Mick’s looking to drag Newcastle into the mix
Thursday 31st March 2011, 1:30PM BST.
Mick McCarthy today kicked off the countdown to Saturday’s trip to Newcastle by insisting victory for buoyant Wolves will drag the Toon into the relegation mix.
Third bottom Wolves go to St James’ Park with just four points separating the teams, despite Newcastle being 11th.
McCarthy’s men are boosted by a four-match unbeaten run yielding eight points, and 11 from their last six outings.
And the Molineux boss believes that even without talismanic Kevin Doyle, his improving side can further derail the Geordies after the Toon’s 4-0 defeat at Stoke before the international break.
“They’ve got 36 points but if we beat them, they’re in it, no question,” said McCarthy. “Put it the other way — if we win at Newcastle, are we out of it?
“They’ll be saying if they beat us they’ll be clearer — just like Villa were saying before our last game.
“That would put seven points between us and them and would make them hard to catch.”
But with just seven points covering the bottom 10 — Wolves still have to play six of them — McCarthy insisted there will be more twists and turns over the last eight games.
“I don’t think anybody will relax,” said the boss.
“We’re only in the bottom three on goal difference.
“Over a season, if you get a point a game, you’ve done alright. Thirty-eight points last year was good enough.
“But do you think all the bottom teams will get a point a game from the next eight? If you’re on 33, keeping that ratio gives you a total of 41.
“You’d think you’d be safe with that but I don’t think every team in there will get eight points from eight games.”
And McCarthy insisted he is no nearer knowing how the relegation picture will shape up.
“Everybody wants to know how many points it’s going to take, but I haven’t got a clue,” he said.
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