Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy caused controversy this week when he elected to field a team largely comprised of reserve players for the trip to Manchester United. They went on to lose 3-0. But many wondered whether the Wolves boss had brought the integrity of the game into question with his team selection.

This issue inspired a heated debate in the Guardian office this week. Here, my colleague Dominic Gover and I post our contrasting views on the issue.

Read our arguments, make up your own mind and why not get involved in the debate by leaving your own comments below.

Dominic's view

So, Wolves committed a grave crime against football when boss Mick McCarthy elected not to play his strongest possible squad against Manchester United?

Give me a Premier League Christmas break.

McCarthy just had to play the averages.

Why? Here were Mick’s choices. Play the Premier League champions at Old Trafford and lose for sure, or keep the powder dry for a more winnable clash with Burnley this weekend.

And to Spurs fans. Yes, Man Utd ARE a much sterner test than the combined forces of David Bentley and Wilson Palacios et al.

So the man was true to his Yorkshire roots. He made a practical and pragmatic decision based on the information available. Good call.

But this seems inconceivable to the likes of cock-eyed Liverpool fans seduced by the chance of drawing FC BATE Borisov in next year’s Europa League.

'How very dare Wolves disrespect a top four club like this!' comes the cry (implied).

Where is the queue of critics lining up to clatter big club bosses for when they opt to rotate their own squads?

Like that knight of the realm Sir Alex Fergurson, for instance.

Or Rafa Benitez, the crown (or is it clown) prince of the practice.

Why are these clubs not taken to task?

This is why. Premier League fans are the spoiled brats of English football, of all European football, perhaps.

They cravenly prostrate themselves at the feet of men who can provide them with Gabriel Ober-paid one week, and Luis Antonio Valencia the next.

Or Dirk Kuyt one week, and Andriy Voronin the next.

So the cream of English football become pretty much above such petty criticism.

And there is so much gnashing of teeth and tearing of replica shirts when lowly Wolves do the same, because they are curd.

The amount of bile aimed at Wolves is comparable to that which spewed from the gob of that Satanic child in the Exorcist film.

And her head was rotating at the time. Is it contagious?

There is a massive gulf between the teams who get on first in the Match of the Day schedule, and everyone else.

The choices which confront lesser teams are different. A little understanding, please!

Ross's view

There was certainly one pack of wolves at Old Trafford on Tuesday. But it wasn't the group of players in yellow strips. They were the lambs to the slaughter. No, it was the wolves of Manchester United that gratefully accepted their meal and devoured them with relish.

Sir Alex Ferguson must have been licking his lips in eager anticipation at the prospect of facing the ramshackle bunch that Mick McCarthy served up.

After the team lived up to their name so brilliantly at White Hart Lane last week, scrapping and fighting for every ball and coming away with the three points many had viewed as unobtainable, McCarthy then proved he saw the result as little more than a fluke by making 10 changes to that victorious team for the trip to the lion's den in Manchester.

Lo and behold the cubs were mauled, beaten 3-0 by the champions.

And McCarthy would have expected nothing more. The only question I have to ask is, why bother turning up? Why not simply put a call in to the Premier League and ask if they can award the points to Manchester United to save themselves the hassle and the embarrassment? Because that is effectively what McCarthy did by fielding such a weak side.

He will tell you he was saving his players from over-exertion ahead of a 'bigger' game at the weekend at home to Burnley.

But what bigger game on the league calendar is there than an away day at Old Trafford? Many of these players, who have plied their trade in the second division of English football for much of their careers, will only have one opportunity to play at the Theatre of Dreams, arguably the grandest stage in the world. But McCarthy has denied them that particular ambition. All because he thought his first team would get pummeled. So he sent the reserves out to get butchered instead.

The assumption that Wolves would be simply swatted aside by United is a widely-held notion, and one that I shared. But has this Premier League season taught McCarthy nothing? Big teams are slipping up every week. Manchester United had already lost to Wolves' promotion colleagues Burnley earlier in the season, and they were even heading into the game fresh from a home defeat to Aston Villa.

Nothing can be taken for granted this season.

Is it so unrealistic to think that Wolves could have earned at least a draw? Even if they had made the champions sweat in their own back yard before succumbing to the odd goal, that would surely have provided the team with more confidence than sitting it out altogether.

It sends the wrong message to the players and it sends the wrong message to the fans who, after seeing their team perform so valiantly at White Hart Lane, would have been entitled to think that their heroes could deliver a similarly impressive performance once again.

Instead, 3000 of them coughed up £42 and made the 150mile round trip to watch their reserves get stuffed. No wonder they were chanting 'we want our money back'.

Arthur Williams, head of the North West Wolves supporters branch and who was in attendance on Tuesday evening, told BBC Sport: "Listening to Mick's reasoning, you can understand it but then he confounded it by saying we've got some big games coming up. Well surely last night was a big game?

"Coming as it was on the back of a win at Tottenham, I thought there was something to be gained from that match on Tuesday.

"Wolves sold out their allocation, paid £42 each, plus the time and cost of travelling, and my first reaction when I saw 10 changes and players playing out of position was, I thought, grossly disrespectful."

And he has every right to be furious with his manager. So too do the players who were denied the chance to play.

If you had asked them whether they felt capable of going to Old Trafford and causing an upset, I'm sure they would have answered in the affirmative, especially given such a morale-boosting display in their previous match.

McCarthy's selection tells you that he has no belief in his players when they come up against the big sides, despite their best efforts to prove him wrong.

They will undoubtedly be asking themselves just how much faith their manager has in them and will have suffered no small amount of humiliation from the saga.

Their confidence would have taken a substantial blow. And what about those who were sent out expected to be massacred? I'm sure McCarthy didn't tell his players during his pre-game pep talk 'OK chaps, the first team don't have a hope here, so you don't have a cat in hell's chance of getting anything. Just try not to let it resemble a cricket score.' But irrespective of what he did say in the dressing room, that would be the true interpretation.

The ramifications run deeper. The result also heaps more pressure on the first team to emerge against Burnley and get the three points. It will not help matters that the country's gaze will be fixed on their performance, thanks to their manager's reckless decision.

Williams insisted all would be forgotten if Wolves beat Owen Coyle's side. We'll see about that when the season's climax rolls around next May. If Wolves, as expected, are still fighting for their Premier League lives, and they require a strong Manchester United team to beat their relegation rivals on the final day of the campaign, don't expect anyone to do you any favours, Mick.

Do you agree? Post your view below.