Karl Henry urges Wolves to play 'ugly'

John Curtis,Pa
Tuesday 20 September 2011 11:38 BST
Comments
Henry has found himself involved in a spat with Barton
Henry has found himself involved in a spat with Barton (GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Karl Henry believes Wolves have to rediscover how to play "ugly" as he looks to put his weekend spat with Joey Barton behind him in tonight's Carling Cup clash with Millwall at Molineux.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy dismissed QPR midfielder Barton's claims that Henry "tries to hurt people" after the weekend clash between the sides at Molineux which the visitors won 3-0.

Now his former skipper Henry is looking for below-par Wolves to return to the traits that helped them gain promotion from the Championship and stay in the top flight for the past two seasons.

Henry said: "We want to play football and it is something we've added to our game.

"We've got better players in the team than we had last season. But we've still got to know our identity and what we are about.

"From time to time it is going to be an ugly game and you've got to earn the right to play. We didn't do that against QPR.

"We've not lost our identity but maybe just forget what has got us here in the first place, why we have stayed in the league for two years.

"We are not going to go through this season playing like Brazil every week and staying in the Premier League that way.

"It is going to be a hard slog. We've got to know what we are about and there are times when we've got to make it ugly - and we didn't do that against QPR."

McCarthy is refusing to be drawn into a war or words with Barton who claimed "I don't know what Mick has been smoking" after reports that Wolves had rejected the chance to sign him.

The Wolves boss said: "I have my opinions but generally I keep them to myself.

"Opinions are like backsides. We've all got them but it is not always wise to air them in public. Maybe we could all take a note of that.

"I haven't read Barton's comments and I'm not interested. You will not get me to start dignifying any of them with a response.

"But I will say Karl is one of the best pros I've ever worked with in terms of his attitude and conscientiousness to his profession.

"He has earned himself the right to play in the Premier League by his guts and determination and made himself a better player.

"I've got nothing but admiration for him and never, ever has he gone out to hurt anyone."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in