Irish Wolves and Opposition Irish

**geysir** · 14/05/2011, 1:16 PM

20 minutes to go, Doyle on - looks sharp enough.
Sunderland 1 Wolves 2

Judging by Sessegnon's fresh air hit and acrobatic slip, Wolves must have hired Uri Geller for the day.

**Serb** · 14/05/2011, 1:47 PM

Big win for Wolves. Game ended 3-1. Blackpool also managed to get a result (their first win in 10 games), so Wolves aren't safe yet. Blackpool go to United in their last game (with United having already clinched the title and guaranteed to field a weakened side), Wolves are home to Blackburn who also need a win to be completely sure of survival. We're in for an interesting end to the season, that's for sure.

What the results do mean today is that West Ham are effectively relegated — they need to win both of their remaining games and all four teams above them need to lose all their games for them to survive.

**Stuttgart88** · 14/05/2011, 2:00 PM

What a win for Wolves alright. I hear Hunt was lucky not to have a penalty awarded against him at 2-1.

A draw may well suit both teams, but Wigan and Birmingham still have to play this weekend. We'll know more after their games.

**geysir** · 14/05/2011, 2:23 PM

Wolves were also unfortunate not to have a stonewall penalty awarded in their favour.
They were easy winners against a tepid Sunderland.

**Charlie Darwin** · 15/05/2011, 4:06 PM

With West Ham 2-0 up at Wigan and Fulham 2-0 up at Birmingham, as things stand Wolves are safe unless Blackpool beat Manchester United next week, or else draw and Wolves lose by more than 2 goals.

**tricky_colour** · 15/05/2011, 4:17 PM

Wigan just got a goal back, changes everything of they get another.
However they really need to win as they have poor goal difference.

Also Birmingham have to beat Spur as well as Blackpool beating Man U.
That's gotta be a 20-1 shot at the bookies.

Edit - Seems Birmingham only need a draw as they have better goal difference.

Up date Wigan now level!!

Wigan win. West Ham down, 5 teams fighting to avoid the two relegation spots!

**Stuttgart88** · 15/05/2011, 5:49 PM

Wigan won. Really puts the pressure back on Wolves now.

Blackburn (-14 GD) & Wolves (-19) on 40 points.

Birmingham (-20), Blackpool (-21) & Wigan (-22) all on 39.

Goals scored so far:
Wolves 44
Birmingham 36
Blackpool 53
Wigan 49

Remaining matches:
Wolves v Blackburn: a draw guarantees nothing for either.
Man U vs Blackpool: a home win is the onbvious call but with Blackpool anything is possible.
Spurs vs. Birmingham: hard to see Brum win, a draw for them max.
Stoke vs Wigan: Wigan might just sneak that one. Stoke will be dead on theier feet.

I think the scenarios are therefore:

- If Wolves win they stay up
- If Wolves draw, 2 of the teams below them must win for them to be relegated
- If Wolves lose by one, a Brum draw will put them level on pts and GD, but Wolves have way more GS. So two of Birmingham, Blackpool and Wigan will still need to win (because of GD).
- If Wolves lose by two or more, then two of Birmingham, Blackpool & Wigan could draw and overtake Wolves.

I'd say Wolves are odds-on to stay up, but it'll all be very nervy.

**Colbert Report** · 15/05/2011, 6:16 PM

Wolves are as good as safe now. West Ham, Blackpool, and Wigan are all going to be relegated.

**Charlie Darwin** · 15/05/2011, 6:58 PM

West Ham are mathematically gone, but of the 5 that remain, Birmingham are the only ones in relegation form.

**tricky_colour** · 15/05/2011, 9:04 PM

Wolves could still go down it though, it would be a devastating blow for them after apparently looking safe.

It could all get very nervy and complicated, a 1-0 defeat might keep them up but 2-0 send them down, so they might end
up trying to protect a 1-0 defeat - the stuff of nightmares.

On the other hand Spurs and Man U might quickly ensure they stay up.

**Closed Account 2** · 15/05/2011, 9:06 PM

I think Wolves will beat Blackburn.

Then if any 2 of the 3 other teams (Birmingham, Blackpool, Wigan) win Blackburn would go down. They are lucky they held out for that point at Ewood Park on Saturday.

**tricky_colour** · 15/05/2011, 9:40 PM

Problem for Wolves might be they go into the game thinking they are already safe, they go a goal down early on,
Blackpool and Birmingham still drawing, now I think another goal sees them relegated so they might try and defend their position ie a 1-0 defeat.

**Charlie Darwin** · 15/05/2011, 9:46 PM

I think they're as aware as anybody of their last-minute goal problem. They probably factor that into what results they decide to defend.

**rebelmusic** · 15/05/2011, 10:21 PM

From an irish perspective, blackpool, w-ham and blackburn would be the best to be relegated. If wolves win, that's not an unlikely scenario at all.

**OwlsFan** · 20/05/2011, 9:10 AM

Nice piece by James Lawton:

McCarthy's motivation magic key to Wolves bid to stay in the top flight

By JAMES LAWTON
Friday May 20 2011

Maybe it is a parallel that has been cruelly over-drawn at times, but then it was Roy Keane, the casualty of this particular football equation, who said that Mick McCarthy was a poor player who had turned into a poor coach -- or words to that effect.

No one, and least of all McCarthy himself, claims that the manager of Wolves is some genius of the technical area, but, at the famous old stadium of Molineux on Sunday afternoon, he will be given a fresh round of tumultuous applause if he finishes another Premier League season still on his feet, still confirming his ability to find a way to survive against the heaviest odds.

Comparisons with Keane, of course, remain inevitable.

When Keane replaced McCarthy at Sunderland he was given the financial backing to win something more than another one-year lease on the big time, and then when he moved to Ipswich, he had another chance to confirm the suspicions of those who believed he could reproduce off the field the authority and power of decision he had displayed on it.

Everything was expected of Keane, little of McCarthy -- beyond the fighting instincts of a man reared in a Yorkshire coalfield.

Yet, on Sunday, McCarthy is buoyed by the devotion of his players and the respect of his chairman and owner Steve Morgan, a man who takes advantage of free access to the Wolves dressing-room to make periodic rallying cries -- but never at cost to his manager's rapport with his players.

respect

"From time to time, a club gets into difficulties on the field and has to fight for survival, but I've never doubted Mick McCarthy's ability to inspire his players," says the owner who once tried to gain control of his home town club Liverpool. "He has their respect -- and their determination to get out of this situation."

What McCarthy has displayed, in all his reinventions as player and a manager, is an engaging lack of pretension. Combined with the rough humour that used to sustain men of his roots on the coalface, it is a quality that will provide Wolves with perhaps a vital edge over a Blackburn led by the currently embattled Steve Kean.

The man who replaced 'Big' Sam Allardyce has had varying degrees of support from the club's Indian ownership, starting with a euphoric announcement that he was the man to make Blackburn a marquee name on the sub-continent -- a claim that has inevitably become more muted with his difficulties on an off the field, in the latter category an initially positive test for drink driving arriving with the worst possible timing.

What seems certain is that on Sunday, just a few days after being summoned to a crisis meeting in India at the company headquarters, he is likely to confront a rival attempting to produce the best of his motivational powers.

After last weekend's triumph at Sunderland -- especially sweet after his years of toil and angst at the Stadium of Light -- McCarthy was at his puckish best, clearly the man who once pointed out that the initials on his trackside top indicated Mick McCarthy and not Merlin the Magician. He seemed especially irked by questions concerning his previous lack of success on visits to Sunderland -- and the presence in the directors of box of rock icon, and Wolves vice-president, Robert Plant.

As far as McCarthy was concerned, the most relevant rock and roll was the impressive performance of his team.

McCarthy warmed to his theme in vintage old pro style, saying, "I don't bother with all that bull****, I really don't, because everyone seems to have a certain stat or angle, whether it's Robert Plant or the fact that I've never won a game here (as a visiting manager.)

"When I was here I had the best of times. I won loads of games, I won the Championship here, I got into the Premier League without a pot to p*** in or a window to throw it out of, and then next season I was given less again. But I loved it. When I left here, I did it with my head held high."

This was pure McCarthy -- and pure this-is-my-world and this-is-my-survival-kit.

On Sunday, it will surely be the most tangible of assets in the fight to stay away from the relegation trapdoor.

McCarthy's battle cry will be the familiar one of natural born survivors, a heavy reliance on the need for each player to face up to his responsibilities.

"On Sunday there will be nowhere to hide for anyone," says McCarthy, "and this includes me. This is my team, my work and, as always, the buck stops here."

It is an approach that appears to have, win or lose, insulated him against the fate of West Ham's Avram Grant, who was summarily dismissed in the wake of the club's relegation at Wigan last weekend.

Wolves' owner Morgan could hardly have offered more reassurance on the approach to the Blackburn game, saying, "Mick has been here five years and I don't believe you get any progress by chopping and changing. That's happened in other clubs and what good has it done? There are times when things don't go right, but you have to stick together and make sure you get it right next time.

"I think that's what we've done. Mick has made progress every year since I came here four years ago. If you go to the dressing-room before the game and see the rapport between Mick and the players, you will see theirs is a proper spirit between the manager and the players.

"In my first year we missed the play-offs by a goal, the next we won the championships and, in the third, year we established ourselves in the Premier League. This time we are two points ahead of last season, despite being in a relegation battle."

Meanwhile, winger Matt Jarvis -- McCarthy's most striking investment in a style of football he hopes will one day carry the team away from the trenches -- says that he aches to play against Blackburn.

He was required to come off the bench at Sunderland to make a crucial contribution to a vital goal, something he hopes will bring him back to the starting action.

The chances are that McCarthy will grant his wish. He does, after all, love a player who -- rather like himself -- refuses to hide.

- JAMES LAWTON