Wolves fail to turn up

Cardiff City 2 Wolves 0

This space is normally reserved for a reflection on the latest performance in the long history of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, writes Martin Swain.

But as they didn't turn up on Saturday, that it is going to prove a little difficult.

Well, when I say they didn't turn up, there were 11 players clad in that famous old shirt at Ninian Park, fulfilling the fixture and taking up positions on the pitch designed to contest a fifth round FA Cup tie against Cardiff City.

But surely that wasn't Wolves, was it?

It certainly wasn't the team we saw blazing a trail through the Championship this time last year and it certainly wasn't a team which its manager Mick McCarthy always promises, as a first and essential requirement, will go out with fire in the belly and steel in the mind.

Indeed, after their tame and limp 2-0 exit from a competition blasted wide apart by so many Premiership departures, it took the players' warm-down to finally get temperatures rising in the Wolves camp.

Some 1,200 travelling fans were locked-in long after the final whistle for security purposes and could not stop themselves from barracking players who less than a year ago they were thanking for putting the pride back into the subject of their devotion.

"You're not fit to wear the shirt," they chanted. Some of McCarthy's squad took exception to that allegation, others were wounded by its inference.

But all were made to stay out and listen to the wrath being directed at them, an action supported by their weary and bemused manager.

"One or two of the players were upset by comments made by supporters as they were warming down – but that shouldn't be the case," said McCarthy.

"Any stick they were getting was deserved.

"Coach Terry Connor told them they should stay and listen.

"I feel sorry for the fans who have travelled here and had to watch that."

But as much as the players come into the firing line, the heavy artillery is reserved for the manager who must be at his wit's end wondering why the personnel who were flourishing less than a year ago are now floundering.

Undoubtedly, there is mounting pressure on McCarthy to find a solution before he drains all of that hard-earned but thoroughly merited reservoir of goodwill built up in reviving the club last season.

There is a commendable determination within the Wolves hierarchy not to take the easy option and go down the road of regime-change at the first signs of difficulty – but afternoons such as this, coming in the thick of an already disappointing season, certainly put a strain on their resolve.

The alterations demanded by injuries and Cup-tied players undoubtedly aggravated McCarthy's difficulties going into this match but his selections, especially up front, have been the prime source of discontent among the Molineux fans this season and this was not an afternoon which softened that criticism.

Deploying strikers Andy Keogh and Jay Bothroyd as wide midfielders-cum-support strikers raised eyebrows at the kick-off and was sunk without trace by an electric start from Cardiff partly generated by the clear discomfort Wolves experienced trying to bring their training ground rehearsals onto the main stage.

After that came a bewildering sequence of changes which only re-inforced the view that, in recently adding Kevin Kyle to a squad already top-heavy with strikers, McCarthy is struggling to see the wood for the trees.

Poor Kyle. Relieved to have escaped a torrid time at Coventry where he became the subject of so much supporter criticism, he has stepped into an equally inhospitable setting as was made clear when Wolves fans cheered his substitution just after the hour.

There may well be a decent, orthodox Horsfield-like striker in there somewhere but at the moment, all he is proving is an uncanny knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And after his departure, how ironic that Wolves should play out the final phase of this match with Keogh and substitute Freddy Eastwood together again – a spearhead I'll wager many supporters would have liked to have seen given more of a chance to settle before the chopping and changing began way back in the autumn.

But with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake certain to return, you are left to wonder whether McCarthy is in danger of burying this campaign – and perhaps himself – beneath the weight of so many options.

His predecessor-but-one at Molineux, Dave Jones, was eager to share a drink with his opposite number after their media duties during which the joy and despair of trying to handle the monster that is an under-achieving Wolves was a guaranteed topic of conversation.

At Cardiff, Jones has reverted to his Molineux template and in an echo of the Ince-Irwin effect, brought in Premiership old boys to establish leadership and guidance within a star-struck group of largely young players.

And as Wolves discovered with Ince and Irwin, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink can still play a bit too.

His deft touch for Peter Whittingham was enough to cash in on a startled Wolves midfield and send the ex-Villa man away for an easy goal after just 86 seconds.

Hasselbaink's stunning strike, carved from yawning gaps on Wolves flanks in the 10th minute, was straight out of the locker he left behind at Chelsea.

Okay, so any team can have a bad start. What matters is their response.

The fact that there wasn't any, save for some desperate goalkeeping from Wayne Hennessey to limit the damage, is what concerned McCarthy so much and angered the fans.

Scunthorpe's visit tomorrow night offers a thankfully swift opportunity to begin the bridge-building process captain Gary Breen wisely acknowledged is now required between team and supporters.

And the task will be made a darn sight easier if the real Wolves would turn up.