It’s official – Wolverhampton Wanderers will be a Premier League side again next season.
Survival is a massive achievement for Mick McCarthy and his team.
There are no superstars at Wolves; just a dedicated board, manager, coaching staff and squad of players who all did their job magnificently this season.
Hard work, discipline, organisation and tactical know-how is what you need in the hardest league in the world and Wolves have proved they have got bags of it.
Let’s look at where the points have come from so far this season, it makes wonderful reading!
Beat Bolton at home, beat West Ham and Wigan away, did the DOUBLE over Tottenham and Burnley, beat Fulham at home and drew away, drew against Stoke, Hull, Everton and Villa twice each and got a point from Liverpool and Blackburn.
There has been a steady stream of points all season and we have taken them from 12 teams so far, a few of which are still chasing fourth position.
Mick McCarthy identified that we were not scoring enough goals at the end of last year so dropped the 4-4-2 system and switched to 4-5-1.
That decision was pivotal because although the goals continued to be hard to come by, we became a great defensive unit.
Next season we all want to see the attacking issue addressed but you have to work with what you’ve got. With 4-5-1 came survival and with survival comes the chance to build.
I’ll save my awards until the end of the season but needless to say, we have a team of heroes and they have been led by Doyle, Craddock, Henry, Jarvis and Hanneman.
Sylvain Ebanks-Blake got the equaliser against Blackburn – the goal that made survival a certainty in the end. After a difficult season in which he lost his starting place having only scored one other goal – a penalty – despite working his socks off, it was nice to see him celebrating again. Let’s hope he gets a couple more in the remaining two games now. Each Premier League place is worth £750,000 in prize money.
So next season there will be four West Midlands clubs in the Premier League.
The region is a football powerhouse once again.
Comments
 |
Posted by Terry Fraser on 04/26/2010
I was very pleased that Ebanks-Blake was able to find the net and be a hero, if only for a game. He certainly had much to do with our promotion to the Premier League, and while it's difficult to see him as quite Premier calibre, he's one player that I would have liked to see Mick find more playing time for.
It's a big accomplishment to stay up. I think the players and management have done a phenomenal job.
I think the heroes of the team are, no doubt, Doyle, Jarvis and Berra. Craddock, Zubar, Mancienne and Hanneman deserve credit as well.
Now, the question is where do Wolves go from here? I think it's a must that Mick recognizes that Henry is a nice leader and an excellent Championship player but he may not be Premier League class. We've got to find strength in midfield and we can't do it with a player who thinks retreat first. Where do Kightly, Ward, Foley and Keough fit in, if at all? Lots of tough decisions to be made. An easy one is to send Maierhoffer somewhere else quickly!
|
Posted by Tim on 04/26/2010
I love the Wolves!! I became a fan (even though I live in the U.S.) when I was in the university in the early 80s when Andy Gray was their big striker. Suffered through the rest of the 80s, loved it when Steve Bull helped to pull them up to the Second Division, was happy for one year in 2003-04 when they were in the Premier League, but this is the best!! I can see the Wolves becoming a brilliant Premier League side in the future. Yessss!
|
Posted by Winky the Aussie Wolf on 04/30/2010
I wholeheartedly agree with Tim although I go further back to Dougan, Richards, Hibbert etc.
The emotional rollercoaster of being a Wolves fan is enormous. Congrats to the Team and all involved and for once we didn't break the bank with expensive imports.
Note to Mick Mc.Although he's a bit injury prone Jimmy Bullard would slot in nicely.
Posted by ken on 05/01/2010
i am a wolves fan from australia and thanks to foxtel for showing epl games every week especially wolves games.i didnt expect us to stay up but a massive effort to stay up and a bit of hope for next year
| |
Post your comment |
|
|
RSS feed