MICK THINKS HIS OLD PALS WILL CREATE NEW RECORDS
‘Bonkers’ Wolves just too good
WOLVES could well break records this season. They are certainly breaking hoodoos – they’ve even got one over on former boss Mick McCarthy.
The Ipswich gaffer has become a bit of a nemesis since his Molineux sacking in 2012 – he is unbeaten in seven games against Wolves with his new charges. But he hadn’t faced Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves.
Ivan Cavaleiro’s superb first-half strike ended the streak, making it eight wins in nine for the leaders, giving them a ten-point cushion over third-placed Derby.
At the halfway stage they are on course to break the all-time Championship points record of 106, set by Reading’s 2006 winners.
And McCarthy, the last man to take Wolves into the Premier League, has no doubt they are headed there again.
“Wolves are a very good side and I think they will go up,” he said. “What impresses me about them most is that they get 1-0 wins. It doesn’t have to be fours or fives all the time with the good players that they’ve got. They scrap it out as well.
“They will probably spend in the window to get even better. It’s a bonkers squad compared to some – I had to call a player back on loan from Aldershot to fill my bench!”
Santo, meanwhile, continues to refuse to get carried away, despite seeing his side mix eyecatching thrashings with equally important gritty victories.
“We don’t look at the table. We look at how we want to proceed and be consistent in our work,” he said. “It is a good moment for us, let’s enjoy it. We are playing well, we are getting good results. But the players can still get better.
“We are at the stage of the season where teams are trying to adapt to us and we have to find solutions. We will look to find them in every game.
“We knew Ipswich would be tough. They press hard, man-toman all over the pitch. But defensively we were very compact, we didn’t concede anything at all. We are growing as a team.”
Wolves, of course, have plenty of players with a delightful touch – although you would not necessarily put goalkeeper John Ruddy among them.
However, he produced a piece of control Ivan Cavaleiro would have been proud of to stop Conor Coady’s horrendously over-hit 17th-minute backpass resulting in an embarrassing own goal.
It would be the only time Ruddy would be troubled all game. The question was whether Wolves could break Ipswich down at the other end.
They took 34 minutes to threaten, young Town full-back Myles Kenlock producing a goal-saving block as Diogo Jota pulled the trigger six yards out after latching on to Willy Boly’s ball over the top.
Ruben Neves fizzed one just over from 25 yards from the resulting corner, but it would only take five minutes longer for the deadlock to be broken.
For once, Ipswich were caught short at the back as Wolves broke quickly and when a loose ball fell to Cavaleiro, he took one touch and flashed a fine finish into the bottom corner from 20 yards.
After the break, Martyn Waghorn lashed a snapshot wide with Ipswich’s only real chance, while Wolves were wasteful with their final ball and did not threaten a second until a late flurry that features efforts from substitute Helder Costa, Barry Douglas and Romain Saiss.
A happy Santo was noncommittal when asked about potential January business, adding: “We are very happy with the squad.
“Anyone who comes will have to bring something different and increase the quality. More important is what we have now.”
McCarthy, meanwhile, would love the luxury of a January transfer pot but Ipswich remain in the play-off hunt on a shoestring budget.
“Defensively, it was a good performance,” he said. “We just let our guard down five minutes before half-time but, overall, we can take a lot out of it.”