Quick thoughts: West Brom 5, Wolves 1--End of the road for McCarthy?

After the win against QPR at Loftus Road last week, Wolves fans must have been of the mentality that the upcoming fixture at home against West Brom was undoubtedly winnable and that Wolves could very well be on their way to survival. The reality of Sunday's match proved to put these hopes to bed with a thud.

That relegation rivals Blackburn and Wigan defeated fellow drop candidates QPR and Bolton respectively to bring further parity amongst the bottom five was surely not loss on Mick McCarthy, and perhaps this is why he felt the need to put out a very attack minded side. The opportunity was there to pull a full three points clear from the bottom three, and the lure of coming out flying against Midlands rivals West Brom was enticing indeed. These aspirations proved to be off the mark.

While some would look at West Brom's rather anonymous position in the table and think little of their chances to impress, it would be wrong to forget that this is a side that actually does have some attacking option and can score some fantastic goals on their day. This was to be one of those days, though Stephen Fletcher's late, well worked first half equalizer masked the inevitable for a short while.

Even before West Brom retook the lead thanks to a calamitous error by Wayne Hennesey, Wolves always looked second best and far too open, but they were to become like an open floodgate from that point until the final whistle. Why and even how an always threatening player like Peter Odemwingie is allowed such free reign on his way to a hat-trick would be fair questions to ask. If not for a couple of missed chances late on, West Brom could have duplicated Arsenal's scoreline against Blackburn.

The raucous boos at the final whistle only confirmed the displeasure with Molineux, and the cries for McCarthy to be dismissed will only be that much louder. It would be hard to believe that a move wouldn't be made now, but one must wonder about just who Wolves would be able to bring in at this point in the season as they sit in such a perilous position in the bottom three.