Star quartet will have to wait
Thursday 24th September 2009, 11:30AM BST.
Mick McCarthy has blocked any of Wolves’ returning quartet from starting against Sunderland on Sunday after admitting they face a fight to regain their places.
Kevin Foley, Jody Craddock, Michael Kightly and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake all made their full comebacks from injury last night as Wolves exited the Carling Cup in a 1-0 defeat at Manchester United.
Foley and Craddock were playing their first football since suffering respective medial knee ligament and hamstring problems, while the latter two made brief cameos in Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Fulham.
But McCarthy insisted they would all have to wait their turn.
“You don’t come back from having four or five weeks off and just come straight back into the team,” said the Wolves boss.
“It’s nothing to do with ability – they’re just not fit enough to do it and they could then pick up other injuries. They all have a fight to get back into the team.”
McCarthy added: “They will be in the squad.
“But it’s impossible for someone who has been out for six months to play 70 minutes last night and then play 70 minutes on Sunday, at full tilt. It doesn’t happen.
“So the four lads who have played last night won’t be starting and we’ll have fresh legs in the team for Sunday.
“But it’s great that they’ve played.
“Kevin Foley had been out for a month, and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has been out for the guts of that as well.
“Michael Kightly has been out for six months and Jody Craddock has been out for two to three weeks.
“So maybe that had an affect on us not having that extra bit of zip and pace to run in behind them and open them up when we had the opportunities.
“But at least they have some minutes under their belts now and they’ll be better served now to be squad members.”
Double Golden Boot winner Ebanks-Blake faces being fully-fit but on the bench for the first time in his Wolves career as Irish pair Kevin Doyle and Andy Keogh prepare to continue up front.
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Out of the four I wouldn’t have expected SEB or Jody to be in the XI on Sunday anyway as I think he’ll stick with the same centre backs and forwards from Fulham. I’m sure Kightly will get a run out in the second half for Sunderland and could be a lot more effective that way. Would like to see Foley go straight back in though for Halford.
So I reality it’ll be unchanged from the weekend
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You’ve got to play Kightly. He is our best attacking player.
Ebanks should replace Keogh, when fit.
You could also say that you’ve got to play Halford for his long throws.
So where does that leave Foley?
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I thought Kites looked very fit considering he had been out for so long and gave us a much needed injection of pace, which we will need to worry most defences.
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What about Zubar ? No englis yet ?
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Not a bad performance last night i thought to be fair its just another distraction out of the way. positives from the game…. ebanks-blake, kightly, foley and craddock getting some minutes on the pitch which cant be a bad thing as we almost have a fully fit squad now. Sunday we need doyle and keogh to shine COME ON BOYS!!!!
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Quite right too…The quartet were not match fit, especially EBanks and Kightly, and must fight to return.
Once McCarthy brought on Keogh and Doyle the team lifted, these two boys run very well together.
I believe that Ebanks will improve once big Chris is full fit, which is not to far away.
I think that Hough, the 6’7 new signing has great potential especially with set pieces and corners, and tried hard all day
A better than expected performance against Man U.and our chances of survival look alot brighter.
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BERRA!!! another great game from him keep it comin!
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Cue the anti-Irish brigade! I would start Sylvan although I’m not totally convinced he can play with Doyle but please don’t play Keogh wide, it is a complete waste of time.
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Everyone’s eulogising about Kightly being back but he was poor in the second half – perhaps not surprising – and we should bring him back gently.
The other 3 making comebacks looked rusty too but Mancienne is better than Craddock. Now that Berra appears to be re-born, he and Mancienne should be our starting centre half partnership.
Divided comments about Elokobi. Yesterday’s game proved that he will struggle against genuine pace….which thankfully Nani has an unusual amount of…but otherwise better than Ward, even when he’s fit.
The strangest thing for me last night was not playing Zubar. It was a great opportunity to assess him in a “real match” situation and only confirms what we already suspect….not a Mick player and likely to be moving on in January.
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Please Mr Mick–Best team at all times please for the rest of the season please–Its a long way to Sunderland 173miles from Stafford…
Last night impressed with some players other well I think have been overated by blogger—Berra for me is the most improved–
We lacked winger power and I personally apart from the Last 15minutes and the run by MK thourght the game fell flat–
Crazey Dave
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i don’t always agree with MM, but he is spot on with this, we can’t have injured players coming straight back into first team… they need to get “match fit”.
BUT, it would good to see SEB & kites getting on in the second halve for a least half hour…
oh, whats with all the people knocking seb? he was our top scorer two seasons running, played one game, and got injured… and people are writing him off!!! ps he has always looked porky!!!
good luck wolves for sunday… a draw would be be a good result…
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I quite like the paring of Doyle & Keogh upfront. And maybe have Hoff come on at somepoint for either to play the ‘Heskey’ type role… Well, if its good enough for England……
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I am slightly concerned about SEB, thought he was very quiet against West Ham and apart from the one shot he did nothing last night, we looked far more threatening when Doyle came on. I agree with Mick that if we had more self belief we could have won that game, we won’t get a better chance to beat them again, than last night against 10 men for 60 minutes. Start with same team as last Sunday for me.
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BERRA!! What a ROCK. He looked the part last night and played really well the weekend before against Fulham. Keep it up!
Elokobi looked off the pace last night, hopefully he’ll get his sharpness back for Sunderland.
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1-0 At Man City.1-0 at Man U. Bodes well for me.
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Last night I’ve already forgotten it and sure the lads have too – now on to the far more serious business of Sunday.
Sunderland starters:
1) Hennessey
2) Halford (tough one this but gets the nod with long throw and Foley’s lack of match fitness)
3) Elokobi
4) Edwards
5) Berra
6) Mancienne
7) Jarvis
8) Henry
9) Doyle
10) Keogh (but only until SEB’s fully match fit)
11) Castillo
If we put a shift in I fancy 1-1 if we don’t with their firepower we could get turned over like Blackburn.
Fight, fight wherever you may be.
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what a load of tosh. These guys must be raring to go as they have not played for a while. If they played yesterday they would have recovered by Sunday. Yes if they are not fit but if they are not fit they should not have been playing yesterday. ON ANIOTHER NOTE WHY DON’T WE JUST TELL SUNDERLAND NOW WHAT TEAM WE ARE PLAYING ON SUNDAY! Great management – NOT. Most managers like to keep a few things up their sleeve so I am hoping MM is playing devila advocate here and that there maybe one or two different faces playing on Sunday! Come on Wolves!
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MM is spot on here but players like Halford, Berra, Jarvis and Keogh will be having to be at the best, as there will be quality on the bench.
At the end of the day, Kites would have put us one nil up last night and Jones, Berra and Doyle had good chances. This was a chance to give players time on the pitch and the only negative, as someone said earlier, was where was Zubar?
What I have seen so far says:-
a) We have a good enough squad to survive
b) There are 3 worse sides than us!
UP THE WOLVES!
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THE BIG LAD NEEDS INSTRUCTION FROM MICK REGARDING USING HIS HEIGHT FROM SET PIECES WHEN HE JUMPS HE’S ONLY GETTING TWO FEET OF THE GROUND. NEED TO WORK ON HIM HE SHOULD BE GETTING WAY ABOVE EVERYONE ELSE WITH HIS ADVANTAGE WE COUL BE SCORING OF MOS SET PIECES AND CORNERS MAKE IT PAY MM.
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not a bad subs bench though, SEB, kites, foley and craddock. Suspect Keogh to play as he can make up a five man midfield when defending but prefer SEB at home. foley provides a reassurance that halford doesn’t although away from home his long throws can take the pressure off but arguing against myself foley rarely gives the ball away. still not confident of avoiding the drop but fully enjoying the ride!
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wolvesmod are you on this planet? There is no question that when all fit halford will be keeping the bench warm, certainly not kites or foley. He may have a good throw but if i would want the choice between a pacey tricky winger, a quality reliable right back or a average utility player with a big throw. I know which 2 i would choose, no competition there.
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Anyone who thinks elokobi is better than ward is deluded with their supporter spectacles on. If u actually watch the game again you will see how bad he is at football. I would say that his performance was comical and had my neutral friend in hysterics at him. He can just about do the basics apart from dribling the ball forwardand he is big and strong. But a better footballer than Ward give me a break thank god for mick mccarthy!!
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With the squad we have we can change to plan B if we are going for a winner or an equaliser. I expect Foley and Kites to start when fit along with SEB/DOYLE/KEOGH as the front men but bring on Halford for a long throw along with the hoff to flick em on, we are laughing! good business.
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Okay so it’s only the leauge cup but this tam is being run on survivalist mode already, does MM think we could actually win something? Or is his target to simply survive?
We need a premier manager and a premier team neither of which played last night.
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Not anti Henry by anymeans BUT what about Foley in the centre with Castillo? I think Halford played very well last Sunday and I would stick with him because those long throws look very dangerous to me !
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all i would say is kites looked very sharp at old trafford last night lets frow him in !!!!
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19 – how many feet do you want him to get off the ground ?! He’s only got two !!
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no.25 you are no footballer or has neverbeen Foley for Henry your having a laugh,Henry is doing a quality job the same job Makele did for Chelsea and was rated very highly,plus Foley is a right back…..
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16 like what you say agree with 28 henry is playing class and castillio and him are breaking up all the play and finally henry is starting to go on the offensive. we should have bought castillio and loan milijas at the moment cuz milijas is exactly the same player as david jones and at the moment jones is playing better. My prediction for sunday 1-2 to wolves bent to score then castillio and doyle to win it for us
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28 your havin a laugh ….henry gets caught in possession loads of times , never passes the ball forward , hes an absolute liability ….makele he AINT!!
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