Dec
16
Wolves manager Mick McCarthy has been asked by the English F.A. to “explain his decision” over making no less than 10 changes to his side that lost 3-0 away to Manchester United on Tuesday. According to official Premier League rules, every team must field a full-strength line up for every game, and McCarthy’s decision has raised a few eyebrows.
His explanation is simple and quite logical. Wolves are battling relegation this season, and they need to preserve their strength as much as possible. Throwing a game they would most probably lose anyway against the Premiership Champions seems like a reasonable price to pay for having a fresh line-up for their big game vs. Burnley this coming weekend.
The trouble with that, is that they beat fourth placed Totenham a week ago in an away game, and some may complain that fielding reserves is simply giving a gift to Manchester United and unjustly helping them out. Furthermore, the Wolves fans sold out their allocations for the game and deserved a full commitment by the manager and the players. It is understandably very frustrating when they are not given what they came to see.
At the end, though, McCarthy chose back-up players from his first team squad, which the top four teams do all the time, so I’m not sure the F.A. can do much about it. And as disappointed as some Wolves fans may be with his decision, I’m sure they will be delighted if they beat Burnley and stay up at the end of the season.