Molineux pitch likely to get worse
Monday 24th January 2011, 11:41AM GMT.
Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey has today admitted the pitch at Molineux is likely to be a pain in the grass until the summer.
The relaid Molineux playing surface has cut up badly in the last two games against Doncaster and Liverpool.
More than £1million was invested in new state-of-the-art fibrelastic surfaces at Molineux and the first team pitch at Compton in the summer, as well as undersoil heating and new drainage.
The work was undertaken by Salisbury-based firm and specialist sports turf contractors MJ Abbott.
Moxey said: “We’re very disappointed and there is obviously a problem with the pitch, otherwise it wouldn’t be in the state it’s in.
“It’s not the end of the world and we’re confident it can be rectified, but not until the close season.
“We’re in close dialogue with the contractors and working in collaboration to identify what the problem is. We think we have an idea but we have to follow a proper process.
“It’s exactly the same design and specification as the training ground pitch which gets a lot more usage than the stadium one, and, although it’s a slightly different environment from a weather point of view, that pitch is perfect.
“We’ve been carrying out extensive tests with the support of various experts to ascertain what’s wrong.
“The groundstaff continue to do a fabulous job preparing the pitch as best they can and this is no reflection on them.
“But it probably won’t improve until the spring time, when we see better grass cover and the weather will change.”
Wolves manager Mick McCarthy was also surprised with the state of the pitch – but refused to blame it for Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool.
He said: “It’s not what I expected because we had it relaid in the summer, but both teams had to play on it.
“I think you’ll have to talk to the groundsman – I don’t deal with that. But the pitch has got nothing to do with it, I’m not looking for any excuses.
“I still think we passed it really well in the second-half against Liverpool.”
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Looks like its been laid by Russ Abbott, ask for the money back Moxey.
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Passed it well 2nd half…. What about the 1st half?
That pitch was awful abit like team. Hopefully Ebanks-Blake will be back we missing his workrate as Doyle to me is overated
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Yes mick same for both teams but they kept the ball on the deck.you should take the davis cup in tennis after yesterdays tactics . I’ve still got neck ache
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The lack of quality for what ever reason was on the pitch not in the pitch. Why does jarvis continue to chip the ball over instead of a proper cross with pace to the near post? I think he has been told he is a better player than he is and he belives it. We were outplayed by a better organised team who in every position knew what to do and where to do it. We had the bad old days back of negitive Henry, and no movement without the ball / off the ball. Often we were clueless and had too as they did not know what to do use the long ball to our forwards who did not win one ball in the air. This has to be down to Mick and clipboard. Liverpool players looked like a Prem outfit and we looked like a team who are going down. I don’t think bringing in players will help as I think the overall level of quality of this team is down to Mick and Clipboard and this will not change. Until we change the management we will continue to see a lack of quality. Yes we can beat sides who play poorly on the day [Liverpool away and Man City / Chelsea at home] but overall we just do not have the quality to win against the teams who are around us and I am very sorry to say we are going down.
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Could be a blessing in disguise as this will now suit our hoof it as far forward as we can tactics as recently displayed in the abysmal performance against Mr Morgans favourites Liverpool!
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Footballers are pampered these days. Imagine them having to play at the old Baseball Ground or Stamford Bridge.
We might have had 59% possession on Saturday but once again rank bad defending, bringing back Henry immediately did not work and when we were in their area we did nothing. A nice cameo by Hammill but for the Stoke game, we must play Craddock and Elokobi for starters and try Edwards instead of Henry if fit. Also SEB should get a start!
I have a feeling that we will definitely need a result against Bolton. The positive news is that there are other poor teams around us. Blues were dire on Saturday and Albion for all their pretty football, concede goals. This week our transfer activity is critical or stadium redevelopment will be on the back burner!
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Given that we are stuck with MM until the world ends, the Club should replace the pitch with green concrete since the ball spends more time in the air than on the ground!!! With that style of play, it is irrelevant what type of surface our team plays on.
Green concrete would be virtually maintenance free and Morgan and Moxey could get rid of the groundstaff and improve their bottom line.
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I cannot believe we are going to buy another injury prone midfielder, who has only played four times!
Do we never learn?
Even the pitch has given upon us and Morgan is keeping his restruction money in his pocket along with transfer funds, mind you I wouldn’t give McCarthy a penny, however I would have replaced him in December.
No wonder he was smiling to Dalglish, (Fire Proof)
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Looks fine from in the stands but terrible on Sky Sports. HD TV picking up too much detail I think.
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No8 – Gret comment, hilarious but true!!
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does morgan know that we need a team before a new ground and we need a new manager as the one we have aint got a clue, and does he now that we are passionate about our team like he his about his beloved liverpool i wish this man had not taken over our club.
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I remember a few years ago our pitch was immaculate, i think we even won awards for it! so heres an idea! i know its a bit OUT THERE but im going to say it anyway!
JUST DONT TINKER WITH IT!!
that goes for you to MM with the team!
quite how you can bring in another 1 of your love childs HENRY after the results & performances of late is beyond me!
NEGATIVE football here we come!
An idea would av been to play the team that has already beat them once ….. wouldnt it?
Do not mend what’s not broken!
Now the defence! now thats BROKEN! try fixing that!
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Can’t understand what the problem is about the pitch, shouldn’t affect us, because for most of the 90 minutes we boot the ball in the air anyway….Just read the article concerning the rebuilding of the stadium Moragn says
Steve Morgan to bring the pitch closer to fans become a reality…Well, after watching that rubbish they turned out again on saturday, i want to be as far away from the pitch as i can…Mr Morgan is a property developer.All he’s interested in is building construction works for his company.New stadium, new hotels new car parks all for his benefit and not the teams.He’s only invested £10 into the club all the money thats been spent has come from sky money not his own.As for the early bird, whistle on moxey and morgan.UTW
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Moxley said before the season started we were signing quality premier league players we are still waitng why spend money on the ground when we dont sell out every week spend it on 2 quality centre backs and a left back
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2 – Spot on mate! Doyle would be sub in the next game as I am not sure what he and MM are trying to prove. He crosses balls in when he should leave that to the wingers and full backs, when he does cross there is no o ne in there to put at away!!!
Watch the press for 31st Jan – Moxey will say that we have not bought in any defenders because the right ones were not available and those out there were no better than we already have!!!!!
So Wheater, Curtis Davies and Ashley Williams are worse than STEARMAN!!!
It frightening isn’t it!!!
Any player will come to any club if the wages are right!!!!
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why all this talk about revamping molineux taking it to 50.000 capacity when you have got prem clubs like blackburn wigan fulham and pompey just to name a few who have got or had succesfull teams in the prem and got grounds like garden sheds molineux is good enough why not spend that 40 mill on two good prem quality centre halfs and few midfielders just like blackburn wigan ect
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Wolves desperately need a quality centre half to replace Berra who was awful again Saturday.
The only thing he did all match was tee up Raul Meireles for that ”wonder” goal.
Next time you watch that goal watch Berra. Not a Liverpool player within ten yards and 2 of his tam mates around him. As a so called international centre half in the Premier league would it have been too much to ask him to control the ball and then clear it?
It was a pathetic header, absolutely disgraceful. The rest of the match he went AWOL.
I SUPPOSE WE COULD BLAME THE PITCH or Stearman the junior partner in the centre of diffence.
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Can anyone explain to me why we should even be thinking about extending the ground when we cant sell out every week and we are about to be relegated. It just doesnt make any sense to me at all.The only thing I can think off is that Morgan would rather spend the bulk of the £30,000,000 he was reguired to inject into the club on bricks and mortar rather than on depreciating assets like players. We have almost the worst defence in the league and we go and buy a championship winger.Can anyone explain the logic in that?
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Its at the bottom of the hill innit – the whole city has its water run down there.
Not only that, there used to be a lake there.
So, good look with the pitch.
Is a bad pitch the end of the world? When you think of the quality of the opposition?
18 – more capacity, tweak prices down, more people.
If you tweak down prices now, you can only get so many in cant you?
AM I THE ONLY ONE ON HERE WITH ANY SENSE!?!!!
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18 – spot on obviously morgans gonna make a profit – no point in expanding ground when we cant sell out and should only do it when we are established and at this rate we are a million miles from being that.
19 – can u really see moxey tweaking the prices? no chance!! how r we gonna pay for this expandsion – yes we will pay for it prices will not go down maybe a few more family days moxey so god damn loves will be the answer!!
Defence is awful need a new left back and Centre half everyone apart from mick knows this – Danny fox from burnley go and get him!!
finally, karl henry cannot play in a four man midfield in the premier league – time and time again hes proved me right – he is fine with the extra legs when theres five but as soon we go four across the middle hes chasing shadows merieless ran him ragged – holden for bolton ran him ragged – but then again he is one of micks favourites so gonna have to live with it
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do you really think wolves would tweak prices down more capacity more money
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Moxey, Same ‘BEEP’, Different day. As a Groundsman myself, shall I sit you down and tell you how to look after a pitch and deal with wear and tear as season goes on ?? It’s not MJ Abbott’s fault or Groundsman’s fault. It’s been the worst Winter experienced for a few years, so try and understand that. There is Chemistry which makes it easier said than done :(
(16) I agree with you on that comment. If we have money, why not be more productive and get in the quality we deserve. We can play good football, so why not go for it :) We know our weak points. Time to do the MAIN business :)
UP THE WOLVES !!! & MM<—–(not his fault)
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Taxi for MM, team selection and tactics shocking on Saturday. UTW
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QUALITY DEFENDER PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Berra & Stearman are not a good combination as they are both prone to hit the self-destruct button at any timeduring a match. End result – its in the back of the net!
sort out the defence.
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Bigger stadium to keep ball in
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The pitch is going to get worse! Bit like the team then eh!
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is it me or my imagination because everytime moxey & mccarthy open there mouth drivel just piles out. its the same every week ! cant both of them see we need DEFENDERS not MIDFIELDERS. also why does morgan want to revamp molinuex ? do that when we know were going to be an established premier league club and not on the belief of being a club in the championship . spend the money building the basis of a quality footballing team THEN concentrate on molinuex . it doesnt take a rocket scientist to work out that whats the point of having a stadium with a 50,000 capacity and were playing teams like barnsley and doncaster where the attendance is gonna be 15,000.bricks & mortar dont bring the fans through the turnstiles does it ?
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I have just seen that we are about to pip Wigan for Boyata from Man City – a young, international central defender. Toure has praised him up. If we get him on loan it is on the proviso that he plays on a regular basis. On that score, he cannot be worse than what we have got. Could be a good move.
Now for a left back!
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Bigger stadium to keep the ball in
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After Saturday I was left thinking (dangerous i know) that IF we go down, we are still a very healthy club.
We are more secure and stable than we’ve ever been with a great new stadium on its way.
Im not that disheartened that the board are not throwing money at PL starlets and financially risking the club just to chase the dream like Leeds & Pompey etc.
Yes, it is clear we need a quality centre half, and the board & manager should address this immediately, but even if we spent £80 million on new players, we would probably only finish halfway up the league.
I dearly want us to stay up where we belong, but such is the nature of the Premiership and the risk of over-spending ourselves into bankruptcy, as we have before, are we really in so bad a position as a club since the three Ms took control??
I think the legacy of Morgan has only just started, and for me, so far so good.
Personally, id prefer a new stadium rather than giving Bent £24 million or Wayne Bridge £ 90K p/week
If we have to yo-yo it as such and we keep our accounts in order, compete for the best young British talent and get to build a new stadium, paid for by our British owners, then so be it.
By comparison to alot of other clubs in debt and in foriegn hands and looking back through Wolves colourful financial history, maybe we are living the dream already??!
There is still alot to be proud of being a Wolves fan, so lets get behind Mick, Moxey, Morgan and the team and lets fight for Premier League survival together.
We’ll never die.
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20,do you honestly think that if we reduced our admission prices by lets say 10% you would have the “waverers”flocking to the ground every other week.I dont think so somehow.My worry is if we get relegated,the people paying alot of money for executive boxes ,corporate packages etc might not be prepared to renew next year. I just get the impression the club are not bothered whether we get relegated or not.Contrast that attitude with Blues and West Ham who seem to be making a realistic attempt to stay up.
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Henry + Berra = Championship. Should have fast-tracked Craddock back in instead of Henry.
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lupi, billy quiet in disguise (idiot) end of
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If it had been a good pitch we would have been hit for six.
Time for Mick to go i’m afraid.
The only good thing about it is that Sandwell are going down with us!!
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Sir Lupi,some good valid points BUT on sky saturday it was remarked that the team finishing 20th in the Prem receives £50 MILLION,therefore the team finishing 17th receives more AND IS GUARENTEED AT LEAST £50 MILLION NEXT YEAR.So tell me is it not worth investing maybe £10-£15 million this week on quality defenders who might just keep us up.
HARDLY ROCKET SCIENCE IS IT?
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went to villa park on saturday evening with my father in law (huge villa fan) and my son, to watch the man city game, upon seeing our game earlier in the day i could not believe the state of the pitch, no wonder hammill missed a sitter from 6 yards!! If jez is seriously blaming the pitch on the weather then he is deluded, the pitch at villa park was beautiful and looked like a bowling green, our pitch was a mess, an embarrassment!! how about sorting the pitch out instead of thinking about the stadium? we have i believe jez said a 3 week break coming up from home games after saturday due to fa cup etc, iam sure the pitch could be re laid in that time
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This management team will take every penny they can from Wolves Fans and not reinvest in the team,the broken promises from Moxey saying we would invest in Prem players is still ringing in my ears.
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a team of average or below players and a below
average manager we have at most 5 player up to
the premanship but have spent 35m on rubbish. what 12/14 average players when if we had got
5/6 quality player we would now be ok but moxey
want every thing on the cheap. heat says we will be ok but brain say we are domed.
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Naming a few very clever players. Peter Broadbent, Raich Carter, Wilf Mannion, Bobby Charlton, George Best. Tom Finney. Eddie Clamp.
They played on pitches that were in a real sorry state,and before Christmas, but they could still turn on the magic, just a load of bull to hide the the lack of skills of the Wolves players. I bet Ken Dagliesh could have gone on to the pitch last Saturday and showed what football is about. So take the pitch out of the picture for excuses
Each week complaints about the long kicks from Hennessey being gobbled up by the opposing defence indicates that M.M must think that is how football is played, or he has no control over the tactics? The shambles of a defence reached new heights in inability.
Jarvis will go backwards in a team of this standing, yes he has qick legs but his feet are not quite so quick and this is the problem he has in crossing the ball.
Sir Lupi. Like your thoughts, but we do not belong in the Premiership, we are not good enough.
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35, Malta…I completely agree. A quality centre half would settle this team and allow the more offensive players to play to their strengths.
I’d of thought the likes of Wheater, Davis, Cuellar or even Distin would be in our range. And as we signed Fletcher id of thourght it imperitive to sign a centre half of this mould so we could play 4-4-2 unlike last season when we couldnt!
So I am as baffled as you that we havent signed a quality centre half.
Still, Im pleased with what we’ve achieved so far within the last four years.
33. Muppet.
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Diabolical pitch on saturday, whoever is responsible for it (be it the contractors who ‘built’ it or the groundstaff) should be fined or sacked. it was the same for both teams but I believe it was the reason for our hoof ball approach for much of the game. 9 times out of 10 when we tried to play the ball along the floor it bobbled around or the players stumbled and messed up the pass
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37,you are spot on.They wont even spend the necessary money on a decent pitch.If you think about it the club continually make statements which are questionable at best. Eg MM says if we are relegated there will be no fire sale of players.How can he prevent that? If they want away they will go. Moxey’s statement you have quoted is another perfect example.We are approximately 11th in the table as far as attendances are concerned yet our wage bill apart from Blackpool is the lowest in the division.This despite Morgan putting in £30,000,000 and Sir Jack writing off his loan.Can anyone explain that?
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Okay, Saturday was just awful and I’ve never seen us so susceptible to the counter attack, which Liverpool did superbly. I lost count of the times Berra and Stearman were left isolated. Zubar was very poor and Ward not much better. Merieles, who the Liverpool fans have been heckling, was the difference in midfield and for most of the match, our playmaker, Milijas was back to his frustrating self; good in parts but left wanting in so many others.
This team of ours have proved this season that inconsistency is the major problem. Against Bolton and Man U (and beyond !) we know they are capable of turning things around. We just gotta believe.
First team to beat Man Utd…hello ?
36)Bristol Wolf. Read the article again, Jez Moxey does NOT blame the weather, do you really think he’s an expert on laying pitches, or, are you just trying to wind up the numpties to post yet more venom against the men in suits ?
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The Molineux pitch I saw Peter Broadbent play on was, weather-permitting a far superior surface to what was provided on Saturday and it didn’t cost £1 million to produce,
and didn’t provide a spectacle resembling beach football. Same for both sides so no excuses as far as the result goes, but neverthless a poor spectacle by Premiership standards due in no small part to the surface provided.
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19- your deluded, we used to win pitch of the year in the seventys and i cant remember molineux moving.
the problems started after we installed under soil heating.
also 25, 000 @ £30 equals 50,000 at £15
only difference is the extra fans will be fair weather supporters who wont care about the team.
On the match why change the way we played to long ball after the football we played at man city against a top 4 team,
if we play doyle fletcher jarvis and hunt its essential we have the ball and play it on the floor, that means jones and milijas , henry isnt comfortable on the ball or recieving the ball thats why we ended up playing it back to the keeper to launch
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should read ‘team likely to get worse’
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Just spoke to Mick & he thinks the pitch will be a blessing in disguise
He plans to have all the players runing around the Mol intill the pitch is that cut up, we have run a trench around the goals to stop the other team breaking our PATHETIC attempts of the off side trap.
Seriously doh,
All this money put into a ground what will be half empty in the fizzy pop league & destroy the atmosphere…. WHATS THE POINT REALLY ?
SO Micks happy with his team as they are, and think they will stop up.
How can he say that ? He bought a left back for 2.5 Million, then gave in to his demands and lets him leave WITH OUT replacing him, but he´s happy ????
Oh well, Its better to be a big fish in a small pond i suppose, but what happens if we go down & dont come straight back up ?
I´ll tell you what happens, Supporters feel LET DOWN AGAIN AND AGAIN, decide they wont pay TOP DOLLAR to go to watch a club with no ambition in a BRAND NEW HALF EMPTY STADIUM.
WELL, 3 M´S have made there bed and will have to tie in it now, EVERY OTHER TEAM decides to strenghten the squads with BIG MONEY SIGNINGS & WE DECIDE TO SPEND 500K, bank the 2 Million from JVD SALE & DEVELOP an already good enough stadium ????????????????????????????
NOT HAPPY WITH ANY OF THE DECISIONS MADE THIS YEAR, FEEL LET DOWN & CHEATED.
When will Moxey realise the heart & soul of the club is the FANS ! if you aint got them you aint got nothing but he STILL insists on pulling the wool over supporters eyes & telling them what they want to hear untill they spend on early birds just to turn round & break promises.
He cant even come out and say whats wrong with the pitch quote
“we think we know what the problem is”
Well tell us fans then ! & tell us what you actually got for JVD & What we REALLY pay on players instead of “undisclossed fee”
Ive been here much looonger than u Moxey, & will be here looooong after you´ve gone so why do you think lying to the fans will benifit the club, it will just make supporters feel less part of the club.
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Just read MAD MICKS comments about not bringing anyone else in due to the fact that there were various obsticles in the way- Like who wants to play for a losing team!
He says we will be fine with what we have- NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL FIGHTING TALK. I truley hope as a life long Wolvces fan that he is right but myself and 25000 other Wolves fans can see that our defence is justy not good enough and we it is going to tak something special to keep us up.
Good luck lads I hope you can do it with what we have!
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We really are in big trouble if McCarthy thinks this group of players will keep us up.Were done for and`have been sold down the line by the 3Ms absolutely disgracefull.
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30. Its happy clappers like you who will be sitting in our nice new,half empty stadium watching Chumpionship football at inflated prices. Does Coventry ring a bell. Get real this board is bleeding the fans dry whilst investing nothing. Morgan is nothing more than the scouse Mike Ashley and I am not alone in thinking this. Watch saturdays gate Moxey because you are pushing our loyalty to the limit. As for saturdays performance(and yes I was there and not in a pub)what a collection of usless,over paid,overhyped bottlers there was in our beloved gold and black. And I thought the Boxing day performance was bad.
Scousers, get out of our club.
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47.Spot on mate.
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When was the last time anyone saw a Wolves player have a go from outside the box in open play —- it’s been a while. Nenad used to do it for other clubs he played for, obviuosly this has now been coached out of him by our brilliant management team. Dave Jons used to have it as part of his armour…. Adlene was the same. So we buy Adam Hammil who oddly enough also likes to have a pop at goal from distance….. we should be alright though because our brilliant management team should be able to coach this dreadful act of trying to score out of him this next fortnight.. We can only score if we walk it in. Come to think of it when is the last time we have created anything from a set piece…..
It’s an absolute shemozzle… we are like a one legged man in a arse kicking exercise!!
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Worst weather in many years, so understand it’s happening to grounds all across the country, with same stories as such popping up on other websites, etc.
“Get on with it,” is best; both teams have to deal with it. At least Moxey is being a realist.
UTW
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stop whinging we will be ok this team is more than capable of keeping us up
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Can Mick McCarthy honestly look at himself in the mirror & say we dont need a new defender ? surley not.
Its obvious we lack that defender with a cool head but the legs to get back and make a takle if caught flat footed.
We got
craddock – cool head, but old legs
Stearman – Young legs, prone to error
Berra – gives to many free kicks away
Mouyocolo – ??? where´s hull´s player of the year since we signed him ???
Zubar – right back or centre back ? good attidude & looks good when we play well & shocking when we play bad.
Foley – Mr reliable at rightback, hot/cold in midfield.
Ward – GOOD PLAYER, BAD LEFT BACK !
Big George – I like him, strong & fast but verticaly challenged & lack position awareness.
REALITY IS, Come up against the likes of torres, tevez, bent, carrol, dzeco, rooney, Van persie, etc, etc & WE WILL LOOSE 9 TIMES OUT OF 10 UNLESS WE INVEST.
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Sort this out…
Its the team not the pitch…
Another weekend under a dark cloud, following this Wolves team is a emotional rollercoaster existence…
I like what Sir Lupi has to say. Its Good Sense.
Should address the team before starting on upgrade the stadium.
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No. 41, actions speak louder than words. Why don’t all us Groundstaff in U.K have a meeting with you, so we can get to know YOUR way of looking after a pitch which you obviously think is ever so easy. Just name a date, time and place and I will DEFINATELY be there for your “expert” opinion.
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