The last week or so has seen a lot of strange happenings in the world of football. Mark Hughes being treated disgracefully at Manchester City, whilst across the capital of the North Manchester Utd were treated just as badly by Fulham. However it was the game the Red Devils featured in beforehand that grabbed my attention, and specifically the actions of Mick McCarthy.
McCarthy dropped ten first team players for the clash with Manchester Utd which many see as tantamount to throwing the game. McCarthy’s excuse was he had a winnable game coming up against Burnley, and didn’t want to collect injuries and suspensions. Predictably Wolves lost 3-0 to Utd, and came out of the Burnley clash as 2-0 victors.
The football world immediately threw up their arms in disgrace, none more so than Arsene Wenger amusingly enough. Wenger of course is famous for putting out weakened sides in the Carling Cup, and perhaps should keep his mouth closed on the subject. Naturally though he had to have a moan as he always does, seeing as this move affected the title race.
Supporters of McCarthy claimed that they’d have lost the game to Fergies team anyway, while his critics point to Fulham’s win on Saturday as a case point for McCarthy cheating his own fans.
LCM decided to apply this rule to our own beloved Lincoln City. Theoretically could Chris Sutton be charged with fielding a weakened side every game? We have Villa youngsters and Delroy Facey on the pitch, while Richard Butcher, Aaron Brown and Janos Kovacs constantly sit out. However Chris Sutton fields a team that he believes will achieve the result to help them progress through the season.
Now let’s have a look at Kettering. They believed they could win the replay against Leeds a fortnight ago, and subsequently Lee Harper rested some of the first team’s quad for the big game. That was classed as a master stroke by the media, until that is they lost both games and sacked the assistant manager.
So was McCarthy right because he was vindicated? Or is Wenger right to field a weakened side in one competition and not another? Also how would United stand if they rested Rooney and played Welbeck in a tie against someone like Portsmouth?
Personally we feel that McCarthy was correct to do what he did. He is a manager who assembles a squad of players to achieve the goals they set out at the beginning of a season. That goal no doubt this season was to stay in the Premier League. No doubt Mick and his backroom staff have sat down and looked through the fixtures, picking out possible three point games. You can bet Burnley at home was one such game. However you can similarly bet that Man Utd away was not. So what is the problem with him selecting the team as he did? I found it extremely amusing to see George Friend playing for Wolves against Man Utd when a week prior to that I’d seen him warming the Scunthorpe bench in a Championship clash with Coventry!
If Wayne Rooney had been rested for the game nothing more would have been said, even though resting one player is as bad as resting everyone. McCarthy didn’t throw the game; it was never his to win anyway. I personally admire McCarthy for making the decision and then coming out and taking the blame: that was a very clever move. Why? Because it deflected attention back onto him and away from his players. It almost seems a stroke of genius on his part, and although I am not a Mick McCarthy fan I do think he is far cannier than his public persona suggests.
So over to Wenger, the serial moaner who would argue the sky is red if Fergie said it was blue. He names a team of teenage foreigners every time he plays in the Carling Cup, and then has the temerity to question McCarthy’s selection. I for one would normally defend Wenger’s right to field whatever eleven players he chooses, but as he has seen fit to wade in with a broadside on McCarthy I’ll put this to him (not that he reads this site, but never mind): Do you think the Old Trafford faithful were disappointed at paying £35 to get in, and then not being able to see Kevin Doyle or Jody Craddock in action? No. However Mr Wenger were I a supporter of Sheffield Utd and I paid my £20 to get in I’m damn sure I’d want to be seeing Fabregas, Arshavin and Nasri in action rather than Vela and another ten of Spain’s finest youngsters.
In a slightly shameful defence of Wenger I have reviewed their Carling Cup history and they haven’t played a side outside the Championship or Premier League in the last four years in the competition – however that does not excuse fielding a ‘weakened side’.
As much as I do despise Wenger I do feel that initially he ahs the right to pick whichever eleven he chooses for a game, as does McCarthy as does Chris Sutton. If Sutton wants Facey and Clarke up front he can pick them, and leave Fagan on the bench. Sadly.
I pose one last question, perhaps more rhetorical than anything. Who actually decides what your ‘strongest eleven’ is? Is there someone at the FA who went through Wolves team selection player by player, comparing them to those who were dropped? I can picture a group of balding middle aged suits round a table saying ‘George Friend… is he better than Jody Craddock? Oh dear Mick another black mark’. The whole concept is ridiculous in the extreme. Mick picked a team, Mick sticks by that team and Wolves have three points from six which is a good enough return.