Sir Alex Ferguson has defended Mick McCarthy's controversial team selection of ten changes at Old Trafford on Tuesday. To see the entire outfield team changed was a surprise to Ferguson, who won 3-0, but the basis of the decision was not.
Having assessed the stats of Wolves' players at White Hart Lane, the Scot concluded at least six of their team would not be asked to produce a repeat showing at Old Trafford.
"Mick McCarthy did the right thing for Wolves," said Ferguson.
"We looked at their performance against Tottenham and the amount of running they had to do. I said five or six of those players could not play.
"In addition to the actual match, they had been down to London, then they had to travel to Manchester and they also play Burnley at the weekend.
"We didn't think they would play their full side. We worked through the ones who did all the running and worked out who we thought it would be.
"We didn't expect 10 but we weren't far wrong."
And, rather than effectively providing his team with a walkover on Tuesday, Ferguson feels the changes worked to Wolves' advantage.
"The Wolves side that played on Tuesday did exactly what a lot of sides have been doing to us recently," he said.
"They never gave us a minute on the ball. They worked their socks off.
"To my mind, there was no discernable difference in the Wolves team that could have played to the one that did."
