McCarthy: Now it is Wolves’ turn to have a good run

Dec 5 2009 by Barry Kinghorn, Birmingham Mail

WOLVES boss Mick McCarthy has challenged his players to emulate the recent runs of Birmingham and Hull as he looks to bounce back in today’s home clash with Bolton from the worst 45 minutes he can remember.

McCarthy left his players on their own to watch a video rerun of the setback against Blues last Sunday and in particular the dismal first half in the 1-0 defeat.

He admits the recent four-goal maulings by top four sides Arsenal and Chelsea caused more damage to confidence than he had envisaged.

But the former Republic of Ireland boss still has faith in his squad and wants them to repeat the kind of sequence of results which has carried previously struggling Birmingham and Hull out of the danger zone.

McCarthy said: “It’s a lot easier to come to work when you are winning and things are going great. It’s easier then to have a smile on your face but we’ve still managed that and have still been positive about things.

“It’s been harder than normal but we are still cracking on.

“We’ve just had a bad run of games. It was the worst 45 minutes I can remember against Birmingham.

“We need to have a similar run now to what Hull have just had, to what Birmingham have just had – and some of those teams will have a bad run. It will turn around.

“Blues showed how quickly it can turn around. We’ve had a bad spell with the games we’ve had but someone else will have a bad month.

“We now need to have a good month. What would that be? If we win two home games (against Bolton and Burnley) that would be a start and if we do that, we won’t be too far off where we want to be.

“Saturday is a huge game for both of us, our home game against a team we’d be expected to beat. We need three points.

“We have to get back to like we played against Stoke (in the) second half, Aston Villa and Everton.”

McCarthy admitted: “Is it a big job rebuilding confidence? We’ve had an interesting week. The lads watched the DVD themselves of the Birmingham game. I left it to them and they analysed it.

“They had an open forum where there were no staff, manager or coaches present and it was quite refreshing then to hear the feedback.

“I don’t think they felt sorry for themselves. I think they felt sore and upset. They are a fantastic group of players.”