Man Utd 3 Wolves 0 - analysis

Or it may not be until 5pm on Sunday May 9.

This was akin to Villa boss Martin O'Neill fielding a weakened team in a UEFA Cup tie in Moscow last season, a decision that has taken many millions and a Champions League challenge to put right.

McCarthy has nowhere near that amount of money, but if Wolves beat Burnley this weekend, the boss will have been vindicated in the eyes of many fans.

If not, let's hope they wait until the end of the season until passing judgement, otherwise the next five months could be even rockier than they already promise to be.

Such was the frustration of the 2,530 travelling fans last night at feeling shortchanged, they let McCarthy know well before the end of the match, if you could call it that.

And given the fact they had paid £42 for a ticket, probably taken time off work and spent more getting there and back, such feelings were understandable.

It could be argued that McCarthy's controversial decision was against the spirit of the game, if not its laws, by not playing his best team; there is also an argument for complaint from Manchester United's Premier League title rivals in playing a so-called 'weakened' side.

It also went against his previous stance – he stated before the Arsenal and Chelsea games that he wouldn't play an under-strength team against the 'big boys'.

More importantly, however, the pressure has undoubtedly crept up a few notches on Wolves for Sunday's game with Burnley.

Supporters will be expecting the 'regular' players returning to the fold to be as fresh as daisies and at full throttle.

The loyalists, no doubt stung by last night's perceived surrender, will be demanding a performance too.

Well, that's the case against McCarthy taken care of.

So why did he do it?

Such was the manager's carefully constructed defence of his decision that the Wolves boss had almost drawn understanding nods of sympathy by the end of his press conference last night.

He quoted the 'Milan Lab' – AC Milan's high-tech scientific research centre where Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti reports that if the risk of injury from one game is 10 per cent, it rises by 30 or 40 per cent if another intensive match follows within three or four days.

It sounded plausible.

Wolves have had injuries to 14 players already this season, and after three serious ones in the last two weeks to Michael Kightly, Andy Keogh and Dave Edwards, the manager felt he couldn't risk any more at such a crucial time, the United clash coming three days after one of the most draining games of the season at Tottenham, and five days before one of the most important – Burnley at home.

Having been 'slapped' by Arsenal and Chelsea by four goals when playing his strongest line-up, McCarthy concluded he had nothing to lose by risking a collective set of fresh legs knowing a similar outcome could be on the cards either way.

McCarthy also made the decision not just with the Burnley game in mind, but the ones that follow against Liverpool and Manchester City in the space of three days over Christmas.

The manager's view was also reinforced by the fact several of those drafted in last night needed games – Kevin Foley, Ronald Zubar, Michael Mancienne, Stefan Maierhofer and Segundo Castillo, to name five.

And he was at least encouraged to find that in Foley and Mancienne, he has two players knocking on the door with serious claims to keep their place.

A sub-plot to his decision was that last night's team featured seven of McCarthy's nine summer signings – by far the most he has fielded together.

But there was no masking desperate a lack of Premier League experience in the starting XI. And despite their admirable efforts to compete, they were cannon fodder for one of the division's super-powers.

George Friend and Maierhofer made their first starts in the top flight, Matt Hill and Andrew Surman their second, Zubar and Foley returned to start after injury, while George Elokobi, Mancienne and Greg Halford also came in as McCarthy completely replaced his outfield line-up.

Predictably then, United started on top, and the outcome became inevitable once Wayne Rooney confidently dispatched the 30th minute penalty awarded for the Zubar's ring-rusty handball.

By then, Rooney had forced a point-blank save from Marcus Hahnemann after the ball broke to him 10 yards out.

To be fair, Wolves didn't have too much trouble holding their own for the first half hour.

They forced the next chance when Friend – only recalled from his loan at Scunthorpe on Monday – volleyed narrowly over after Maierhofer flicked on Halford's long throw.

Not surprisingly, United always carried the greater threat and Rooney turned Mancienne only to see his shot deflected wide.

Nemanja Vidic also fired narrowly over before United made it 2-0 on 43 minutes, Vidic's towering header a corner from former Wolves loan man Darron Gibson proving too powerful for Hahnemann to hold.

United almost scored a third with the last kick of the half when Hahnemann blocked Gabriel Obertan's shot with his legs.

With the game seemingly over and the pace having dropped to almost that of a friendly, the Wolves fans vented their anger with chants of "We want our money back".

A rare half chance when Friend lashed over after Surman turned back Maierhofer's cross was quickly forgotten as United made it 3-0 on 66.

Antonio Valencia crashed home first time to leave Hahnemann rooted to the spot after Paul Scholes's ball over the top had been hooked into the danger area by Dimitar Berbatov.

With the game now well beyond a competitive affair, Wolves supporters again made their feelings known with loud chants of "Where is our first team?", "£40 to watch the reserves" and again "We want our money back".

Facing a long journey home in driving rain, it wasn't difficult to understand their disappointment.

But if for example Karl Henry, Richard Stearman, Nenad Milijas and Kevin Doyle had got injured last night and Wolves lost, and then they missed Sunday's game, my guess is the fans would be even more unhappy.

If that scenario panned out, the probability is that Wolves would have lost both games. As it is, they can still win one.

Let's hope McCarthy is proved right.

By Tim Nash.