Dan kindly volunteered to put together the report for last night’s match, as he made the journey to Old Trafford for what proved to be a controversial night. He reports:

For 25 long minutes at Old Trafford it appeared that our, somewhat divisive, manager might be in the process of pulling off quite a coup. A leftfield, unexpected starting line-up, announced to a shock media shortly before kick-off had commentators tearing up their research notes – and possibly those of Sir Alex Ferguson and his team too. Could Mick McCarthy have outwitted the Uber Lord King of the Mind Games?

Matt Hill - One of Ten changes from Mick McCarthy

Don’t get me wrong. Within those 20-odd minutes with the scores still standing level, United never really had too much to worry about from a Wolves team with the whole 10 outfield players rotated from White Hart Line. But then United didn’t look particularly worried about anything in general, which was surprising considering the 0-1 defeat to Villa at the weekend.

Wolves lined up with Hahneman keeping his place, and a back four of Elokobi and Mancienne in the middle, Zubar on the right and Matty Hill on the left. They were protected in the centre of midfield by Castillo and Foley, with Surman at times slightly more advanced. Halford and Friend, recalled from loan at the weekend (his name wasn’t even on the programme squad list), operated the wings, with the Hoff upfront.

A curious tempo to the game ensued. Whilst United had changes in their side, a team featuring Vidic, Rooney, Berbatov and Scholes should really have mauled us. We were opened up a couple of times, with Hahneman being called on to competently save from Rooney at short range and balls in to the box not always cleanly dealt. We even managed to carve a couple of chances ourselves – a Halford long throw eventually fell to George Friend who fired over when he should have kept his head down – but there was little outlet for us to use to relieve what pressure we needed to soak.

Our best football was played in the middle by Foley, Surman and Castillo who neatly at times knocked the ball around at close quarters – Foley in particular caught the eye, enjoying the opportunity of a more central role. But without an industrious Dave Edwards, spirited front line or cultured left peg of Milijas, we were never really able to work our way up to the final third with conviction.

Up front, Maierhoffer lolled around, pointed a lot, shrugged and got involved in some daft muscle flexing with Vidic. I recognise he’s a target man and thrives of service – but there were plenty of balls put his way and he didn’t get on the end of them to bring other people in and kept too far away from the action. He’s certainly a character – but not one that fits with the Wolves ethos of teamwork and unrelenting hardwork at the moment.

A Zubar handball bought about a well taken Rooney penalty to break the deadlock, which arrived as a few United fans were growing a touch restless at their lacklustre gazillionairres and it was always going to be a big ask to come back after Vidic powerfully headed from a corner just before half time.

Iwelumo, Jarvis and Dave Jones were bought on in the second half but couldn’t make the required impact to create a good enough response. It was good to see Jones back, who bought with him some more varied, reaching passes that managed to find Jarvis later on in the game out on the left, but an ongoing lack of guile and strength from the winger prevented him from putting in any telling balls when he got to the touchline.

Pure, unadulterated yet mercurial class from Berbatov allowed substitute Valencia to score in the box after an hour as United strolled their way to the final whistle.

The real talking point here of course is McCarthy’s selection. What’s to be learned from it? Well, for me the positives were the two centre backs who played efficiently and as a unit. Mancienne in particular looked like he relished the Old Trafford floodlights, tackling and carrying the ball to try to spark something. I’ve already mentioned the middle three, but I thought Matt Hill worked hard too. Elokobi looked more focused and confident, though his distribution made for a couple of nervy moments.

All the players deserve credit though. It must have been a tough ask to play together for the first time like that, with the prospect of a potential thrashing given the gulf in class. The fans stuck with the team which was good too considering the controversial selection. Whilst the media has latched on to some of the “We want our money back” chants, being in the United end (my Dad and I sat amongst Scandinavians) it was tricky to hear if there was anger or irony in their voices.

So – bring on the debate. The question I’ve been asking myself is: Should we be happy to take three points from the last two games? I’ve been saying, emphatically, ‘yes’. But as the traffic jams grew longer and on the M6 heading back and news of Brum in sixth blasted out from 5Live, ‘four’ started to sound much better.

Highlights

McCarthy Defends Decision

It seems almost cruel that after such a momentous victory over Spurs on Saturday, we have to travel to Old Trafford on Tuesday, for another massive test.

The way I see it is, there’s three ways you can look at the timing of this fixture.

Valencia has been hit and miss at Old Trafford

1. Man Utd look vulnerable at the back with so many injuries, so it’s a decent time to play them. They’re confidence will also have taken a hit following the loss to Villa on Saturday and hopefully they’ll be feeling the pressure.

2. Man Utd will be smarting from the defeat to Villa and a backlash is likely.

3. There’s never a good time to play Man Utd.

Whichever view you subscribe to, one thing you can certainly say is that Wolves should be able to go there full of confidence and play freely. Those bonus points at White Hart Lane have put us nicely back on track, heading towards a big match against Burnley on Sunday, whereas United desperately need the win. Could that maybe play into our hands?

Even after Saturday’s heroics, I don’t expect Wolves to lay down and die. That performance is sure to have taken a lot out of the players, but we need to summon more of that same resilience if we’re to leave Manchester with anything on Tuesday night.

I don’t really need to say anything about our opponents. They’re a wonderful side, packed full of talented players that can change a game in a heartbeat. In saying that, the loss of Ronaldo and to a lesser extent Carlos Tevaz, has undoubtedly hit them hard and in my opinion, they haven’t replaced those two with like for like quality. Valencia is a good player but far from the finished article and question marks remains as to whether Michael Owen still has what it takes at the very highest level.

But even if United aren’t quite the same force they were last season, they’re still a top side who really should wipe the floor with us if they perform anywhere near their best.

We’ve had a taste of Old Trafford already this season with that narrow 1-0 defeat in the Carling Cup. How we failed to score in that match I’ll never know, given that we had at least three clear opportunities and played most of the game against 10 men. I don’t expect us to carve out as many chances tomorrow, but if we’re lucky enough to get even one, we’d better take it.

It’s a real shame that Mick can’t name the same starting eleven for the third match on the spin, due to that terrible injury to Dave Edwards. I’ve been critical of the Welsh midfielder at times this season, but his energy and enthusiasm are unrivaled, so he’ll certainly be missed. Hopefully it’s not as bad as first feared.

Anyway, here’s my predicted lineup:

Hahnemann

Stearman
Berra
Craddock
Ward

Foley
Henry
Milijas
Jarvis

Doyle
SEB

So that’s just the one change with Foley slotting in on the right side of midfield. I think Mick will want to pick a player he knows will work hard and fill the gap left by the workhorse Edwards and Foley is the obvious choice. Halford is probably still in his bad books after the tantrum he had when taken off against Blues and I don’t think he’s too keen on Surman.

Whatever our manager chooses to do though, I just hope he doesn’t tinker too much with the shape of the side. Our players are beginning to understand their roles and disrupting that would be a big mistake.

In terms of a prediction, I think it’s too big an ask for Wolves to get something from this match, following the exertions of Saturday. Confidence will be sky-high, but I believe we’ll be on the wrong end of the final score, probably something like 3-1.

I just hope that whatever the outcome, we remain confident and upbeat for Sunday’s six pointer against Burnley.

If you’re making the trip to Old Trafford, have a great time and roar the lads on. The support at Spurs on Saturday was again phenomenal by all accounts and more of the same is needed.

Up The Wolves.