Chances with Wolves

McCarthy: on-song strikers

I thought we played some decent stuff last year, but we couldn't pit the ball in the net. I think we had the third worst record in the division and we finished seventh!

Mick McCarthy
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Mick McCarthy believes he has finally found the strike force to take Wolves into the Premier League promised land.

The Molineux supremo sang the praises of both Chris Iwelumo and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake as he talked about his side's fantastic start to the Championship campaign.

McCarthy's men are currently six points clear at the top of the table and are the division's top scorers with a half-century of goals from their first 23 games.

And although he is more than happy with the service his frontmen are getting, McCarthy believes Iwelumo and Ebanks-Blake are proving worth their weight in old gold.

"They have been special," he told Goals on Sunday. "I actually started with Andy Keogh and Sylvain but had to change that at Plymouth in the first game.

"These two have been flying and it has been the difference. I thought we played some decent stuff last year, but we couldn't pit the ball in the net. I think we had the third worst record in the division and we finished seventh!

"This year we've been taking our chances. Big Chris, some of the goals he's got have been terrific - and Sylvan. They're getting good supply but they are putting them away and that's the hardest job on the pitch."

Caned

Iwelumo, more than most, had a point to prove back in club football.

His glaring open-goal miss for Scotland against Norway in October hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons and led to the 30-year-old being castigated from all quarters.

Not least, revealed McCarthy, from his mates at Molineux.

"We ribbed him unmercifully! He got loads of abuse," he said.

"The lads were trying to get me to set his chance up to see if he could miss it again. They caned him - and he absolutely loved it.

"I knew he would handle it. I was away for a couple of days for the international break and rang him afterwards. But I'd seen his interview and knew there was a bloke who wouldn't have any problems - but he got absolutely hammered for it!

"Thank goodness he could handle the slaughtering. And he did get it from everybody, from me downwards."

Staying

The form of his strikers and his young side in general means McCarthy is in no great rush to splash the cash in January.

He played down talk of a £20million treasure chest being made available in the New Year and was more concerned with making sure he keeps his current squad together come the transfer window.

"I've got about 11 of them apparently going," he said.

"So now I am live on Sky Sports I can tell them now: You're staying! Agents go away! Why would I want to sell them?"

Keeping the agents away though, might be every bit as hard as keeping feet on the ground around a club that has not tasted top-flight football for five years.

McCarthy admits that with 17 wins from 23 games his side are in pole position and even this far out and with Wolves' recent disappointments come the end of the season, he is battling to keep expectation levels on an even keel.

"We can't deny we've had a good start to the season: we're half-way through and playing well and things are going well for us," he said.

"We keep trying to dampen down expectation and people's opinion of us, but it's hard to do that. I've just been saying, another 21 to go, another 20 to go, whatever it is, and will just keep ticking them off and hopefully we'll keep getting points."