Festive period key to Mick McCarthy
Thursday 23rd December 2010, 3:10PM GMT.
Mick McCarthy has admitted Wolves’ Premier League fate could be decided over the festive period.
But the manager insisted his side will prevail as teams immediately above them are feeling the heat more than his second-from-bottom side.
Wolves host Wigan – who are one place above them – on Boxing Day before a trip to basement side West Ham on New Year’s Day. In between they travel to Liverpool on December 29.
McCarthy said: “It is crunch time. It could be great or it could kill us off. We know that – I’m not that barmy I can’t see it.
“These are huge games for us, but then they all are. I see them as matches we can win to improve our position.
“We will be alright – we’ll get out of it.”
With just a point separating Wolves from safety, McCarthy again tried to turn the heat up on the teams just above them.
He said: “I think the teams hovering above the relegation zone will be ‘bricking it’ completely. The thought of dropping into the bottom three is absolutely dreadful.
“I remember when we dropped into it last year after losing at Chelsea and it really knocked us.
“We played Birmingham after that and we were just rubbish. It had an adverse effect on us.
“So if we had beaten Albion and got out of the bottom three last weekend, that would have been a real blow for anyone dropping into it. As for us, we’ll be fine.
“They say you’re only as good as your last game and the last game we won.”
McCarthy wants to face Wigan on a level playing field, after the 11th minute dismissal of captain Karl Henry in the 2-0 defeat between the sides on October 2 ended Wolves’ hopes.
The Wolves boss said: “We started well, but the sending off killed the game completely.”
Wigan have two potential match-winners in Charles N’Zogbia and Hugo Rodellaga.
But McCarthy insisted keeping them quiet was the key.
He said: “There is no one in the Premier League who hasn’t got a match-winner but, for all of us, at the bottom keeping it out of your own net is more important.”
UK Sport
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