‘That was not a Mick McCarthy performance’ – Wolves boss left dejected after defeat to Stoke City

Mick McCarthy – Wolverhampton (PA)

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Wolves boss Mick McCarthy could not hide his disappointment following his side’s capitulation in defeat to Stoke, and said the performance was entirely uncharacteristic.

The relegation strugglers travelled north needing to pick up points to lift them out of the drop zone but find themselves stuck in 19th after a 3-0 hammering.

When asked how his side could pick themselves up with just four games remaining, the former Ireland boss said: “We respond with more of a Mick McCarthy performance because that wasn’t, to be fair, from my team, which was hugely disappointing.”

When asked what could be done to prevent a free fall to the Championship, he replied: “I don’t try to hide away from it. Asking me to say how I’m going to feel tomorrow morning, I know how I’ll feel tomorrow morning, I’ll feel s*** because that’s how I feel now, and it’ll probably be exacerbated in the morning.

“But I’ll look at the game and work out how we can play better against Birmingham on Sunday and the next four games.

“You kind of ask for miracles now, I don’t know.”

Wanderers found themselves two-down before the break before Jermaine Pennant ended any hopes of a second-half comeback with a third, and McCarthy added that only goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey’s performance could be taken as a positive from the night.

“Nothing of the performance can lift us,” he said. “It’s some of the performances throughout the season we can remember that can lift us and the nine wins that we’ve had and how we’ve played very well, we’ve played far better.

“Playing for Premiership survival should be enough to motivate them. I’ve not had any performance like that this season.

“Why we’ve come from where we were at Villa to what we’ve had in the last four games, I don’t know.

“Yeah, we’ve lost players here, we’ve had two-week breaks, but that shouldn’t be anything. I’m not looking for excuses, I’m looking for reasons.”

Striker Steven Fletcher compounded McCarthy’s woes as he had to be taken off with a knee injury, with the side left short of striking options.

“We’ll see how bad it is tomorrow,” he said.