Perusing some of the various Wolves message boards, it seems like doom, gloom and negativity has become universal. The news that Michael Kightly will almost certainly miss the opening games of the season (at the very least), seems to have been the final straw for many. Understandable really.
With our flying winger still fighting his way back and £6.5 million of Kevin Doyle sitting on the sidelines, it’s a bit of a hammer blow (no pun intended) to our visions of what we expected for the West Ham match and beyond.
My question is, would one signing change the mood?
Mancienne - The answer to our problems?
Many still seem to be clinging by their finger nails to the hope that Mancienne will check in before the season commences. Could he be the man to reinvigorate the Molineux faithful? I’ve been one of the people who has poured cold water on this move all summer, questioning whether he’s got the strength and experience to really make a difference.
But the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of his pace and calming assuredness being part of our back four. He doesn’t make many mistakes and we need error-free performances regularly from our defenders, as we can’t afford to be handing our presents. Out of all the players we can realistically expect to get, he would probably represent the biggest coup, at least in terms of quality.
Another centre-half we’ve been linked too (although still unconfirmed) is Richard Dunne. I know a lot of us in Old Gold are keen to see the Irishman arrive and believe his experience as an established Premiership performer would make him a key signing. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been keeping an eye on the defensive signings that City make, wondering if he’ll become available. It’s been widely speculated that he will move on, but nothing seems to have materialised just yet. Out of interest, would you rather have Dunne or Mancienne? It’s a tricky one for me. I’d probably go with Dunne, just for the experience. Many will disagree.
Or perhaps it’s an attacking player that will provide the tonic to our fading optimism? But who though? There’s every chance that if we become desperate as the season approaches, Mick will draft in some Jonny Foreigner we know pretty much nothing about. We’ve been linked with a few, so it will be interesting to see if any of them actually come to fruition.
Again, from a personal point-of-view I’d like to see us get someone who has plied their trade in the Premiership, but I can’t really think of any names we might have a chance of getting. Dean Ashton was mentioned by one ambitious supporter, but even if he was available, he’s incredibly injury-prone so would we really want to take the gamble and splash out big bucks on someone who might only make a handful of appearances?
I think when you look at what’s available at the moment, you begin to realise why the recruitment drive has slowed somewhat. However, I’d be surprised and slightly disappointed if it turns out that we’ve done all the business we’re going to do in this window.
I also fear that if no more signings arrive and results don’t go our way quickly, the board will once again be accused of trying to ‘do it on the cheap’, something that would be difficult to argue with.
Call me greedy but i’d like both Mancienne and Dunne. Both would go along way to suring up our defence, with Mancienne also very capable at providing cover for a defensive midfield position if Henry was to get injured.
Mancienne is not even 4th choice at Chelsea. The reason, Drogba bends him over every day in training. Dunne or Mancienne? No brainer….Dunne, every day of the week and twice on Sunday’s.
When Moxey says that spending cash correlates to your league position, and Morgan says that finishing 17th would not be a success, I would say that either: a) there are more signings to come, or b) the club overdid the PR offensive at a time when season tickets were going up 30 odd per cent.
Funny that Mick now says that finishing 17th would be as bigger success as winning the championship. Damn right Mick…With our paper thin squad, and lack of Premiership exeperience (that we were promised!!!), finishing 17th would be the biggest miracle since the parting of the Red Sea.
The first XI for West Ham will be weaker than our first XI for most of last season, much like in 2003.
Bill Murray has been rumoured to have been seen in Wolverhampton looking for a house as he makes the sequel to Groundhog Day. Denis Berkamp wasn’t far behind him…
As for Dunne. Forget it. We will not pay the money for him. Fact.
…And to really shit you up, I think the following is our strongest team for West Ham.
Hahnemann
Foley
Craddock
Zubar
Hill
Halford
Henry
Milijas
Jarvis
Ebanks Blake
Vokes
Oh Ben, you do make me chuckle.
But if Billy Murray’s in town, it’s surely to play the title role in ‘Ben Smallman: Basking in the Negativity of it All’.
However, the points you make do hit home all too painfully, particularly the starting XI.
Its going to be fun sitting next to you this season Ben!!!
I’d say Berra would be in over Craddock and Big George in over your bum buddy Hill.
Oh and Pete, what sort of training goes on down at Chelsea!!!! Didn’t think that sort of thing went on there since Graeme Le Saux left!!
Purely from watching Berra and Craddock, Hill and Elokobi, I would beg to differ. Always amazes me how Hill is always the fall guy, when he has helped secure a load of clean sheets at a pivotal part of last season, and been on our losing side only once in all the time he has played with us. (IIRC)
As for Craddock…Shocking isn’t it? A bloke who was about to be sold to Swindon (or wherever it was) is now my first team pick.
I’m with Ben, seriously concerned about the state of that starting 11. West Ham would batter that team. Losing Doyle and Kights is a serious blow but luckily they’re only short term injuries, fingers crossed. Not as bad as last time we were in the prem and we lost Lescott and Murray for the season.
I’ve been reading that Milijas and Zubar have been putting in some half decent performances and i personally think that Berra could do a decent job for us. Although he didn’t start too well, he did improve as the season went on.
When we get Doyle and Kights back and replace Craddock with Berra I think the team’s stronger than what we had last year, and much stronger than the shite we had in 2003.
Guys, the ongoing and recurring theme on this web site has been the recuriting of some players with Prem expirenece. Can you all please tell me why you see Mancinne as a signing that would round off our transfer business very nicely???
Mancienne has never played a Prem game, he has played for us more times than any other team in the contry, except maybe the England U21′s and what a success he was there…..NOT!!!!!.
Three good shows the first time he put a Gold dhirt on does not make him the answer to our problems. The fact he looked shakey and mistake prone after those three games for us says to me he started to believe his own press. A very dangerous thing to do at the bottom of the prem.
If you want a quality, young centre half with a truck load more expirence, look at Michal Turner at Hull!!!
What are your thoughts????????
Pete, your pretty spot-on with what you say about Mancienne. However, I think you’re being a bit harsh in your opinion of his performances when he was at Wolves. Apart from looking shaky at QPR, I thought he did very well and crucially looked better than what we already had.
I haven’t really seen Turner much but however good he is, the likelihood of him coming to Wolves is around the 0% mark I’d wager. Isn’t he first-choice at Hull? Why would they sell him to us and why would he want to come? If we’re just going to throw names around, I might as well put John Terry forward as a target. Do you see my point?
As I said in my article, I would rather have an experienced player than Mancienne but the only one we’ve been linked with (I use the term loosely) is Dunne.
Pete – Don’t mean to correct you but Mancienne has played for Chelsea and has actually played more games for QPR than us (he was on loan there the season before he came to us)
Which games did you see Mancienne play last year for us? I thought he was outstanding at Cardiff, but was pretty solid in the rest of the games he had with us (him and Stearman together were probably about as solid as we looked all season). I’ll give you the under 21′s, he had a complete nightmare, but he wasn’t exactly going into it on the back of any decent form. Its got to be hard when all you’ve been doing is warming a bench for 6 months. I’m not saying Mancienne would be the answer but he is definately better than some of the options we have.
As for Turner – apart from seeing him score a few goals on match of the day and knowing he got one of my mates a load of points in his fantasy football team, can’t say I know alot about him!! What makes him this quality defender you have him down as – cus I certainly didn’t see Hull last season as a team that were solid at the back!!!
I still feel that Balde is a cheap, convenient short term solution provided he gets fitter and faster. Mick appears to be giving him every last chance. If we keep a clean sheet v Donny and he plays, he’ll be in. I bet you.
As for the striking depaertment, I’m not confident that either Keogh or Vokes will make an immediate impression…
…So, as a leftfield suggestion, and cheap (compared to the likes of D Bent) how about Jermaine Beckford?
How about him and SEB up front for the first few games? He’s young, scores goals, and has that asset that most defences hate – pace.
Let’s face it, we are not prepared to spend big, so I would be happy with him. Plus, with no Premiership experience, he might conversely be a bigger hit, as defenders have not come across him.
Thoughts?
Mate I think Beckford is bad news!! Serious chip on his shoulder!! Would hate to see him in the Old Gold.
I do think we are short on attacking options though!! Just don’t think he’d be the answer.
Yeah, Beckford is bad news. Definitely has quality but like Edward says, he’s a bit of a knob.
I’ve heard Alan Smith mentioned as a possibility. If he can avoid injury, he’s got the credentials and could link up well with SEB.
I’ll be amazed if Balde doesn’t sign and I’ll reserve judgment until I see him play with my own eyes, but like you say Ben, he’s a short term solution. Can’t see him playing 38 games.
I can’t believe the poll currently shows 69% of people would prefer Mancienne. Unbelievable. Dunne had a bad season last time out but i still think he’s absolute quality. He’s held Citeh’s and Ireland’s defence together for the last 4-5 years and was Citeh’s player of the year 3 seasons on the trot i beileve. His performance against Bulgaria away for Ireland was immense and is exactly the sort of player we need. Realistically i don’t think we’ll get either.