MANAGERS will do all they can to secure their team an advantage in a game, so you can’t blame Mick McCarthy for his attempts at gamesmanship this week. Some Evertonians will have been a little bit irked that McCarthy said FIFA had every right to ban Marouane Fellaini from tomorrow’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, due to his row with Belgium. McCarthy, of course, was at the centre of a similar row during his spell in charge of the Republic of Ireland, so it was probably only to be expected that he would have a view on the matter – and happily put it forward. His reasons for doing so, though, are pretty obvious when you look at Wolves’ last three results; McCarthy will know that they are in for a difficult time at Goodison Park and it’s not hard to see why Everton are odds-on favourites to get three points. I think Wolves are going to find it hard to stay in the Premier League, especially given the kind of signings they have made during the summer; you would hardly say they are household names or players with vast top-flight experience. Wolves are a funny club, really. They have the potential to be massive and their fan-base is huge but they appear destined to be one of those clubs, like West Brom, that keeps yo-yoing between the Premier League and the Championship. I’ll never understand why they got rid of Dave Jones – and that’s not just because he used to clean my boots; he’s a top manager and has enjoyed success of some sort wherever he has managed. But this is going to be a long season for Wolves and I fancy their first visit to Merseyside of the campaign is going to be a fruitless one; Everton were in outstanding form before the international break and will be desperate to keep it up. David Moyes will be delighted that none of his main players have come back with injuries – and that FIFA have allowed Fellaini to play, so now it’s a case of getting back into the winning thread. Fergie may pay for Alan Wiley post-match remarks YOU don’t normally expect Alex Ferguson to make a blunder when he gives post-match interviews but his decision to lambaste Alan Wiley is likely to backfire. Referees, you see, stick together and they will all be united in their condemnation of Fergie’s claims that Premier League officials are unfit; he might now find that Manchester United suffer for it. There are lots of reason being mooted as why he went to town on Wiley, mainly surrounding the fact that it deflected from a poor United performance, but it was misguided when you think of the technology available today. Every run is tracked, every distance is measured and every one was in Alan Wiley’s favour that night; so Ferguson can now expect to be given a touchline ban when the FA decide on his punishment. But, more seriously for United, they could now find those 50/50 decisions or the 60/40 ones that were once in their favour, suddenly going against them. It doesn’t pay to criticise referees so vociferously.
WHAT do you think? Have your say at www.evertonbanter.co.uk
| 
Article
HAVE your say on our Blues Messageboard - click 
