Marcus Bent Joins Wolves
(2010-08-31 09:08:02)

32-year-old Bent will boost Wolves' striking options following the departure of Andy Keogh to Cardiff on a season-long deal.

"Marcus is an experienced striker who has played plenty of Premier League football," said Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey speaking to Sky Sports.

"People still talk about whether we've got enough Premier League experience, and Marcus will add to that.

"He's also a different type of striker to what we have in that he's a physical presence.

"We needed someone after the departure of Andy Keogh and Marcus can do a job for us."

Trumped by Cameron Jerome, Christian Benitez and Kevin Phillips last season, his only first-team football came on loan in the Championship at Middlesbrough and QPR, where he played seven and three games respectively without scoring.

Much-travelled Bent, who joined Blues for £1m from Charlton two years ago, has not played for the St Andrew’s club since April 2009. So whats he doing at Wolves?

Wolves vs Newcastle
(2010-08-31 08:08:25)

Organised brutality - we gave em what they was asking for.

There were 35 fouls in all from both sides, 12 yellow cards and the air turned blue in the Black Country for long periods of this niggling encounter.

Afterwards ref Stuart Attwell(dont send him back down here) was slated on radio phone-ins by angry fans, but the truth is the official clamped down on both Wolves’ antics and Newcastle’s retaliatory challenges.

Wolves look sluggish in the early stages, with Andy Carroll forcing a save from the Wolves goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, Wayne Routledge getting around him from and crossing a couple of inches behind Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan stabbing the ball twice at Hahnemann from close range.

Wolves do start to rally, however, and come the closest of either team when Sylvan Ebanks-Blake heads against the far post from a deep corner, but a mix-up in their central defence gives Carroll a clear chance, but he shoots well over with only Carroll left to beat. Two minutes from half-time, however, it is Wolves that take the lead. Jelle van Damme crosses from the right-hand side and Ebanks-Blake, who has has an outstanding start to the season, brings the ball under control and shoots under Steve Harper. It’s a little tough on Newcastle to be going in behind at half-time, but Wolves have worked hard for their lead and neither team look very much like the relegation candidates that so many had predicted before a ball had been kicked this season.

For all the hard work, however, this is something of a rough and tumble match and referee Stuart Atwell manages to pull his yellow card from his pocket twelve times, although both teams do end the match with eleven players. The direction of the match, however, hangs on one incident that Atwell misses!! Early in the second half, Matthew Jarvis charges down the left wing and James Perch brings him down. In such a situation, the only reasonable decisions that could be awarded would be a corner (assuming that Atwell believed that Perch played the ball) or, correctly, a penalty. A two goal lead may have finished the game off, but instead Wolves start to look jittery, and just after the hour Newcastle haul themselves level. Joey Barton swings a free kick over from the left hand side and Andy Carroll gets away from his marker to head wide of Hahnemann and in off the post. From here on, Newcastle look the more likely winners. Hahnemann makes a fine one-handed save from Kevin Nolan and Shola Ameobi, who comes on for Carroll, heads goalwards with his first touch, only to see the ball prodded away from under the crossbar. At full time, however, honours are even.

On balance, a point apiece feels like a fair enough result, but Wolves will feel hard done by over the Jarvis penalty incident and Newcastle will feel as if, having got themselves level and with half an hour left to play, they could have snatched all three of the points. Both teams may yet find this season to be a struggle, but for clubs like Wolves, who are likely to spend much of the season looking nervously over their shoulders at those below them, going the first three matches of the season unbeaten is a strong start and there was plenty about their performance to suggest that Mick McCarthy has got the balance of his team just about right.

Matt Murray Retires from Football
(2010-08-31 08:08:08)

Matt Murray announced his retirement from football after failing to overcome a knee injury.

Fans’ favourite Murray played 100 games for Wolves but the last of them was back in May 2007, with the 29-year-old admitting defeat today in his long battle to beat the injury to his right knee.

His last competitive action came on loan at Hereford United in November 2008 when he broke down with a ruptured patella tendon, an injury he has struggled to come back from.

A former England under-21 international who was a major force in the promotion to the Premier League in 2003, Murray was touted as one of the country’s brightest talents and would surely have been in contention for this summer’s World Cup but for his injury.

Murray briefly rejoined full training on the club’s pre-season tour of Ireland last month, but was unable to make the final breakthrough because of his injury.

Everton V Wolves
(2010-08-23 06:08:51)

Everton 1-1 Wolves
In a difficult first away game of the season, Wolves managed to fight back and secure a draw against a talented and resolute Everton side.
Wolves started poorly, sticking to the 4-4-2 that got them a win against Stoke, but at the same time trying to nullify the threat posed by Everton’s strong midfield. The plan backfired as Everton dominated proceedings. Dinijar Bilyaletdinov was guilty of missing a number of chances, but they took the lead – albeit controversially – in the 43rd minute. After Mikel Arteta was fouled quite clearly inside the penalty area, Wolves thought they had gotten away with it, as the referee inexplicably awarded a free kick on the edge of the area. The free kick struck the wall, but as Jody Craddock went to clear the ball, Tim Cahill clipped his foot, turned and smashed the ball in to the roof of the net. The Wolves defence was livid, but their attempts for justice were in the end futile.
Mick McCarthy admitted post-match that his pre- match gameplans hadn’t worked and so adjusted the team at half time. It worked and as the second half went on and with the arrival of Adlene Guedioura on the pitch, Wolves grew in to the match. Guedioura is becoming more impressive with each game. His powerful displays full of flair and hard work in equal measure have made him a firm fans favourite, and he was the catalyst for the Wolves equaliser. He won the ball against two Everton players in the centre of the park, with a typically vicious but fair challenge, and left them in his wake. He burst forward feeding Kevin Doyle down the right, whose low ball in was converted by Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. Another player who has endeared himself to the Wolves fans, SEB and fans alike would have been extra relieved to see him bag his first goal of the season.  Even after the equaliser, Matt Jarvis continued to terrorise the Everton full back (Capello was watching – wishful thinking?).
All in all a gritty performance, possibly a bit fortunate, but coming home from Goodison with a point is more than welcome, and long may our unbeaten run continue.

Check out the gallery for pictures of an amazing day at Goodison courtesy of Punjabi Wolves!

Wolves v Stoke
(2010-08-17 09:08:37)

Wolves 2-1 Stoke
The opening day of the season – a day full of optimism, hope, excitement and relief that finally, the football that we know and love is back. It was certainly how I felt prior to the Stoke match anyway. With a hose of new and somewhat expensive signings in our new-look squad, 14th August 2010, could be the day that one of Britain’s most famous clubs truly re-announced itself as one of the big boys.
Even with all this optimism, an opening day game against Stoke wasn’t exactly the kind of match to get the heart pulsing, especially going by last season’s Molineux fixture – possibly the worst game I’ve watched since the Hoddle era. But the first 45 minutes was a real showcase for the English game – fast paced, physical and not lacking in quality from Wolves, with new boy Steven Fletcher very much at the forefront. In fact it was Stoke’s new big name signing, Kenwyne Jones who made the first big impression, with a storming run down the right and a thunderous shot off the bar. Cruelly, but perhaps fortunately for us, Jones’ game was ended early by a challenge from Jody Craddock, which had hard but fair written all over it. Then Wolves gained a stranglehold in the match with a decisive 20 minute period of pressure, set by the likes of David Jones and Matt Jarvis who had picked up from where they left off last season, and a revitalised Sylvan Ebanks – Blake. Jones actually had a goal disallowed and after some sublime skill by Fletcher there was another near miss with a goalmouth scramble. But the breakthrough finally came with a genuinely world class goal. After Kevin Foley was fouled right on the edge of the penalty area, Karl Henry rolled the ball back to David Jones, who teed himself up to volley the ball in off the underside of the bar. A world class goal that was richly deserved. Very shortly after Wolves made it two. After a free kick was cleared away the ball made its way to Christophe Berra, whose cross was deflected high over Thomas Sorensen and on to the head of Fletcher, who couldn’t miss. It was a just reward for Fletcher, whose touch and link-up play had impressed everyone in the ground.
The second half was a much less fluent affair, with Fletcher having to go off injured as a precaution, for Andy Keogh. Jelle Van Damme was also impressing on the left hand side, with his strong running and aggressive attitude. Soon after the players had returned to the pitch Stoke got a goal back, when a Matthew Etherington cross was met by Abdoulaye Faye, who thundered in to score Stoke’s first goal of the season. From then on there were a few nervy moments, but Stoke never really looked like scoring and Stephen Ward even managed to pull out an incredible save from Thomas Sorensen as he volleyed at the backpost. Wolves fairly comfortably held on though, and an impressive showing resulted in three points and a Champions League spot for the weekend!

Gulraj Kular

Kevin Thelwell Interview
(2010-07-26 07:07:49)

From your point of view, how do you feel the week has gone?

I think it has gone very well. The players have slotted in very easily, and they are very positive about football and as a result it has been very easy to get them involved. It also helps that Parminder is a very experienced coach and on that basis it’s been easy to talk to him and get him involved in the sessions. Overall it’s been a very positive week.

What did you make of the JCT players as footballers?

They are good players, but it is slightly skewed because they are a few years older than the academy boys. Technically they are good players, but they could use some improvement in terms of the way they handled the English game and the higher tempo, which is understandable. Physically they have competed, but I’m not sure they would be able to step up to the next level. Obviously it’s not easy to jump off a plane and drop straight into training though.

Have you seen any signs of development in the JCT boys?

Yes, I think so. I think as the week has gone on they have started to understand about how we want to move the ball, the playing style and taking no more than two touches. I think they’ve also picked on what to do without the ball, in terms of pressing the opposition as quickly as we can or making an angle for a pass.

How do you feel the two groups of players have integrated with each other?

Very well and they have made it very easy for us. They have good personalities and they want to work. The Wolves lads have received them very well too and I think we have a good group of lads here.

Have you noticed a gulf in quality, and if so how big?

There was a difference, but I feel that was purely due to the age that the boys start playing over there. Parminder mentioned that these lads only joined JCT when they were 16 or 17, whereas here the boys can join as young as 8 or 9.

What have you and the Wolves players gained from this experience?

First of all it’s been a great cultural experience, but from a coaching point of view and due to there being a bit of a language barrier, we’ve had to adjust the way we communicate with the players, using more actions etc. It’s also been interesting talking to Parminder about football back in India, what the issues are and how we can help in that way.

Will there be a return trip on behalf of Wolves?

Yes, definitely. We’ll be looking to send some coaching staff out in October when Punjabi Wolves go out as well. It’’ give us an opportunity to meet Parminder and the boys and see how they work in their own environment, and as a result see how we can develop our relationship with JCT and develop the football over there.