McCarthy wants improvement to ‘average’ season

MICK McCARTHY believes Wolves’ recent mini-slump should be put into perspective but admits “it’s results that count”.

Wolves will be looking to halt a run of three successive defeats when they visit Wigan for today’s lunchtime’s Barclays Premier League encounter.

It has led McCarthy to concede that his side’s start to the campaign has been reduced “from good to average” but the former Republic of Ireland boss believes Wolves have performed creditably in leading at Fulham and Tottenham and levelling against Aston Villa before being beaten.

He said: “Three games ago it was looking a really good start, now it looks like being an average one.

“I think we have to put it into perspective, the teams we’ve lost against. One was a Europa League finalist (Fulham), another a Champions League team (Tottenham).

“Then we’ve faced a team who’ve finished sixth in the Premier League for the last three years (Aston Villa).

“So we haven’t been playing any mugs, and we’ve played well against them – but it’s results that count. We need to pick up some points.

“We’ve played well. It counts for nothing if we get no points after a while.”

Winger Matt Jarvis will be looking to build on his first goal of the campaign against Villa and there has been speculation linking him with an England call-up.

McCarthy will not champion Jarvis’ international claims but believes he has made rapid strides in the past 12 months.

He said: “There were suggestions that Jarvo might have been in the last squad.

“That’s up to Fabio Capello to decide that, and whether he is good enough, but he has improved year by year.

“He has got better week by week to the point where he is now a constant threat in the Premier League.