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Steven Fletcher is big worry for Wolves
Monday 6th September 2010, 11:30AM BST.
Fletcher celebrates his first home goal in front of the Wolves fans at Molineux.
Steven Fletcher was today released from international duty as Wolves started a week-long battle to get the £7m record buy fit for Premier League duty.
Fletcher has withdrawn from the Scotland squad with the sore foot he sustained in the opening day win against Stoke.
The 23-year-old missed Friday’s opening Euro 2012 qualifier, a 0-0 draw in Lithuania as a precaution. His release – confirmed earlier today – means he now misses tomorrow’s qualifier against Liechtenstein at Hampden, and is expected back at Compton.
His release, however, gives the Wolves medical team a chance to get him fit for Saturday’s clash at Fulham.
The news on Fletcher is in contrast to that of strike partner Kevin Doyle, who has been declared as “one of the best in the Premier League” after confirming his return to sharpness on international duty.
Despite temperatures of 34C that the 26-year-old admitted made it “the hottest I’ve ever played in” in Ireland’s 1-0 win away to Armenia on Friday, Doyle performed superbly, outshining Robbie Keane, who was substituted tactically for the first time for Ireland.
As well as claiming an assist for Keith Fahey’s winner, he also had four times as much possession as Keane and completed twice as many passes as the ex-Wolves man.
Doyle also won 11 out of 15 headers despite being marked by two Armenia players.
Manchester City’s Ireland keeper Shay Given declared: “Kevin was immense – the ultimate team player. He was brilliant. People should recognise him as one of the best strikers in the Premier League. For us, he’s invaluable.”
News of Doyle’s return to sharpness coincided with weekend speculation that Liverpool had a £9m bid rejected for him.
But the rumours were quickly dismissed by the club today.
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This foot injury seems to be dragging on a bit. What appeared to be a minor problem shows no sign of healing.
Hope this is not going to be another long drawn out fight for fitness by the player. although it might be a differnet injury it has echo’s of last year with Ebanks-Blake.
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Like i said about this injury the other week, when it broke in the E & S , i hope the ‘jinx’ of Top/expensive new players coming to Wolves hasn’t struck us again. It seems whenever we buy a Top player something always seems to happen to them, i mean at Burnley he was an ever present for two seasons. Yet we sign him and he plays ‘one game’ and he’s got a long term injury?. Why doesn’t it ever happen to the ‘Donkeys’ we buy the likes of The Hoff’Halford’Darren Ward,those types who never seem to pick up any injuries and we wouldn’t miss. Good Luck and get fit soon Steve. UTW
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A fit Wolves team looks fantastic to me and my team is not even including Foley, Mouyokolo, Ebanks, Mancienne,
Hahnemann
Black Belt Craddock Berra Zubar
Hunt Jones Henry Jarvis
Fletcher Doyle
Onwards and upwards Fletcher is back fully fit….
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This is getting worrying. Sore foot do not normally take so long to heal so might there be something more serious?
I am really looking forward to seeing Fletcher play with Doyle and I was hoping that this would happen at Fulham.They are both intelligent, fast and hardworking and hopefully calm in front of goal.
I hope Bent wasn’t brought in because they know the Fletcher injury is more serious than they’ve told us.
E-Banks blake is doing well with goals but in away games he must contributer more to the team play.
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kevin doyle is awesome.. i so glad we kept him in the summer and its great having 3 top quality strikers all fighting for a place.. in terms of strikers i think we have top-6 quality. i just hope we can keep hold of them and strengthen around them.. things look good 4 wolves atm.. we’ve got some good young players aswell coming through!!
GOOD TIMES
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It is obvious that the more games Doyle gets, the better he will play, he didnt have a bad game against Newcastle but he was still way off the pace he showed last season. Fletcher can be on the bench again on saturday. I think with Doyle improving and Blake starting to find the net, Fletch doesnt deserve to get into the starting 11 yet anyway. He will be a perfect impact player though, untill hes fully fit and fireing on all cylinders. We now have 3 fantastic strikers who all on there day can be very effective for us, which is very promising.
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I cannot understand what is going on regarding Fletcher’s injury!
It was said that he had a bruised foot and that was nearly 2 weeks ago but now it appears the injury is much more severe than just a bruised foot – so what IS the problem?
Fletcher was outstanding upon his debut and as much as Ebanks-Blake is performing well, Fletcher is a much better option in a 2 man strike force, so this injury is becoming a big concern.
Hopefully we will not miss him too much during his absence but a speedy return would be most welcome.
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While SEB is doing the business, let’s not rush Fletcher back and wait till he is fully recovered. As for Doyle, he is for me, the best striker in the Midlands and therefore worth far more than the £9m quoted in the article. Anyway he is happy at Wolves.
Let’s hope we can at least get a point on Saturday and keep the unbeaten run going. If we are on form, a win is not out of the question!
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9mil bid is a joke. What is the point of making a 2.5mil profit on a plaeyer of his quality? The club won’t sell unless it is a ridiculous offer and from what Doyle has said he loves it at the club and wants to stay, not like old Dorrans who demanded his 4th new contract within 15 months because WestHam were interested!!!
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2
How was he ever present for 2 yrs when he only joined them last summer????
He’ll be ok, it’s bone bruising on his foot, which takes ages to settle down & will be sore for a while, the good news for us is thay he doesn’t seem to want to aggrevate it by playing for the jocks.
The boots the players use these days don’t help, all these silly colours, our boys should be made to wear adidas world cup, proper boots, we would hardly have any foot injuries then!!!!
KTF
Wolvesforever
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#3 Johnny B Goode
I’ve racked my brains but for the life of me I can’t think who Black Belt is??
Surely not Mr Elokobi??
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For all of the conspiracy theorists out there, if Wolves thought it was anything more than just a bruised foot, why would they have allowed him to join up with Scotland at all for the internationals – even if he has been subsequently released.
Unless it’s a classic double bluff
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Slow news day?
Fletcher has a knock, and Doyle is one of the best strikers in the prem, we knew this already!
People need to calm down as well, it’s a long season, remember how long it took Zubar to get into the side last season, I’m just glad we got our signings in early, and didn’t have to panic buy in the final week of the window (unlike some)
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There is no great hurry for him to return.
Mick will play with Doyle up front at Fulham and SEB in support, we are lucky enough to be able to wait for Fletcher to be fit.
These are the good times, enjoy folks!!
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Hope flecther will be fit but if not a chance for ebanks and doyle again. I am excited about the prospect of Fletcher and Doyle though. Anyway how about this for a song for doyle, “weve got super kevin doyle in our attack
,weve got super kevin doyle in our attack
ohhh super kevin doyle, super kevin doyle is gold and black” the the tune of 10 german bombers
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They should or pull him out of the scotland team before this. we pay his wages!!! hopefully it doesnt drag on to long for him and the team. Doyle and seb should be ok both in good run of form, watched ireland game friday Doyle was top class, not against a great team yes but you could see he was head and shoulder above anyone else on the pitch.. it will be hard to hold on to him if he carrys on in this form and a so called be team come knocking..
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Fletcher was hit by an awful tackle by Faye,I think,it was probably a response by Stoke to what they thought was a foul on Jones.It wasn’t but it was a hard tackle.We need to think through all these hard tackles which may be look good,but will inevitable draw a response.When we play next at St James what is the betting that Barton takes one of our plyers out.Think it through Mick,we will be getting a reputation.
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We rushed Kightley back too soon from injury and where is he now? So Fletcher has to be given the right amount of time. We, like 80% of the Prem. are a club who will have to sell if the right offer comes along, no matter who it is for, so Doyle is a legitimate target as are all our players. If Doyler is happy with us, and his present form suggests he is, then let’s enjoy the ride. We have a balanced squad built to thrive and survive. We will get a few bloody noses on the way, it’s inevitable, however we take a few scalps too.
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17, Chris
You make a fair point about tackling & yes for one reason or another we have made headlines for tackles in every league game this season.
I too have the same concerns as yourself, that is, about how we are perceived, because in no way are we a dirty team, if anything we have always been a ‘nice’ team to play against, too nice, IMO.
The tackles on Jones & Hertinga were not fouls, no where near, but I have to agree some of the tackles in the Newcastle game were rash, Jarvis, Guerdioura & Henry’s last one were all deserved bookings, for me too much has been made of our tackles & not enough of the rough treatment we have recieved, such as, as you mention the tackle on Fletcher, the kicking Doyle took for the first 15 mins of the Newcastle game, the elbow on Craddrock & the tackle on Van Damme in the same game, we could go on, etc
What is the option???
Roll over, ‘have our belly’s tickled’ & let the opposition stroll off with the points, I don’t think so.
Newcastle turned up with a plan, which was to knock us about & leave with 3 points, they left with a bloody nose & a point they just about deserved, but because they didn’t get there own way they haven’t stopped whinging since.
Our treatment in the national, and to some degree the local press has infuriated me, as you can probabley tell!!!
Well keep it going boys, we are, where we are on merit & not here to make up the numbers, put your foot in if you have to & keep playing, coz some of the stuff we have played this season has been great.
End of rant!!!
KTF
Wolvesforever
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Black belt gotta be Van Damme lol.
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~Yes £9 million for Doyle is a pathetic joke. As for Fletcher getting on the end of a bad tackle from a Stoke Player – what’s fresh there? That’s all they know how to do!
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