Wolves were beaten 3-0 on Tuesday night to remain in the bottom three and have collected only point from the last four games, conceding 11 goals in the process. The plus point for McCarthy is that Wolves have not been cut adrift as they gear up for Sunday's clash with fellow strugglers Birmingham at St Andrew's. But McCarthy is aware there has to be a massive improvement for Wolves to arrest their current slide back towards the Championship after two seasons of top-flight football. He said: "We are not a long way adrift. Look at West Ham's recent run, Blackpool's run, Blackburn's run, Wigan's run. "Everyone around us has been similar. Nobody has been that consistent. "We have all had little runs during the season where it has helped us get back in touch and then we have all had disappointing runs. "That is where we are where we are because we have been inconsistent just like the other teams around us. We are not out of it." McCarthy added: "Everyone says two wins may be enough. The disappointment is we don't look like winning two games. "Where do you win two games when you play like that on Tuesday night at Stoke? Once they scored, we were very, very poor. Everybody was feeling sore and smarting, hurt and upset, disappointed. "I certainly don't think it is going to be 41, 42 points to stay up. Where are we going to get all those points? "Just try getting maybe two wins and draw from the last four games when you have been on a poor run. It is a hell of a difficult task. "We are going to have to play a damn sight better and I am sure they will." McCarthy knows the significance of Sunday's game with Birmingham, who are also out of sorts after conceding eight goals in two games in losing to Chelsea and Liverpool. He said: "It is it is a huge game for the pair of us, neither team has been flying or playing great. "They had a beating against Liverpool. We both need the points but us more than them, I might add. "Both clubs have got good sets of players that might not be the best but are never found wanting in terms of effort and endeavour and certainly go about the job the right way. "We will be back at it on Sunday, no question." Wolves striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has failed to recover from the hamstring injury aggravated against Fulham last weekend. But McCarthy is more hopeful fellow forward Steven Fletcher will have recovered from a knee setback suffered at the Britannia Stadium.
