The new season is dawning and West Ham awaits, but are we ready for an assault on the Premier League?

Well, let's look at the negatives first . . . we are Wolves fans after all.

Zubar isn't ready yet - Mick said so after the Valledoid friendly. He's a bit behind in fitness and he's finding it difficult to communicate.

Pre-season results - mixed at best. We played well against Valledoid but lost 2-0. The Bristol City game was the most disappointing though as we just couldn't adapt to their shape.

Injuries - Kighly, Doyle and Iwelumo are three very important players who won't be fully fit for the first game.

Now the positives . . .

New players - Milijas especially looks like a great player. Creativity and an eye for goal. Surman has impressed in pre season and Halford has shown impressive flexibility.

Fixtures - West Ham is a great place to start. And if Man City don't win their first fixture they will have huge pressure on their shoulders for the second game

Formation - Mick went 4-3-3 against Valledoid and it worked. They played really well despite the loss. It means we can play a new shape if 4-4-2 doesn't suit the opposition we are playing.

Injuries - Doyle isn't injured, he's just lacking games for fitness. Ditto Zubar and Kightly. I can't remember the last time we started a season with soo few serious injuries. Remember our last Premier outing without Miller, Kennedy, Lescott, Murray and more?

More players - Mancienne on loan perhaps? Balde might get signed up for some more experience and muscle at the back.

SO . . .

There's plenty of reason for optimism. It's going to be a very hard season but with a lot of hard work from the players and staff, a bit of luck and unflinching support from the Molineux faithful, maybe we can stay in the league and keep the Wolves machine traveling upwards.