McCarthy left his players on their own to watch a video rerun of the setback against Blues last Sunday and in particular the dismal opening half in the 1-0 defeat.

He admits the recent four-goal maulings by top four sides Arsenal and Chelsea caused more damage to confidence that he had envisaged.

But the former Republic of Ireland boss still has faith in his squad and wants them to repeat the kind of sequence of results which has carried previously struggling Birmingham and Hull out of the danger zone.

McCarthy said: "It's lot easier to come to work when you are winning and things are going great. It's easier then to have a smile on your face but we've still managed that and have still been positive about things.

"It's been harder than normal but we are still cracking on.

"We've just had a bad run of games. It was the worst 45 minutes I can remember against Birmingham. I can't remember anything worse than that.

"We need to have a similar run now to what Hull have just had, to what Birmingham have just had - and some of those teams will have a bad run. It will turn around.

"Blues showed how quickly it can turn around. We've had a bad spell with the games we've had but someone else will have a bad month.

"We now need to have a good month. What would that be? If we win two home games (against Bolton and Burnley) that would be a start and if we do that, we won't be too far off where we want to be.

"Saturday is a huge game for both of us, a massive game for both of us, our home game against a team we'd be expected to beat. We need three points.

"We have to get back to like we played against Stoke (in the) second half, Aston Villa and Everton."

McCarthy admitted: "Is it a big job rebuilding confidence? We've had an interesting week. The lads watched the DVD themselves of the Birmingham game. I left it to them and they analysed it.

"They enjoyed it actually because they had a bit of an open forum among themselves where there was no staff, manager or coaches present and it was quite refreshing then to hear the feedback.

"I don't think they felt sorry for themselves. I think they felt sore and upset. They are a fantastic group of players.

"They had a look at the game themselves, they worked things out, they didn't need anyone to tell them and they are in a positive frame of mind for the weekend.

"I didn't know it at the time but I believe the Arsenal and the Chelsea games took more of a toll than I thought and everyone else thought.

"It did knock our confidence. When you've been slapped by four goals twice, then to concede a goal, albeit to a wonder strike from Lee Bowyer so early, is not what you want."

McCarthy concedes he will settle for below-par performances if Wolves can put an end to their eight game sequence without a victory.

He said: "Ultimately you get what you deserve. It is alright playing well. We have to create chances in games and we have to take them.

"If we are 1-0 up, we have to put together a clean sheet and, if we don't for whatever reason, we can't put it down to bad luck.

"Results are all important, not particularly performances. I'll take the next 10 rubbish performances and 10 wins. We all would, wouldn't we?"