Sorry Wolves pushed closer to brink
Teams that are bottom at Christmas frequently fail in their survival missions and the tension is building at Molineux after this insipid performance, one McCarthy simply cannot have seen coming.
Hugo Rodallega and Tom Cleverley helped earn Roberto Martinez only his second away win of the season and inch Wigan away from the bitter chill of the relegation trapdoor.
The Latics’ deserved victory, their first on the road since August, lifted them out of the bottom three and leaves McCarthy down amongst the dead men. It was defeat at Wigan in early October that sent Wolves spinning into the dreaded drop zone in the first place and it has been a long and frustrating period of confinement ever since.
McCarthy has made no secret of the fact that the next 10 days will prove crucial in his bid to navigate Wolves to survival for the second successive season. They face Liverpool on Wednesday before a trip to relegation rivals West Ham on New Year’s Day, so he is acutely aware his club’s fate could be decided as early as the start of the new year.
The portents certainly aren’t promising after a stinking performance that must have left the Yorkshireman cursing the Wolves groundstaff, who made such concerted efforts to render the pitch playable.
“The only way is up isn’t it?” he said afterwards. “Ultimately there are two ways we can go, but at the moment there is only one way.
“We’ve not had a good day. We’ve got to go to Liverpool and try and win there. They’ve not played so will that be an advantage? We’ll find out on Wednesday.
“My confidence doesn’t get knocked as easily as that. We can’t let one bad performance go when we’ve got so many games left to play.”
Wigan continue to confound Martinez and the pools panel. This was a classic away performance and, at times, they looked anything but perennial relegation battlers, possessing pace on the break and an admirably stubborn back four.
Martinez has claimed his “special” relationship with chairman Dave Whelan doesn’t guarantee him safety from the sack, and it will be his opposite number dreading the call from his employer after this tussle.
The visitors appeared assured from the first whistle with midfielder James McArthur — making his first Premier League start — heading straight at Wayne Hennessey from six yards out after just 83 seconds.
Wigan only needed another seven minutes to increase the tension at Molineux when Rodallega pounced for his fifth goal of the season. Gary Caldwell’s hopeful flick caught out the hesitant home defence and Rodallega held off Richard Stearman to hook the ball into the far corner. Around 40 Wigan fans dressed as bananas duly went bananas.
Their fluid display bore more fruit in the 20th minute when Cleverley increased Wigan’s lead as Wolves again displayed an unerring ability to shoot themselves in the foot. Stearman was caught out as he attempted to cut out a quickly-taken Steve Gohouri throw and Cleverley raced through to poke the ball between Hennessey’s legs.
Wolves were booed off at half-time and there was no marked improvement in the second period. McCarthy introduced Matt Jarvis and record £7m signing Steven Fletcher as time ebbed away but Wigan always looked more dangerous on the counter-attack.
Fletcher did reduce the deficit late on but it did little to paper over the cracks of a woeful performance. Wigan will face Arsenal on Wednesday with renewed hope in their own mission to avoid the drop.
Martinez said: “It is a statement. This win was only three points but it has extra significance because of the psychological side of it. We came here with a lot to lose but we end up with a very solid performance and one that shows a team with a great unity and desire to win football games.
“That is extremely pleasing considering how far we’ve come from the start of the season. But you can never relax in the Premier League, we’ve got Arsenal on Wednesday and that’s an exciting challenge.”
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