A five-horse race for McCarthy
Tuesday 23rd March 2010, 11:51AM GMT.
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy believes the Premier League battle for survival is now a five-horse race.
The manager is convinced any team with 32 points or more is safe from relegation, because catching teams with that many points is too tall an order for the teams striving to get to that total.
That means Blackburn, Sunderland and Bolton are all safe in McCarthy’s view – leaving Wigan, Wolves, West Ham, Burnley and Hull to fight it out for the other two relegation spots with Portsmouth all-but doomed after having nine points deducted for entering administration.
McCarthy said: “Anyone who has 32 points isn’t going down in my view, because most of those teams have eight games to play and they’ll get something from those.
“I’m not saying 32 points will be enough, but those teams with that many already will get more points. If they get one win and the others are on 24 points, that means the ones in trouble need to get 36, which is four wins out of eight and that’s assuming the teams on 32 only win one game.
“So to overhaul that would be some achievement, but if they do, good luck to them.
“If anyone – us included – could drag a Blackburn or a Bolton into it then great, but I just don’t see it at all because they’re all capable of winning more than one or two games.
“They have also got to play each other as well.”
Nevertheless Wolves can still ease their own position and have an affect on the race tonight when they go to West Ham.
Captain Karl Henry believes they can make it a heartbreaking night for their rivals.
He said: “Definitely. If we could come away with three points tonight, that would be a really big blow mentally for the other teams in there. The way both Hull and Burnley conceded goals in the last few minutes on Saturday couldn’t have been better for us.
“For the teams below us, seeing things go against you – like us beating Burnley, then they conceded a last minute winner at Wigan, makes it really difficult for them.
“So if we could get a result tonight that would give us great confidence, but we’ve still got to get the points in the bag.”
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Agree 100% win tonight could all but see us remain in the PL, so come on Wolves lets do it tonight and give us a more enjoyable end to the season.
To all you knockers of MM he has proven to be right with the 4-5-1 formation as we are now a team harder to beat and concede less goals( look at what damage the GD is doing to Hull and Burnley), so shut up and back the bloke he has performed miracles with a squad basically that served us in the CCC bar a couple.
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Carl, no talking, just go out and play mate. No need for comments, do the talking on the field.
Good luck tonight, I was at Molineux today with work and looking out over the pitch, which needs the lines painting for Saturday by the way, I thought I hope to Christ we are atill in the Big League next year. Up the Wolves.
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3 points tonight would be awesome.
Destiny in our own hands during late march, with fixtures against teams around us to come? Great first season.
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Come on me babbies
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“Mick. We get the point. Hope you do too”.
Good luck tonight.
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100% agree. A win tonight could potentially prove to be the final nail in the coffin for Hull and Burnley catching us.
So all you knockers of MM out there, moaning about the 4-5-1 formation start getting behind him and the team. It has proven more than successful as we are now a harder team to beat and are conceding fewer goals ( look at the damage to Hull, Burnley and Wigans GD because of their style of play), it may be a horses for courses approach but its working and if we stay up we can build for next season.
MM should also be applauded for the job he has done with the team that basically served us so well in CCC, bar a couple of good signings DOYLE, HAHNEMANN and GUADEORRA ( however you spell it!!)
So come on Boys lets have three points tonight UTW!!!!!!
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Bob Wolf will be there tonight as usual.
Please play Elokobi and not your son at left back Mick and no Keogh.
Expecting a loss tonight so anything better is a bonus.
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I think a draw would be a fantastic result, especially a 0-0. I would love to see a clean sheet.
Bye Bye Hull, Burnley, Portsmouth.
What I’ve learned this year is just how long it takes for genuinely good players to acclimatize to the pace and pressure of the Premiership. We only achieved this in February.
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It’s a three horse race..Portsmouth,Hull and Burnley are the ones going down.End of.SuperMick has done a great job,really in getting us there and keeping us there but now we need to move on and get a REAL Premiership manager to take us on.Move Mick ‘upstairs’.Thanks,Mick and goodbye.Go now and you’ll be a Legend,hang around you’ll be a….
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I’d take a draw but a win would be fantastic, as it would almost guarantee premiership football next year.
We’re playing well so we’ve got every chance.
I’d look at bringing Edwards in for Foley though as he’s not really contributing enough for me.
I’d also like to see Milijas in for Henry. If he’s good enough to captain Serbia at the world cup as a holding midfielder, surely he can do it for us. I think that would be his best position for us, as he reads the game well and doesn’t have to be as mobile, he can just sit there, intercept and spread the play to the wings.
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I will be baking humble pie tonight if we win and stayed up this season.
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To Karl and ALL the players do your talking on the pitch, leave the talking to us on here as we cant do anything else but talk, whilst you and the lads can do it for us on the pitch were it matters. GOOD LUCK TONIGHT LADS. UTW
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totally agree with mm on this one.let our football do the talking and lets get everyone behind the team so we can have pl football again next year
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Come on Wolves tonight.
This could be one of those great Wolves nights. Lets hope so..
IF we win tonight, you have to take your hat off to Mick. even if you are a Mick knocker, then you can not deny the success he has had.
come on Mick and the boys. We are right behind ya.
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I said all a long that Mick will bring PL football next season and i looks like i was right i would like to see everyone get behind the lads i will not easy But in Mick we Trust! good luck lads! utw!
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3 points would be nice but tonight will be just as hard as Saturday. Saying that we could have won and suffered from dubious officials once again. The stats are that West Ham have had the most pens and we have had the least. We must be careful with holding and clumsy challenges and we are long overdue a penalty.
We need to support Doyle a bit more as we can definitely put their defence under pressure. A win tonight and we are nearly safe!
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Reckon we’ve more than a decent chance tonight. Especially given West Ham have lost the last 4 and we’ve turned a run of good form into some points at last. An online bookie (naming no names) are offering 5-1 on a Wolves win, ridiculous!
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I wish people would stop saying “do all your talking on the pitch” “don’t say anything” “blah blah blah!”
If the players didn’t say anything you would have nothing to talk about!!
its also part of a footballers job nowadays to comment on issues at the club and be media friendly..
Would you prefer them to say “no comment” when asked anything??????
Boring hell!!!
Good luck tonight-i can see another 2-2…
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3 points tonight and we are in dreamland…
Team:4-5-1
hanneman
foley
berra
craddock
zubar
jarvis
jones
henry
guedieura
doyle
uwelumo
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Makes sense to me – my mini league, where I rather anally calculate points based on 37 for survival and grade games based on a difficulty factor (as well as whether they are home or away), looks as follows:
Portsmouth -17
Burnley -6
Hull -3
West Ham 0
Wigan 0
Wolves 1
Bolton 1
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I remember in 2003/4 ourselves, Leicester and Leeds all went down on 33 points. I still think we need a minimum 3 more wins to be safe. Hull appear to have an easy run in and I think they will push us all the way still. I think its very important to avoid defeat tonight, so of course another 4-5-1 formation with Edwards and Mancienne coming on as early subs to give the incumbents a breather. Come on Mick get us safe ASAP so we can see Zele Ismail on the bench at the back end!!!
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“The way both Hull and Burnley conceded goals in the last few minutes on Saturday couldn’t have been better for us”
Surely we can’t talk about conceding goals in the last minute – that’s what lost us a win on Saturday….
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Come on you wolves
Its on TV tonight so thats a bad omen!! but to even it up I am predicting that we will lose 2-1 tonight.
Whenever I predict a win we dont so reverse Pychology here we come!!
Come on you Wolves
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Just reading through the comments I for one beleive that there is far too much PR media spin coming out of the club.
Players shouldnt say anthing, basically unless a post match interview.
For anybody who thinks that what is written is what is said, then your living in cloud cookoo land. Its all written by a PR company working in conjunction with the Wolves Marketing department.
There seems to be constant spin coming out from the club and all the fans really care about are
Results
Injuries
New Players
Regards New players I was proud of how we used to manage purchases and Reading praised us on the Doyle purchase. That had obviously changed in Jan when the clun went all guns blazing.
Surely all we need to know is things like
“during the transfer window we are looking to bring in players to cover these positions , etc”
Leave the media spin to the tabloids and all at Moulineux get on with running a club and winning games.
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wolvo , we didnt not win in the last minute, they scored with 10 minutes left!
Anyhow, as for someone above saying Hull have easy games………… name me 1 easy game in the Premiership. Im sure Tottenham thought they had an easy game twice when we beat them…… no such thing as an easy game.
Fact, we have a game tonight against a team who have lost the last 4, and a game on Saturday at home. We could be safe by sat night………. or, we could be in the drop zone lol Its going to be a rollercoaster me thinks.
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I am as cautiosuly optimistic as anyone, but can everyone please stop counting their chikens and all that! It’s scaring me.
3 points tonight (that would be amazing for an East London based Wovles fan) and my confidence will go up to 65%. Currently I’m hovering at 40.
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If Wolves can replicate the performances from the last two games, I believe that they can come away with a point at the very least.
However, we have to remember that West Ham will also be fired up for this game.
Should be a cracking game. Lets hope we win.
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WELL DUN MICK AT LAST THE DOUBTERS ARE COMING ROUND, YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE.
IN MICK WE TRUST !
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22- I was hoping we would achieve survival with a few games left, so we could test out a few faces and maybe give players like Blake a bit of confidence, but then i realised MM wouldnt be allowed to do that even if he wanted to, because apparently the FA now make the decisions on what players should be fielded and we would probably incur another fine (or worst).
Would be nice to see Zele amongst others make a few cameos towards the end of the season though.
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Wolves have managed to get their noses in front in the relegation battleThey can’t afford to get complacent.Too many times in the past,Wolves have got in a good position only to blow it.
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If we continue to play as we have in the last 3 matches we should come away with a point at least.
It is important that we continue to make best use of our fitness, closing in on the West Ham players giving them no time to settle on the ball.
Good luck to the team.
Up the Wolves!!
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Is this the same Elokobi!!!
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Currently 3 nil to the Wolves. Anyone still calling for Magic Micks head! Come on lads we can stay up in style! Up the Wolves!
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Well done lads! Shame we conceeded late on but a priceless points! Doubters hang your heads in shame! We should be safe now.
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Now we’ve got the 3 difficult claret & Blue away games out the way, apart from Arsenal there’s only the ‘easy’ games left. All are very winnable.
Burnley have it tough, with 4 dead cert defeats coming up, and will be lucky to get more 5 points from the other three. 29 points.
Hull have it a little easier, but will be doing well to get 7 more points. 31 points.
So thats it…were staying up!
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Mick should look at Bolton’s run in. It one from hell and I sort of hope they go down.
I think we need 36 points to be sure
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