Derby humiliation - but is it really time for change?

Sorry seems to be the hardest word, so the song goes, but Mick McCarthy had no hesitation in using it after one of the most embarrassing defeats seen at Molineux in many a year, writes Wolve blogger Tim Spiers.

And so he should, quite frankly, for that was humiliating beyond belief for anyone connected with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

I mean come on, honestly, as bad as we've been this season who saw that one coming?

It was the mother of all nightmares, one that the scriptwriters of Nightmare on Elm Street wouldn't have dared pitch for a sequel for fear of being told they'd gone one step too far this time.

A 5-1 defeat to any team is bad enough, least of all to one which started the day just two places above us in the table.

But to capitulate in that manner in a derby match, one so important on so many levels, is almost unforgivable.

Through gritted teeth I say full credit where it's due to the Baggies, who were technically and tactically far superior.

The margin of victory didn't flatter them in the slightest - they passed the ball better, defended better, finished better, completely overran us in midfield and on another day would have been out of sight by half time.

As it was we clung on to their coattails until 14 minutes from time, when things began to get very ugly indeed.

Keith Andrews, following on from Aston Villa's Robbie Keane and Liverpool's Andy Carroll, added another early contender for most inevitable goal seen at Molineux in 2012 and the fifth rubbed rock salt in some gaping, sore wounds.

But as well as West Brom played, it was the bewildering and astonishing ineptitude of Wolves which made them look like world beaters.

McCarthy began with good intentions, selecting Kevin Doyle on the right and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake up front in a bold, attacking line-up.

But with David Edwards and Jamie O'Hara swamped in midfield and Kevin Foley and Stephen Ward caught out time and again it was soon panic stations all over the pitch.

We retreated to a defensive position so deep that I wouldn't be surprised if Roger Johnson and Sebastien Bassong discovered new species of marine life on the ocean bed.

Like a 16-year-old girl chasing the good looking guy with a leather jacket, stud earring and a bad attitude, we constantly gave Albion the come-on and only some top-drawer saves from Wayne Hennessey kept the score at 1-0.

Steven Fletcher's equaliser gave false hope and, after our first (and only) decent spell of the match, Albion deservedly retook the lead with a goal straight out of the How to Make Fools of Yourselves on Global Television textbook.

Four players stood and watched an achingly slow header bounce off the post, Johnson tried to hit the Goodyear Blimp with an almost vertical clearance, and then O'Hara got in Hennessey's way as the keeper let Jonas Olsson's shot squirm through his butterfingers.

Unfortunately it was indicative of the defensive shambles we have become of late, with the error-prone and still unconvincing Johnson central to the madness.

But the most displeasing aspect of the defeat was the total lack of organisation further up the pitch, where the midfielders and strikers didn't seem to know where they were playing half the time.

Ebanks-Blake was bizarrely utilised on the left flank in the second half, with Jarvis playing behind Doyle and Fletcher.

What with Edwards doing a great job of highlighting just how badly we miss Karl Henry in his hapless display as a holding midfielder, it was a shockingly disorientating line up for such an important fixture.

In that respect it was most un-McCarthy-like, too, for the one thing his Wolves team usually has been is organised.

All in all it'll take a long while for all those of a gold and black persuasion to live the defeat down, but believe it or not there are more important issues at hand here, namely whether our much-maligned manager should keep his job.

The highs and lows at Wolves are extreme at the moment, with resigned despondency after Liverpool, relief and jubilation after QPR when survival looked possible again, and now devastation and anger.

The calls for McCarthy's head are louder than ever but is now the time for Morgan to act?

Obviously we've got to see past the raw emotion of the fact it was a Black Country derby and take stock of the overall situation.

The reality is that we're not cut adrift, there are sides struggling just as badly as us and we have the players to get us out of it.

Whether we have the manager as well is open to debate.

I've already got two tin hats on in readiness here, but I think it'd be sheer madness to get rid of him now.

Steve Morgan has to ask himself, in the context of a relegation fight, whether it's more of a risk to keep McCarthy or get rid of him.

Well in the past two seasons we've been in a similar position and he proved on both occasions that he could drag us to survival.

With 13 games left of the current campaign I cannot think of another manager – and a lack of obvious replacements certainly helps McCarthy's cause – who is better placed to battle, scrap and fight for the points we're going to need.

If you're after someone to try and change our football philosophy and mould us into an attractive mid-table side, then it does look increasingly evident McCarthy is incapable of doing so.

But as far as this season goes, that ship sailed when the January transfer window slammed shut and it would be a desperate act to sack the manager now.

In a 13-game five-team mini season where only the top two will survive, I'll back McCarthy every single time to get the job done.

Morgan keeps telling us he's not a trigger-happy chairman and this defeat may test his philosophy more than any other, but he must be consistent in his approach.

An unlikely ally in the enemy camp, Roy Hodgson, backed McCarthy and said Wolves fans should be careful what we wish for, and I completely agree with the Albion manager.

It seems like the end of the world now but it's also time for heads to rule hearts.

A rash decision could end up being very costly indeed.