Wolves under Premier League radar says Birmingham captain Carsley

Nov 27 2008 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Post

One pleasing sight for nervous Blues fans was that Carsley didn’t appear to be showing any effects from the thigh strain that prematurely ended his involvement in Tuesday night’s win over Ipswich. He smiled for the cameras at the launch of his club’s Give a Christmas Wish launch at St Andrew’s yesterday afternoon.

Wolves appear to be unstoppable and Birmingham will need every ounce of Carsley’s trademark mettle to stop the Championship leaders’ seven-match winning run.

While their sequence may not be as intimidating as their neighbours in the Black Country, Birmingham have chalked up three consecutive wins themselves to keep on Wolves’ tails.

“We’ve taken a bit of time to adjust to this division but in the last few weeks it seems that we’ve started to string together a bit of form and we’ve enjoyed it,” added Carsley, who is well aware of McCarthy’s managerial capabilities from his days with Ireland.

“I wouldn’t have thought that Saturday will be a game of flowing football, to be honest, I think that it’s very rare in the Championship to see two great footballing sides passing it about. It’s not like it’s Man U v Arsenal, nevertheless it’s still a massive game for us and it’s game that we are looking forward to.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Wolves have a good team because Mick is a good manager. The fact that he’s put together such a strong team is all down to him. I’m sure Mick will now be saying, like us, that it’s all about keeping it going because it is a long season with a lot of games. We’ve got to make sure that we look after ourselves and if we do we will be OK.”