listen to them – that we’ve got to get eight, nine or 10 points away from home, and if we don’t them we haven’t got any chance.
“But we’ve already beaten Wigan and Tottenham away and drawn at Everton, Stoke and Hull, so there’s nine points.
“The reality is but for a wonder strike at Sunderland, we were cooking on gas there, and but for the sending off at Liverpool, we were flying there as well without any trouble.
“So I’ve got no problems with going away from home.”
McCarthy revealed Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United was demoralising but is confident his players will be raring to go at Turf Moor.
He said: “I’m glad we’re playing well because that’s the only way we can turn it around. We’ve just got to get over Saturday’s game. It was demoralising and I felt bad after the game, but if I stop feeling like that after a defeat, I shall pack the job in.
“The players keep going – they got to keep coming back and keep believing that playing that way will see us OK.
“We did have four really good chances – and we had better ones than they did actually.”
Sponsored Links
UK Sport
Latest Blog — Microsoft Comes to the University of Wolverhampton
Last week Microsoft visited the University of Wolverhampton to give students the chance to develop their own phone apps that could be published on the Windows Phone Marketplace.
Technology blog
Business Awards
Read the full story here
Full coverage of awards celebrating the region's best businesses.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
LIVE traffic updates
Road, rail and airport - latest
Our new, live traffic and travel updates service - check before you set out.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
Mick its somtimes better not to say anything,cause i for one am worried about 3 away games with a team that couldent score in a brothel.
Report abuse
Come on you wolves i will be there to roar you on 3 points please.
Report abuse
Pin Blakes comments on the wall Mick – team done for you – think this will really wind them up and come back to bite them in the a** !!!
UTW
Report abuse
yeah thats really riled me up that has.
Report abuse
The reality is we still lost at Sunderland & Liverpool !
Please get real
Report abuse
Well this is it, crunch time; no excuses, it’s Burnley!!! With the rest of the PL strugglers making moves toward safety this really is do-or-die, a draw doesn’t do either team any good. Daylight is starting to appear between the bottom four and the rest of the PL; even if we steal all three points we stay forth from bottom but a win would be a huge morale boost and it would be a big nail in the Burnley relegation coffin!
I’m interested to see how MM approaches this game; which players start and which formation he defers too. Our PL future may look a little clearer at 4:45 on Saturday depending on the result
UTW
Report abuse
Plenty of spin coming out but no realism.Deafening silence from Steve Morgan and Jez Moxey and considering their pre-season statements that we will comfortably survive in the premiership and not follow Albions failure to stay up it all seems to be just words.Lack of quality , poor structure and people who cannot run Premiership teams.The lack of goals will almost certainly continue and we will be back in Steve Morgans , Jez Moxeys and Mick Mcarthys comfort zone the Championship.Shocking lies.
Report abuse
3 points please, a draw or defeat aint good enough. Don’t bottle it!
I’d like a change of personnel or formation but Mick’s too stubborn to change even a losing team.
I just hope the square pegs in round holes do it for us on Sat otherwise I don’t think they’ll recover.
Report abuse
Thats it lads, stay optomistic,,,, as ever!
Report abuse
anything less than a win would be a complete disaster, draws will not be enough. we have to beat the teams around us or we dont deserve to be in this league. Not happy with mick saying that its not the end if we lose. What type of message does that send out to the players? geez no wonder we are toothless at the mo.
Time to be clinical lads, i’d go back to 4-4-2, we dont score enough goals at 4-5-1. Bring iwelumo back hes got such a presence upfront, target man for doyle then maybe doyle can start firing them in again. Milijas should be brought back in, a set piece specialist is what we need for corners and free kicks.
We had about 7corners in first 30mins against bolton, not one of them looked a threat.
come on lads, go for the win!
Report abuse
Demoralised with the BOLTON result – Yes. The Man U result was dissapointing all things considered, but would have been a bonus.
THIS WEEKEND IS A MUST NOT LOSE GAME. IF WE LOSE WE ARE DOOMED!
Change the team and really go for it as we are better than Burnley. Play this 4-5-1 against Burnley and you should be shot! Get another stricker on the park.
WOLVES FOREVER!
Report abuse
When you’ve lost as many premiership games as Mccarthy then what difference does 3 away games make ??
Worst record in prem manager history and we gotta put our faith in him…… CRIPES !!!
Report abuse
All talk no action.
Report abuse
Number 6, Geoff Bull,
Clear off back to West brom, no fan gives up on our fight to stay up before we have…
hope you keep your views away from Homes and away games, we dont need negative fans like you at a time like this
Report abuse