With Wolves now five points from safety and hampered by a growing list of injuries, there doesn’t seem much cause for optimism ahead of Saturday’s game against Sunderland.

Following last weekend’s deflating loss at Blackpool, Mick McCarthy is now under intense pressure to deliver a result against his former side, knowing the consequences of another defeat could be severe – both for him and the club.

Karl Henry has been ruled out for two months with medial knee ligament damage and with Dave Edwards and Adlene Guedioura already on the sidelines, we have very few options in midfield.

Christophe Berra will also sit this one out having picked up his fifth booking of the season. Still, there’s some good news on the defensive front, as Ronald Zubar could well be named in the squad having completed his return from injury with an hour’s run out for the reserves.

But what of Sunderland?

Well, they’re currently seventh in the table and following that impressive 3-0 win at Chelsea, all eyes are very much on them in their first away match since the victory at Stamford Bridge. Interestingly though, that famous triumph was their only win on the road to date, with four draws and two defeats in their other games away from the Stadium of Light.

In fact, they’ve only won four games in total this season, which just goes to show how important scraping a few draws together can be.

Steve Bruce has his own injury problems to contend with too and will be without his first choice center-half pairing of Titus Bramble and Michael Turner for this one. That’s a massive boost for Wolves as the Mackems have built much of their success to date on a consistent and solid back-line.

The question is though, can we exploit that?

This is the team I think we’ll see from Wolves:

Hahnemann

Foley
Stearman
Mouyokolo
Elokobi

Hunt
Mancienne
Jones
Milijas
Jarvis

Doyle

I’m certain we’ll go 4-5-1 and given our lack of options in defence and midfield, that lineup seems the most likely bet. Mick could opt to throw in Zubar, Ward or van Damme at the back, but I’d be surprised to see any of them recalled. He could also give Fletcher a start on the right side of midfield instead of Hunt, whose struggled in recent games.

Prediction League

Well done to Jed and Stourbridge Wolf for getting the result spot-on last weekend. Special mention to Stourbridge too for correctly predicting Doyle would break his duck against ‘Championship defenders’. No extra points I’m afraid though, especially as you’re rapidly closing the gap on me at the top.

Kowloon Wolf, Exeter Wolf and Martin all picked up a point each for guessing we’d lose, without predicting the correct score.

This weekend, against all better judgment, I’m backing Wolves to get that all important win.

I think we’ll once again struggle at the back against the pace of Bent, Wellbeck and Gyan, so a cleansheet seems unlikely. But I’m hoping this will be the game where a few things come off for our attackers, particularly against a weakened Sunderland defence.

2-1 Wolves.

If you’re going to Molineux this weekend, get right behind the lads and lets really show our support. They need it more than ever.

Up The Wolves.

Well, that’s that for another season. All done.

And what a season it’s been. Nobody in old gold knew what lay ahead back in August, but 38 Premier League games and 38 hard-fought points later we’ve landed 15th in the table.

Good effort Wolves.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I’d certainly have taken that at the start of the campaign. Wouldn’t you?

Nice to finish with a win too, thanks to an energetic, forward-thinking performance, capped with a superb, fizzing strike from Adlene Guedioura.

Speaking of the Algerian, it was great to get confirmation from Mick that the deal has already been tied up to make his move from Charleroi permanent. In my eyes, he’d done more than enough to prove his worth long before today’s late winner. He’ll be a useful addition to the squad for next season.

I only hope Kevin Doyle sticks around too. I’m certain we’ll receive enquiries and bids, so don’t be surpised if our record signing turns out to be our record sale, particularly if speculation linking Arsenal with a move for the player turn out to be true. He was once again pivotal in today’s victory, linking up play cleverly and cooly rolling home his 9th goal of the season from the penalty spot.

The player who won the spot-kick wasn’t too bad either. Indeed, Matt Jarvis was probably the best player on the pitch today, jinking away from defenders all afternoon and causing Sunderland no end of problems with his pace and trickery. He’s proved without doubt that he’s good enough to cut it at this level.

The same can be said of Karl Henry, who finished the season in the same way he started it; looking completely at home on the Premiership stage. He still has his critics, but our skipper has won many of them over with a seasons-worth of committed displays.

I could go on…

Craddock and Berra, superb. Zubar, getting better all the time. Jones, brilliant. Hahnemann, a rock.

All of these players have shown not just today, but over the course of the campaign that they’re good enough to compete with the best. They will undoubtedly form the basis of our squad for next season and deservedly so.

Of course, five or six players will be moved on and hopefully, a few significantly better ones will be brought in to replace them.

But that’s to be discussed, debated and argued about another day.

For the moment we can all breathe a massive sigh of relief, recharge our batteries and come back stronger next season.

I’m up for it if you are.

Up The Wolves.

I’ve been chatting with Sunderland fan Denver Coulson ahead of this Sunday’s final game of the season. It’s a great read, which raises numerous interesting points. Enjoy.

When you beat us 5-2 at the Stadium of Light, you were riding high at the top end of the Premier League and scoring goals for fun. What went wrong?!

Injuries and too thin a squad. We lost Jordan Henderson, Lee Cattermole and Andy Reid from midfield and ended up playing with a different back line in about 20 consecutive games – this contributed to our 14 game winless run, despite Bent continuing to score goals. Also, this season we went from a team that used to score last minute goals to one that conceded them, losing 10 points in the last 10 minutes of games. We’ve managed to get back on track with results over the last two months and we’re just going to have to look back on those 14 games without a win and think what might have been…

A partnership of Darren Bent and Kenwyn Jones instils fear in most Wolves fans, so are they your best strike partnership these days? And who else should we be looking out for this weekend?

I still think they’re our best front two. Frazier Campbell has come on leaps and bounds this season and despite having to fill in, due to injuries, on the right hand side has grabbed some valuable goals and looked good in games when he started up top. He started against Man Utd, and scored a good goal in our last visit to the midlands against Villa, so you might see him play there, although midfield injuries may force him back to right wing.

However, with Jones we are much better at keeping the ball when we play it up front. Jones is also a massive asset in the air both in attack and defence, and when he’s on form is unplayable – the problem is he’s too laid back and not on form often enough!

Outside of the goal scorers keep an eye out for Steed Malbranque who has led our end of season resurgence following a move to left midfield and Jordan Henderson a 19 year-old who has had a great season and is rumored to be attracting attention from the top 4. Finally, watch out for the return of Alan Hutton at right back following his one match suspension for being headbutted! Since, signing in the January window from Spurs his attacking runs have changed the dynamic of our team.

A lot has been said about Big Mick’s limitations as a manager in the top flight. What is your take on his achievements at Wolves this season, and what really happened at The Stadium of Light? Never backed, or never good enough?

I was never a big Mick fan as his style of football even in the play-off season and when we won promotion was never fun to watch. He did preside over two relegations from the PL (even if one wasn’t his fault). Achieving the record low number of points (15) created an embarrassment that dealt a body blow to the club and its fans, especially following the recent 19 point season. Even if he wasn’t backed the recent performances of teams such as Burnley and Hull who came up from the playoffs not champions puts this into perspective.

That said Mick did get us promoted on a shoestring and since he took over at Wolves he’s done the same and, unlike us, kept you there! I think if Kightly had stayed fit you may have even been a little more comfortable. Next season will be the big question – can he make the signings and show the tactical nous to avoid the dreaded second season syndrome.

13th place and 15 points clear of the relegation zone means you’ve had a comfortable, if not memorable season. Where do you go from here?

This season has been a success in my book. Bruce’s first task was to move us up a level, from relegation candidate – to mid-table mediocrity, and this he has achieved. If not (those favourite words of a football fan) for the mid-season wobble we would be looking to be up there with Everton and it is that position we must look to progress to next season. However, above them this season was the battle for fourth and it may be quite a while and a fair amount of cash before we can be in that sort of company!

Success over the next two seasons for me is continued top ten presence some nice football, more goals and like most PL fans a cup run as that’s the only chance of silverware.

Final point is that this has been a memorable season, for the first time in years we’ve not had a promotion/playoffs/relegation battle/relegation and the lack of excitement in the last few games for a change has been surprisingly enjoyable.

And finally, a word about Jody Craddock, our player of the season as voted by the fans. What are your memories of Jody in a red and white shirt?

Like many Sunderland supporters I was a big Jody fan and I’m delighted that he has managed to carry on playing at the top level, even becoming a top goal scorer! I always associate Jody with the late 90s resurgence under Reid and part of the Quinn/Phillips team which won the championship with a then record total of 105 points and then went on to achieve two consecutive 7th placed finishes.

Circumstances led to Jody moving on but I, like the rest of our fans, will be applauding him at the weekend.

Should Darren Bent go to the World Cup? If yes, at whose expense?

To finish second top English goal scorer and not go to South Africa is a bit of a disgrace but with Rooney the cert and Crouch and Heskey getting the nod due to being target men not finishers makes it tough. Is he better than Defoe? He’s scored more goals in a team that is 13th not 4th so his record suggests so but unfortunately I think he’ll be watching it in the pub like the rest of us. If he takes five forwards he has to go ahead of second rate forwards such as Agbonlahor.

Well, I don’t really know where to start.

First off, let’s point out the blindingly obvious, Wolves shouldn’t have lost this match by three goals. To say the final scoreline was harsh is a whopping great understatement, after a performance full of energy and endeavour.

We were certainly on the wrong end of some bad decisions in the first half. The early penalty that gave Sunderland the lead was contentious, but I can see why the ref gave it. How he failed to spot Dawson’s shove on Doyle is beyond me though, for what should have been the easiest spot-kick award he’s ever given.

The second half also opened with a penalty for the home side, this time far more obvious as Berra clumsily hung out a leg, after Bent had given him the slip. 

Two nil and it looked like game over. Well, at least to me.

How wrong could I have been? Excellent play by Berra forced the own goal and if we got a little bit lucky to make it two all, then we certainly deserved it having enjoyed far more of the play. Here’s a question: Should Gordon have been sent off for clawing the ball out from the passback? He deliberately prevented a goal by cheating and surely should have walked. Or am I missing something?

Anyway, from there on out a combination of good finishing, slack marking and bad luck distorted the score badly. The horrendous deflection off Mancienne for their fifth, put an appropriate exclamation point on a match that Wolves just always seemed destined to lose, however well they were playing.

But we must at least pick the many positives out of the performance and take them into next week.

Keogh and Doyle were both exceptional, particularly Doyle. Their interchange and movement was very impressive. OK, you could still argue there’s a lack of cutting edge, but in terms of overall performance, they were both outstanding. Doyle ran Dawson ragged at times and for me, was the quality player on the pitch.

I thought Henry was back to his best as well, winning the midfield battle and using the ball far better than he has in recent matches. Halford was another player I’d pick out who competed well and was desperately unlucky to see his header cleared off the line. If only we put defenders on the posts hey?

Can you say a goalkeeper had a great game if he shipped five goals? If so, I’d be happy to give Hennessy a pat on the back. I’m looking at all of the goals and thinking he wasn’t given much chance. But his handling and kicking was again very tidy and he looked pretty assured throughout.

So let’s be positive. Lets take our medicine, however bitter it is to swallow, and move on to a big, big game next week against Pompey. 

The more ‘glass half empty’ amongst us might be smelling a massive banana skin against a Portsmouth side yet to register a single point, but I have confidence that if Wolves meet the standards they’ve set today, they’ll get the result we all want.

Keep the faith.

Up The Wolves.

It’s two Sunday kick-offs in a row for Wolves as they head north to the Stadium of Light, looking to continue where they left off after victory over Fulham.

Despite Wednesday’s League Cup result, I think we can be fairly optimistic about our chances against Sunderland and genuinely believe we have an opportunity to pick up at least a point.

Looking at the table it’s been a mixed start to the season for Steve Bruce’s side, with three wins and three defeats from six games. Of course last time out at home, they dismantled Hull to claim a fairly comprehensive 4-1 victory. Let’s hope it’s not a sign of things to come.

They’ve recruited heavily in the summer, most impressively bringing Darren Bent to Wearside who has hit the ground running and looks full of goals. I think Wolves will have a job on their hands to keep him contained for 90 minutes.

We’ve already come up against Michael Dawson this season, the former Hull defender denying us three points against his old club with a goal-line block from Kevin Doyle’s shot. He’s an impressive centre-half and a fantastic addition to Sunderland’s squad.

A player that looks to have come good this season is Andy Reid. He’s shed a lot of weight over the summer and suddenly looks to have the fitness to go with his undoubted ability on the ball. I think he could be a real danger on Sunday, so we’ll need to ensure we stop him playing.

For Wolves, I expect the same team from the Fulham match to start, barring injuries or people turning up late for team meetings. So that should mean a line-up of:

Hennessy

Halford
Mancienne
Berra
Elokobi

Edwards
Henry
Castillo
Jarvis

Keogh
Doyle

Equally important though, is the options we should have on our bench, which could be crucial. I’m pretty confident I can predict our seven subs:

Hahnemann
Foley
Craddock
Milijas
Kightly
Ebanks-Blake
The Hoff

It’s quite simple for Wolves. If they can replicate the performance against Fulham, they’ve got a great chance of getting a point at the very least. We need the defence to hold firm and Hennessy to command his box as he did last week. I’m not expecting us to play glittering football, but we should be solid with that XI and cause one or two problems going forward. The Halford throw could again prove crucial.

My prediction is a draw for this one, most likely 1-1. I’ll go for Doyle to make it two goals in two league appearances for the opener. What’s everyone else think?

If you’re making the long journey on Sunday, I applaud you. Have a great time and get behind the lads.

Up The Wolves