It must be quality over quantity now
Friday 30th April 2010, 9:15AM BST.
Wolves blogger Nathan Lloyd believes the emphasis will be on quality rather then quantity next season as the squad is cut in line with new Premier League rules.
There were many who doubted it could be done – Danny Baker, Piers Morgan, Adrian Durham and our very own JIWAL amongst them.
So, pah! Well done to manager Mick McCarthy and everybody else at Wolves for achieving Premier League survival and proving these sceptics wrong.
Was I one of these doubters? Well at the beginning of this season I felt we could stave off relegation, given the teams in the mini-league that we were likely to be competing with.
But, by the start of December, we were probably at our lowest ebb this season with a miserly 10 points from 14 games and with only Portsmouth below us in the league.
I certainly wasn’t alone at that point in questioning the manager’s tactics in persisting with a 4-4-2 formation and an out of sorts Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.
But a- thunderbolt from Nenad Milijas against Bolton and a superb performance away at Tottenham meant Wolves recorded back-to-back wins for the first and only time this season to get our campaign back on track.
Or so we thought. The ridiculous argument about squad rotation in defeat at Manchester United took centre stage as Mick criminally decided to choose his own team, the rogue.
The fact that five of that starting eleven at Old Trafford will probably be on the team sheet against Pompey on Saturday seems to have been conveniently forgotten by the valetudinarians who run the Premier League.
But, that debacle aside, our season was beginning to pick up and after bedding in the 4-5-1 formation in January we completed the double over Spurs in February, with my vote for Wolves goal of the season from David Jones.
A fantastic March followed with victories over Burnley, West Ham and a point against Villa. April has been all about digging in and getting over that line, unfortunately at the expense of the entertainment factor, but I think we can all live with that.
Pompey and Sunderland are our final games of the season and we have a chance to finish as high as 14th.
With £750,000 on offer for every league placing, as I touched upon in my last blog, now isn’t the time for experimenting with fringe players.
But what are your expectations for our tricky second season?
Our squad of 40 will have to be reduced to 25 to come in line with next season’s ruling, which obviously means we will be saying goodbye to a lot of players after the Sunderland game.
There won’t be room for passengers like Andrew Surman, Stefan Maierhofer, Matt Hill or George Friend and it also means that any academy players making the step up must play a bigger part.
The speculation has already begun about which players are targets, but because of the World Cup we probably won’t see anybody coming in the first month of the transfer window.
One name seems to be dominating the conjecture at the moment and that is the potential home coming of one Robert David Keane.
Robbie still remains the most talented player I have seen pull on a Wolves shirt, but I doubt whether the pull of our tricky second season in the top-flight will be enough to lure him back.
The Tottenham striker will also be 30 by the time the new season rolls into town, has lost a yard of pace and would command a salary far higher than anybody else at the club.
But forget all that, if we could get him in, what a massive signing of intent and a huge morale boost for everybody at the club it would be.
I’m sure we wouldn’t be first in line for his services and he knows he could probably stay up in Scotland and look like a world beater.
I also know we probably had the same ‘Robbie Keane’ debate last season, but this time it’s different. Robbie wouldn’t now walk into half the top flight teams in England like he used to be able to. So this time around Wolves might seem like a real viable option.
If we could sign four players to make a difference and fit in next season’s squad, my four would currently be Pompey left-back Nadir Belhadj, Villa defender Curtis Davies, Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara and Keane.
That would mean losing as many as 20 from of our current squad, which actually isn’t that difficult when you look at the list of players at the club. I counted 19 we could lose straight away, but perhaps that’s just me being a malevolent blogger.
But would you like to see leave and who would you keep?
Onto tomorrow’s game at Pompey and have you got your fancy dress sorted yet? I had an e-mail from Vicky Lawton this week requesting that Wolves fans dress up as Wizards in tribute to Mick our very own Merlin. So, pointy hats and cloaks at the ready then!
I did have a ticket with all the corporate trimmings for this weekend’s game, but unfortunately – or fortuitously if the other half is reading – I will be 400 miles away at a wedding in the South West of Scotland.
I doubt fancy dress would be the order of the day at the wedding; I would hate to take the attention away from the bride as everyone asks who the nutter is in the corner in a pointy hat and Sportingbet.com plastered on his shirt!
But I am sure it will be a fantastic day for Wolves fans and Mick will probably be casting an eye over a few of the opposition players, the majority of which will probably be leaving in the summer.
I hope our fans don’t storm the Fratton Park pitch at the end of the game. Those Pompey fans have suffered enough without us ramming our success down their throats.
You’ll probably know I wasn’t a big fan of the pitch invasion after the Blackburn game, despite some fans suggesting I planted the seed for the invasion in my last blog!
But in hindsight I know that we haven’t had much to shout about in our recent history so, apart a few kids ripping up handfuls of the Molineux pitch as a souvenir and the moronic fisty cuffs outside after the game, no real harm was done.
It also means that it is unlikely we will see it repeated after the Sunderland game, which will make the end of season stuff run a bit smoother than last year!
I’ve got a sneaky feeling that the artist still known as Jody Craddock could just pip Kevin Doyle to the Player of the Season award, but then I thought that Sylvan would walk it last season, so what do I know?
Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend and I’ll be back next week with my own end of season bloggers awards.
Up the Wolves!
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Great Blog, but I think, and could be wrong, that we have to have a squad of 25, plus as many under 21 year olds as we like. Therefore 25 22+ year olds and as many 21 and belows as we want !
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Nathan, I am so glad you arent our manager. Curtis Davies!!! As for Keane, I just dont think he would fit in to the ethos we have here now. My choices, Steve Sidwell and stephen Hunt plus an other. As for goal of the season moments like Nenads strike against Bolton is why I buy my season ticket.
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Get rid of – murray,ikeme, dan jones,friend,little,hill,shakell,holford, keogh,iwelumo,hoff
Get in – left back, centre half, winger & striker
Belhadj,shorey,fox,dawson,s taylor,c davis, wheater,o’hara,hunt,eagles,keane,sturridge
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come on you wolves lets show pompey and sunderland what we got and sweet revenge for mm for what sundreland did to him lets hope the wolves board this time have learnt from past mistakes well done the wolves being a long time coming
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Yes come on Wolverhampton Wizards, also heard that Monopoly money and Bells are the order of the day!!!
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good blog but one thing i do think is that these two games ARE the time to be experimenting with fringe players.
we could sacrifice a couple of million in prize money, but what would be the benefits if ebanks-blake scores 3 goals to give him belief and momentum going into the close season.
could we save ourselves more than the prize money by learning that bia is actually a good player and save looking for more alternatives that may be more expensive?
or maybe guadireo (spelling!!) could be a consideration – if he is not good enough we dont need to spend the 1 or 2 million plus he will cost.
its a gamble and i know you cant judge a player in 2 games but using these players might provide some excellant clues to help mick/jez/steve formulate a much better transfer policy than they did last year and give us a better idea of where we do really need strength.
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Also one i forgot to mention tht i like the look of is DINDANE currentley on loan at pompey
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Gone:
Andrew Keogh
Andrew Surman
Greg Halford
Chris Iwelumo
Mark Little
Matthew Hill
Carl Ikeme
Matt Murray
Stefan Maierhofer
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Liam Lawence is a nailed on move!
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It will be interesting to see who goes and who stays.
I chose two goals of the season one being David Jones and the other Milias against Bolton. I finally chose Milias against Bolton because it was one that came out of the blue and what a goal.
I hope like you the Wolves fans do not go on the pitch at Portsmouth as it is their last game at home and should be left to their fans. Our fans would not like it if come next week Sunderland decided to invade our pitch and stop the presentations and like you say Portsmouth fans have not had a good time this season.
Its a shame you cant be there but hope you enjoy your wedding.
I knew with MM we would stay up albeit there were some scary times it has been a very hard season and congratulations have to go to everyone involved for their sheer guts and determination.
Enjoy your weekend.
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you say dont ram our success down the pompey fans–staying up has been a good achievement but certainly not success–winning a trophy is success.
as regards your signings curtis davies is a good call(people against him are just bigots who hate his albion connection) another 3 would be robbie keane,jamie o’hara & lee naylor(free)
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Robbie Keane would walk into most teams still in the Premiership – Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea aside!
I would not touch Curtis Davies either. Has had a long injury and although he is still young I would stick with Stearman.
I still want 14th and we are capable of getting it but changes have to be made. Craddock could be rested and lets give SEB a go and Milijas too!
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3 – you want us to get rid of 2 of our goalkeepers, and not bring in a replacement? That would leave just Wayne and Marcus at the club. Keep murray and send Ikeme out on loan to improve. All our goalkeepers apart from marcus are still youngsters in goalkeeping terms, even murray. If Murray comes back and picks up another serious injury, i suspect he will retire. If he does come back, he could stake a claim for England’s number 1 at the next world cup quite easily.
Sell
Halford
Iwelumo
Hill
Maierhofer
Little
Shackell
Danile Jones
Loan out
Vokes
Surman
Ikeme
Stearman
Hemmings
Friend
Buy
Winger – Hunt £3m
Midfield – Guedioura -?m
Left back – Belhadj £2.5m
Striker – Keane would be fantastic, his positional sense and Doyles work rate could mix well together. £8m
midfield – Ohara ?m
Loan in
Mancienne
a quality youngster from arsenal?
Looks like we will get a better chance to see Bia at portsmouth as he will be starting, also, it seems one of the reasons he hasnt played was because of injuries.
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Hoff has never been given a chance…
Why buy players if you treat them like this…
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Now is DEFINATELY the time to start experimenting. Looking at maybe getting another 750k or even 1.5 million is peanuts to have much we have to pay for players these days, so you need to definately play some fringe players and see what they are capable of.
I would definately drop Foley. He has proved completely ineffective at right mid. I would defo play Seb. If his fitness, mentality and sharpness are back , he may bag a few goals and get him raring to go come next year.
I would give milijas the last two games, and bring in a winger from the academy ( can’t remember his name but he’s brilliant).
Roll on next year.
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Richwolf… do you mean Zele Ismail?
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13 – I meant the 4 as main signings as i think we need about 7-8 new players & yes 1 of those would be a goalie. I dont like to say it but murray’s finished 3 out of 8 seasons aint good, i would only keep him on pay as play basis or if hes match fit & i dont think ikeme will get another chance at wolves
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This new 25 player ruling will make a big difference to plans for next season for most clubs. Eight of them have to be ‘homegrown’. Homegrown meaning he can be any nationality but he has to have been with a club in the England/Wales system for three entire seasons prior to the season he turns 21.
As I understand it that means players like Murray, Ikeme, Little, Dan Jones and Ashley Hemmings might be very important unless any of those named that MM wants to shed can be made up of youngsters who have not yet made first team appearances.
(one thought. If Robbie Keane came back would he count as one of the eight ? If so, it could be a very valuable negotiating tool)
It also means Mancienne might be very important to Chelsea !
The idea is to bring young British players through the ranks quicker and also help England.
The other 17 can be any nationality.
I think that’s how it works anyway, welcome any comment if you think otherwise.
One other mystery solved that you didn’t know but were frightened to ask. A Valetudarian is a sick man.
I’ll be a valetudarian tomorrow in my wizard hat riding Shadowfax down the M40 towards Portsmouth.
Hope they take monopoly money at Cherwell Valley !
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16 – went to deansfield when zele was there, i was 2 years above him, but saw him play a few times, and he was good. very skillfull and quick, probably what we could do with on the right to speed up some of our attacks. I can understand not playing him, in fear of poaching teams, and the fact that hes still a youngster, but would like to see him now the pressure is off. Hes only going to get experience if we play the lad.
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out:
Halford
Hill
Shackell
Maierhoffer
Ikeme
Dan Jones
Mark Little
Friend
In:
Keane
Shorey or Belhadj
Sidwell
Kebe
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Well Done that woman insitgating Merlin ideas.
She is a year too late as we did that last year at Barnsley!
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Cairney from Hull has alot of potential 1.5mil and Halford should do it.
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just been on utube and seen that jermaine lens wolves are reportedly after looks the dogs…..ks
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For next Season I think we should keep:-
GK – M. Hahnemann, W. Hennessy, M. Murray
DR – K. Foley, R. Stearman
DC – J. Craddock, C. Berra, R. Zubar
DL – G. Elokobi
AMR – Kightly, D. Edwards
DMC – M. Mancienne, K. Henry
MC – D. Jones, N. Milijas
AML – M. Jarvis
ST – K. Doyle, A. Keogh, S. Ebanks-Blake
I really think we need five signings to add to that lot (which would take us to 24 in the first team squad). I would like to see us get:-
DL – D. Fox or K. Gibbs
DC – D. Wheater or S. Taylor
MC – J. O’Hara or J. Collison
AML – A. Driver or J. Ledley
ST – M. Derbyshire or S. Fletcher
I think we should, therefore, get rid of a number of players including; Surman, Ward, Halford, Iwelumo, Mujangi Bia, Maierhofer, Castillo and Guedioura. We could also loan out Vokes and Ikeme for the season.
I still think its pie in the sky to get Robbie Keane but, if we can, of course it would be fantastic, not least because his influence could be of real use in our dressing room, having captained Spurs and the Rep of Ireland for years. That would take us to 25 first team players in my squad.
I’m particularly worried that if we sign Bikey, Shorey, Sidwell and S. Hunt, as well as already having Doyle and Hahnemann, we will resemble the Reading team of a few years ago so much we might as well get Harper, Kitson and Graeme Murty too! Lets stay away from them please…
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23- saw him play when i was in the Netherlands a while back, he was brilliant. I dont think we could sign him though, if hes as good as i remember, he should be going to one of the big clubs. He was the stand out player for me, and i left thinking he should be in the premier league, and why arent our ticket prices that cheap?
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Milijas for goal of the season – that was a belter, world class!
Jody Craddock for player of the season – captain, leader, legend.
4 key positions:
Left back – Shorey, belhadj, Fox
Centre back – Wheater
Midfield/Wing – Sidwell, Hunt, Eagles, O’Hara,
Striker – Keane
I’d be happy with any of the list.
I’d also experiment a bit for the last 2 games.
Team for sat (4-1-3-2):
Hahnemann
Foley
Zubar
Berra
Elokobi
Mancienne
Edwards
Jones
Milijas
Doyle
Ebanks
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24 JohnD.
You need to think again. You’ve only got one homegrown player in your squad. Murray. You need 8
This is where the young reserves (Ismail Mendez-Laing etc) and academy players need to be brought in
What about 18s point. Would Robbie Keane qualify as homegrown ?
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Just watched Jermaine Lens on You Tube and he looks a good right winger, who is quick, can dribble and finishes well some of the time.
As for the Hoff, I have never seen a player who simply can’t jump. He’s no Crouch and from some reports is a moan behind the manager’s back merchant. Trouble is who would want to buy him. As for who else goes, that’s up to the manager and the market place.
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27- he has mostly homegrown players in the squad according to the new rules. A home grown player counts as anyone who has played in an english league for at least 3 years. (doesnt have to be consequtive either) which means:
everyone apart from zubar and milijas would be homegrown. At least i think thats right.
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MURRAY needs to be paid off and IKEME is a good goalie given games and growth in confidence he could be our best.
We need to try out different players in the last two games, young exciting quick players like NATHANIEL other prem teams do.Everton being a good example RODWELL.
Give players on the sidelines the prem experience as they will have to perform as there is no pressure as we staying up.
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Personally i would get rid of –
Surman
Elokobi – Garbage
Hennessey – Bottler. Cash in on him!!
Halford
Maierhofer
Friend
Hill
Iwelumo
Little
Shackell
But we are talking about McCarthy here and i don’t think anyone can realistically predict what he is going to do!!!
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Bertie, I think Wolfhedd is almost right. A majority of that squad would count as Home Grown because they played for an english club for 3 years before they were 21 (You will find Gael Clichy will count as homegrown for Arsennal for instance). However, neither Berra or Doyle would count as Home Grown as they do not meet this criteria…
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Just one thought Nathan…..If Robbie is the most talented player you have ever seen in a wolves shirt…you obviously didn’t see Mr Broadbent play?????
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How about Bryan Ruiz. Top scorer in dutch league [23 in 30] 6 foot one plays anywhere up front or attacking midfield. Only 24,Costa rican international,has buy out clause of 13Million.Would be awsome with Doyle UTW
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No.21 Well theres no excuse then, dust it down and get them out again.
This year is more of an achievement!!!
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Bertie, Wolfhed, JohnD
This homegrown definition is confusing. I thought the three years with an English/welsh club before they are 21 had to be with one club (loan players like Mancienne would qualify for parent club)
The nationality doesn’t matter.
If that’s the case then my post (18) is correct and it’ll take some careful management.
If they can qualify with more than one English/welsh club before they are 21, that alters the case.
Players brought to the club that are over 21 don’t matter, as long as there are 8 homegrown players in the 25 player squad.
It’s seems the 3 years before their 21 that’s critical, hence homegrown.
I think
That’s given me a headache.
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premier kiwi, the hoff was sent to bristol city on loan and i carnt recall him ever playing for them in the several games he sat on the bench other than playing in goal when theirs was injured. if he carnt get regular games in the championship then what hope has he got for getting in micks squad. in comparison iwelumo was playing every game for bristol, scoring and also being asked to sign for them.which one would you opt to keep in a team with limited space now?
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Get ready for more dissapointment on signings for the new season men Qoute; Mr Moxey on staying up With his head full of bubbly Money available for big signings, A week later Bubbly wears off, the usual comment we won’t pay over the odds for any players,
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Thanks for all your comments. Im up in Scotland, abit gutted not to be 400 miles further south! Enjoy the game and lets hope for 3pts to grab that 14th spot, cheers.
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To be honest i dont see what the fuss is with keano? do you we want him back? no ta.
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