Kevin Doyle has his say on Man United’s starting XI; calls for Premier League to ‘give £25k back to Wolves’ from 2010 fine
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Mick McCarthy made 10 changes against Man United in 2009, and I was a part of that team, so I was dropped for the game at Old Trafford having just beaten Tottenham Hotspur away.
I know the chairman at the time wasn’t happy at all with Mick’s decision, I think they fell out about it. We had a six-pointer against Burnley the following weekend and there was so much pressure on us to get a result in that game because of what we’d done against Man United. If we didn’t get a result in that Burnley match it would have made a mockery of what we did and we’d have looked foolish, but we won the game, so we were proven right.
Steve Morgan was the chairman at the time and I remember watching the game back afterwards, and if you go and look at it now, you’ll see Mick McCarthy turning and pumping his fist up to the stands. I think that was to the chairman because he was against the idea of Mick playing a weaker side against United in the previous game.
Mick got a lot of stick from everyone off the back of that game at Old Trafford, but as players we understood and we knew what the thinking behind it was. We’d put everything into beating Spurs away just a few days beforehand, then we had to travel to United. Your legs can only do so much – especially at that time in the season around Christmas – but we managed to get two wins from three games in the space of a week. Six points for Wolverhampton Wanderers in a week was huge.
We played against Spurs and United, both away from home and then Burnley at home, so obviously that Burnley game is the one you’re most likely to take three points from. Man United at the time were a stronger team than they are now, and with three games in a week, Mick decided to make some changes. Similarly to what United did on Tuesday night though, it wasn’t like we threw out a load of kids, we had experienced players, internationals, playing. It was a close enough game and we were proven right in the long run.
I was baffled by the Premier League’s decision to fine Wolves
I remember at the time being baffled by that decision to fine us. We knew Mick was planning on mixing things up the day before the game because of the things we were doing in training; working on a different shape. He told us he’d be resting a few players because of the big game against Burnley a couple of days later. But none of us knew we’d get into trouble for apparently fielding a weaker team. It’s our squad of professional football players at the end of the day, and if anything, it’s disrespectful to the lads who did play, that the club is getting fined for playing them.
It actually looks very unfair on Wolves if Man United don’t get fined by the Premier League for making 10 changes, doesn’t it? Give Wolves their money back!
Man United have four games in eight days; they can do what they want. They played professional players; that’s why you have big squads. It’s their problem if they lose, and while I haven’t seen quotes from other clubs going for top four spots yet, if they’re having to rely on Man United to help them out then they have their own problems and they’ve done their own things wrong during the season. They should be worrying about themselves, not what Man United do. They’ve been forced into it by having to play four games in eight days – they have more important games coming up.
Liverpool on Thursday is a big game for them, not necessarily in the grand scheme of things in the league, but it’s a massive rivalry and it’s a great opportunity for them to put a marker down for next season.
Let managers manage
I’ve seen quotes from people saying Man United should be deducted points… how can anyone make that argument? It’s just stupidity. If you’re the manager and you can’t make decisions, it’s stupid. You could argue every week that a team isn’t playing their strongest starting eleven. If you kick up a fuss about what United have done, then what is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer allowed to do in his next game? Is he allowed to make three changes? Can he make five changes? If you start going down that route, where do you go? Leave it to the club.
You can’t say it’s unfair on other teams going for the top four; it’s unfair for Man United that they’ve been forced to play four games in eight days. If you’re one of the clubs worrying about one game and one decision Man United made, you have a problem.
You look at the team that started for Man United against Leicester, OK they’re not all regular starters, but the majority are international players with bags of experience. Who’s to say they wouldn’t have got beaten by more if they’d have played their strongest eleven?
I don’t know how they fined us all those years ago. It was a stupid thing to do because they’ve snookered themselves a little bit because they set a precedent. But that’s the Premier League’s problem, not Man United’s.
There will have been a few players on the pitch for Man United last night who aren’t happy about not being regular starters. They had a chance last night to go and prove themselves to the manager against a Leicester team who aren’t exactly in great form. They had a great chance to show the manager they should be playing more regularly and they didn’t take it. There were a couple of kids playing but in the main it was still a strong team.
You’d hardly notice if Man City made 10 changes
It’s a worry that Man United weren’t stronger against Leicester. If Man City made 10 changes going into a Premier League name, you’d hardly even notice; they’d probably be as strong. That game probably told Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a lot about his reserve players, who is up for the fight, who wants to battle to get into the first team.
It was a poor performance from United; listen, we knew Man City were going to win the league, but you want to make them work for it – especially as they’re you’re local rivals. That’s the negative from the Leicester game from my point of view; not that they’ve made so many changes, but that the performance was so poor, it’s ultimately cost them the title. Winning last night would’ve prolonged City’s wait for the title, then United would’ve got to play again before City. If they could’ve come out of this week with back-to-back wins against Leicester and Liverpool, all of a sudden it just puts a little bit of doubt in Man City’s mind.
If they don’t beat Liverpool or put in a really good performance, all of a sudden people are asking questions about the decision to rest players. Psychologically there’s actually a lot of pressure on the first-team to go out and get a result on Thursday now.
Kevin
