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Mick: Zubar is new version of me
Thursday 9th July 2009, 11:28AM BST.
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy believes tough guy Ronald Zubar could be the club’s version of himself – as Bobo Balde won an extended chance to impress.
Zubar and Balde arrived in Perth last night with fellow new signing Nenad Milijas, meeting their team-mates for the first time. The trio will be considered for tomorrow’s friendly against Perth Glory, depending on their levels of fitness.
The signing of Zubar is seen by the club in a similar class to Kevin Doyle and they have high hopes the Marseille arrival will solidify Wolves’ rearguard in readiness for the Premier League. And McCarthy believes he could be like himself, saying: “He’s 6ft 1in, very athletic, very quick and I’d say he’s a Mick McCarthy type of player – a tough defender.
“He’s competitive, he wants to defend and he wants to win. He’s played Champions League football for Marseilles.
“I first saw him play for France under-21s in the same team as Florent Sinama Pongolle, Anthony Le Tallec and Franck Ribery. Taff (Ian Evans) saw him twice and then we saw the DVDs and we saw instantly he could be a signing.”
Meanwhile, Balde is set to win an extended chance to prove himself.
“Bobo will be here for a couple of weeks at least,” said McCarthy.
“If he’s up to speed to play then fine but, if he’s not, then we’ll wait.
“He’ll probably be around for the Walsall and the Bristol City games and he wants to spend time with us.
“There was a lot of talk about him supposed to be joining Birmingham but I was never sure how true that was. He’s an experienced defender and he’s still been playing for Guinea.”
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Somebody tell me why we need Bobe Balde when we already have numerous defenders, and plus he rejected us last time. Shouldn’t we be concentrating on grabbing Mancienne if all these rumours are true?
Back to Balde, i think he saw Wolves had booked a trip to Australia n he thought “i’ve got a free trip to Australia here.” I don’t think we’ll sign him.
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Balde is a right muppet – get rid Mick!!
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This was what I meant in a previous comment but didnt write it well…LOL sorry…..If we sign Balde and Elokobi plays well also, come January and the African nations cup, we will be potentially 2 defenders down. I just hope we have enough strength in depth. Bring in Mancienne
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As always the Proof of the pudding will be in the eating with all these signings. Hopefully, it will be positive and we will win matches. Not trying to be negative, just realistic! I think we all know taht signing a new player can be a lottery – Frankowski and a few others as we all know. I really am convinced about Doyle though!!
We still need quality cover for the front two and as Scotland is likely to move to Wigan we will have to get that one sorted ASAP. I sill think a move for Duff would be good and Ledley!!
We then need to start looking at shipping 2-4 out.. :-)
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”“He’s 6ft 1in, very athletic, very quick and I’d say he’s a Mick McCarthy type of player – a tough defender.”……. very modest there Mick. Haha.
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re 4
It’s a great point until you realise that Guinea are already eliminated from the African Nations Cup in 2010 and that Elokobi is as far away from a Cameroon call up as Neil Collins is.
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Bizzare how many central defenders do we need? Also this is a person motivated by money only as we saw last year when he prefered to sit on his back side than come and play for us. Also don’t need the unneccessary wage Mick if you want to sign someone try midfield we could make a team up of central defenders. The rest of the signings well done.
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4. Duff and Ledley
I would take a chance with Ledley but I would not take anyone from the newcastle team. Did you watch their last match of the season. It was a disgrace they played like it was a Sunday afternoon kick about not fighting for survival and if I was a Toon fan I would have been mightily p****d off. All in all happy with the signings but as has previously been said Balde would not be one for me. Just after that last big fat pay cheque.
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Personally I think Mancienne will be a Wolves player very soon, I also think we have nothing to lose signing Balde. In the prem we need the dept he will be a fringe player, cup games etc IMO.
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8 Duff
Duff is and was playing with a load of duffers, however, he has proved over a period of years that he is a quality player with lots of prem and international experience and I think in OUR team not Newcastle he would be a good move. I appreciate everyone has a view though. This is what makes all this chit chat interesting.
I can’t comment on Balde as I have only seen him play for about 10 mins… :-)
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what has happened to the big signing steve morgan talked about last week? listening to what jm said yesterday its only fringe and loan signings coming in now. we were told that experienced prem players were to be bought but that hasnt happened and we’ve only spent 15 mil. i do have faith in the 3 m’s but this isnt what they promised 2 months ago.
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This guy Zubar has shrunk an inch in less than a week. The E and S told us the other day,or it could have been the official site,that Zubar was 6ft 2 inch ,now he is 6ft 1 inch.He will be 5ft 10 inch by the time we kick off. Size matters in the Prem.It is good that he is quick,but can he head a ball.Mick McCarthy could but then he was not very quick.
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# 5 Lee
Not trying to be rude Lee but are you old enough to have seen Mick play? He was one tough cookie. I doubt that he would be allowed to finish a game with todays ref’s.
Bobo, don’t know, he has been round the block it’s just if he has enough genuine interest to muster the fitness required for a prem campaign that is the question mark in my mind.
Mancienne if we should be so lucky as to get him on loan would be a huge boost both to the team and the fans.
Up The Wolves
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I would happy with Joe Ledley but from what I have seen he is not much better then what we have already got, a similar ability to Dave Edwards. Kevin Nolan or Lee Cattermole would do for me. Mancienne on a season-long loan. Bobo Balde as squad cover would be good at the right wage. Carlos Vela keeps being linked to a loan move, what a piece of business that would be. I would expect Mancienne to sign on loan next week.
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Bob wolf – good to have ure wisdom back!
No- 6 regarding collins, i thought he was quite close to be honest, he keeps singing these extended contracts sothere must be something good about him……..
Mancienne in by end of next week!
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Mick McCarthy was quick…..
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14
I may be wrong but didnt Vela get crocked playing for Mexico last week – out for about 4 months???
take your point thos – Luke Willshire would be ok
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LaughingWolf…. err Vela, where exactly have you seen that linked to wolves story. Another one of your made up stories. GET A LIFE!
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15…
There is nothing good about Collins!!
I’m not sure Mancienne is the missing piece of the jigsaw that everyone thinks he is…
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Ive seen several videos of Zubra on youtube, he looks like a tough tackling defender but, whats strange for a central defender is that he scores goals from 30 yards out, ive seen several of these on youtube and he scores in the box as well. I think we have a player on our hands that could be better than joleon lescot and dean richards. Check him out.
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More great journalism from E&S. Where in the article does Mick say Zubar is just like he was? What he actually says is he is his ‘type of player’.
Anyway, whilst I think we’re all broadly happy with the signings to date, my only conern is we haven’t yet signed the players with Premiership experience and know-how that the 3M’s clearly stated they wanted when we achieved promotion. OK, Doyle has played and scored there before but you know what I mean….
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Lee – I think it was “tongue in cheek”. My dad was from the north and at times people didn’t know how to take him either. Regarding Balde, at least we know he doesn’t mind being on the bench – so as a fringe player, why not?
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No. 17 – do you mean Jack??
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21. 3rd paragraph down if you can read ?????
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Regarding Balde, I can see why we are still looking for another central defender. Mancienne is not in the bag yet afterall. Personally though, I would much prefer us to be putting our efforts into getting Calum Davenport (26 and plenty of premiership experience).
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12 and anyone else re:- Zubar
I have seen some interesting videos where he unfortunately seems to have a bad habit of scoring own goals – so much so that a video was made of all the own goals he has scored in the last couple of years. I’m sure he is a good player, but we can’t afford 7-8 own goals next season.. Hmmmm! :-)
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18. Pipe down you idiot, it has been mentioned on many RUMOUR sites. Considering I have been right about all the signings so far I would keep hush.
Zubar and Stearman at centre backs. Big George and Foley at full backs. Kightly, Milijas, Nolan, Jarvis (would like to see Friend at away games) blakey and Nolan
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Cornish Wolf & Solent Wolf. You’ve misinterpreted my post. Wasn’t laughing at Mick but with him. Think we should be used to his dry, dead pan, yorkshire wit by now! :)
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12. That’s funny mate. Better keep him out of the rain as well.
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6. Tommy Langley
Not that it matters a whole lot, because I can’t see Balde being anything other than a squad player, but…
Guinea aren’t eliminated from the African Nations Cup. They’re half-way through the Third Round of Qualification, and third in their group. The top team qualifies for the World Cup, and teams down to 3rd qualify for the ANC.
Academic, I hope. My Celtic fan mate says Bobo’s best years are long gone – and if he can’t hack it in the SPL, what chance in the EPL ?
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This will probably be the team for the West Ham game -
Hennessey Foley Mancienne Zubar Elokobi Kites Henry Milijas Jarvis Ebanks- blake Doyle
A strong enough team with the most pressure on Hennessey, the centre backs and Henry to deliver with Hahnemann Stearman and Edwards in the wings. Competition and plenty of it, is great for the team.
Things are looking good for the season!
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Good comments here- Understand with many of you h
why do we need so many Central Defenders – Balde i would think is past it. Some of you still regard Berra as being no-good why?. I saw him last season and with Mancienne being there whats wrong with that paring.
Next Season is New Ground for us – It seems that we have assembled a Good Squad and there may be some more additions – So before we kick a ball in the Prem – can we all wait and see
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Lee – point taken. Apologies.
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to all of you impatient, championship manager players on here , the experienced premier players promised by the 3ms will arrive in the next two weeks and you will be surprised . utw
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31
I think Manncienne will play LB & Zubar & Berra/Stearman will play in the middle.
Elokobi needs to be eased back into competetive footy.
But who knows ?
KTF
Wolves forever
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34- not according to JM yesterday, but i hope you are right
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Whats happened to sam chambers, gone quiet all of a sudden with his extensive insight into the club???
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Tony – 37. Worry not. We have the ever capable, and ever so modest, laughingwolf instead (see post 27).
” Considering I have been right about all the signings so far I would keep hush. ”
Laughing – on 12 June, you posted that we had agreed terms with Fortune and Zuluma. On 18 June, you said you heard we’d agreed a fee for Stephen Hunt and thought we were signing Darren Bent on loan. For example!
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38 talking tosh
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mancienne and davenport YES PLEASE!
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Laughing – oh the irony! Check out the stories for yourself – your words mate not mine!
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iwelumo out for up to 5 months broken metartarsal.
so a new striker needed asap as well as another experienced defender, midfielder,winger
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Are all u lot thick?
What do u think Trial means?
Balde will not join wolves
Micks just seeing if he is any good or not
he will go to birmingham.
DAVENPORT NO!
Manciene YESS!!!
TEAM :
Hennesy
mancienne
zubar
stearman
elokobi
jarvis
milijas
henry
kightly
Doyle
Ebanks
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