Former Wolves manager Graham Taylor understands why Mick McCarthy fielded a weakened team at Manchester United - and believes the Premier League are to blame for the issue.
The league have asked McCarthy to explain the reasons for his much-changed line-up at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
After making 10 changes to the team that won at Tottenham 72 hours earlier, McCarthy saw his side slump to a 3-0 defeat.
The move was widely condemned, although Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey yesterday refused to rule out the possibility of McCarthy making mass changes to his side later on in the season.
Taylor told the Daily Express: "What he did was a shock.
"But when he talked about the risks of hamstring injuries and the tiredness of the players after the effort they put in to beat Tottenham, I thought: No Mick, you've no need to say all that, just say 'I'm the manager. I pick the team. I take responsibility'.
"If he thought he had a better chance of getting three points off Burnley by doing it that way, he had no need to say anything else.
"To those who accuse him of giving three points away he could say: 'Hold on a minute, don't a lot of these big clubs play weakened sides when it suits them?'
"If he judged that by doing what he did he will give Wolves the better chance to stay in the Premier League, I am with him."
However, the man who managed the club from 1994-95 can sympathise with frustrated Wolves fans and believes a solution is needed.
Taylor added: "The Premier League need to be careful because they have made this situation...the commercial success of the league is fantastic.
"The FA Cup and the League Cup have both been devalued by clubs being allowed to pick understrength sides.
"What Wolves have done may start a run of it in the Premier League, particularly if they beat Burnley...you could have other clubs looking at it and deciding that is the way they will go."
