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Town Face Wolves Looking to Carry on Where They Left Off
Friday, 20th Nov 2015 16:53

Town boss Mick McCarthy will be looking for his side to carry on where they left off before the international break when they take on his former club Wolves at Portman Road on Saturday.

The Blues ended a run of seven league games without a win by recording back-to-back victories against Bolton - 2-0 at home - and Rotherham - 5-2 away - before the fortnight’s break.

McCarthy, whose side are 10th, four points off the play-offs, says his team deserved those wins: “We could have scored more against Bolton, probably should have done and been a bit more comfortable, but the Rotherham performance was excellent.

“And yet they got two goals to bring it back to 4-2 and I had visions of [the 4-4 draw at] Derby from sometime ago in my head.

“They were just wonder goals those, but then we put them to bed with the fifth and the reality is that we could have had five in the first half we played that well. The results were worthy of the performances.”

He says he’s raring to go after the break: “I feel fine, I’m ready for it now, I want to get back to it and it’s a great game for me to come back to, Wolves at home.

“I’ve friends still there, I’ve got a great affinity with the fans, I think the relationship and respect is mutual between myself and the club and the fans there.

“But I want to beat them just like I want to beat everybody else, and if the truth be known, there’s always a little more in it. They’ll want to beat me more than anybody else just like I want to beat them!”

McCarthy says Wolves, who are 14th on 19 points, five behind the Blues, have some very good players, particularly in attack: “Benik Afobe up front is a real threat to start with. They lost Nouha Dicko as well, although they’ve signed Adam Le Fondre and Grant Holt.

“They’ve got a fair strike force. If you think they’ve got those two on the bench it’s pretty good, isn’t it?

“Dave Edwards, the lad that plays in behind, he’s one that’s left over that I signed. He’s one of their better players and he’s certainly a threat running from in behind the striker.

“They were fairly solid last year, but they’ve had a bit of a topsy-turvy one this season. But when they’ve played well, they’ve been excellent, they’ve had some really good results. So we’ve got to try and stop them playing well.”

He added: “They’ve got Sheyi Ojo from Liverpool on loan, who is a real handful, one of the young lads, and James Henry, who I thought they were letting go at the start of this season. He’s a real threat from wide right, he puts great crosses in.

“They’ve got good players, there’s no doubt about that, and we’ve seen it ourselves, we’ve got good players and yet we had a difficult spell, not losing that many but not being able to win them all.

“They are a threat and with the names we’ve mentioned, we’ll have to be careful of them.”

McCarthy seems likely to stick with the team which won so impressively at Rotherham before the break.


Dean Gerken will keep his place in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back, Jonas Knudsen on the left and Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra at the centre of the defence.

Cole Skuse, Jonathan Douglas and Kevin Bru will either start in a midfield three or with the Mauritius international on the right with Freddie Sears on the left if McCarthy opts for a 4-4-2 formation.

If he chooses to go with three strikers, the former Colchester man will join Daryl Murphy - a hat-trick hero last time out - and Brett Pitman up front.

David McGoldrick remains sidelined with his groin injury, while Luke Hyam (knee), Teddy Bishop (shin splints and hamstring) and Luke Varney (achilles) are not yet ready to return. Ryan Fraser also remains unavailable due to his knee ligament injury.

For Wolves, keeper Emiliano Martinez has been ruled out with a thigh problem, while defenders Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Kortney Hause are still missing due to metatarsal and hamstring injuries respectively.

Forward Bjorn Sigurdarson is not yet ready to return after a back problem, while striker Nouha Dicko is a long-term absentee with a knee injury.

Newcastle United defender Mike Williamson has extended his loan at Molineux until January.

Former Norwich skipper Grant Holt joined Wolves on loan from Wigan in October and has so far made two sub appearances and is expecting some stick from his old club’s biggest rivals.

"I probably won't get the warmest welcome but that's football," he told BBC WM. "I haven't lost there and I actually enjoy being the old pantomime villain.

"If someone wants to give me stick, I'm not really bothered, as long as they expect a little bit back.

"If you're getting stick and you're getting shouted at and people are screaming at you, you've obviously done something to annoy them or you're obviously doing something well enough to bother them. If anyone forgets who I am or stops talking to me, then I'm in trouble."

Manager Kenny Jackett has a lot of time for Blues boss McCarthy and the job he has done at Portman Road: “Mick is a very — and quite rightly so — well respected manager in the football world.

“Premier League, the Championship and at international level, he’s worked right across the board there with experience and worked very well.

“He’s a very successful manager, who’s done well at Ipswich and made them genuine contenders and built a good squad of players as well.

“They’ll be chasing that top six and working hard to make sure that they are not too far away.”

The sides are fairly evenly matched over the years, Town winning 29 times (28 in the league), Wolves 27 times (24) and with 21 games (18) ending in draws.

The teams last met at Molineux in April when former Blues loanee Richard Stearman headed a first-half own goal but Benik Afobe equalised five minutes after the break as the game ended 1-1.

In November last year at Portman Road, Daryl Murphy was on target twice as Town won 2-1.

Murphy smashed home a brilliant opening goal in the 35th minute, the visitors got on terms via a James Henry fluke on 53 but the Irishman netted the winner six minutes later to take his season's total to 10.

Blues manager McCarthy was the Wolves boss between July 2006 and February of 2012, helping them to the Championship title in 2008/09.

Town assistant boss Terry Connor fulfilled a similar role during McCarthy’s time at Molineux — having joined the club in 1999 under John Ward’s management - before briefly taking over as manager after McCarthy’s departure.

After a similarly short spell as his successor StÃ¥le Solbakken’s assistant, he left Molineux four games into the 2012/13 season, rejoining McCarthy at Town in the November.

Blues U21s coach Mark Kennedy wore the old gold from 2001 until 2006, while Town’s director of football Dave Bowman and scout Ian Evans were both at Molineux until they followed McCarthy and Connor at Portman Road. Christophe Berra played under McCarthy and Connor at Molineux.

Wolves winger Jordan Graham was on loan with the Blues from Aston Villa between November and December 2013, making two sub appearances.

Graham, 20, joined Wolves in January on an 18-month deal following a loan spell but is yet to make a senior appearance and spent time out on loan at Oxford United earlier this season.

Legendary Blues striker Ray Crawford and author Dave Ablitt will be signing copies of the new book Howda Towan Git On? both before and after the game.

Prior to the match there will be a minute’s silence in memory of former Town keeper Márton Fülöp, who died last week, and the victims of the Paris attacks.

Saturday’s referee is Gavin Ward from Surrey, who has shown 37 yellow cards and one red in 12 games so far this season.

Ward’s most recent Town match was the 3-2 pre-season friendly defeat at Colchester in which he awarded the Blues a penalty.

His last competitive Town game was the 3-1 home victory over Cardiff in April in which he booked Tyrone Mings, Cole Skuse and Christophe Berra and two visiting players. Prior to that he was in charge of the 2-0 defeat at Rotherham in February.

Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Parr, Berra, Smith, Malarczyk, Skuse, Douglas, Bru, Coke, Tabb, Maitland-Niles, Touré, Oar, Sears, Pitman, Murphy.


Photo: Action Images



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sidtheswan added 16:58 - Nov 20
That's show we can beat more than just the bottom two COYB !
1

Penguinblue added 17:05 - Nov 20
Usual drivel about the quality of the opposition. 'Carry on where we left off' - look forward to the long balls to their defenders heads from MM's favorite
-11

essextractorboy93 added 17:32 - Nov 20
Surprised Wolves haven't started better this season but they have been unlucky with injuries. Got a decent squad, always rated Le Fondre as a goalscorer.

Think we will start with the same team that beat Rotherham, can't expect much else, perhaps Maitland-Niles coming back in but I think he will stick with the Rotherham starting 11. Seems like a while since we had a home game! COYB!
2

jas0999 added 19:05 - Nov 20
Should be a good game, but with tougher fixtures looming, this needs to be three home points!
2

ArnieM added 20:01 - Nov 20
"Usual drivel about the opposition ". Wolves have a VERY potent strike force that is very quick. Right them off at your peril. Plus the sad fact that Town rarely "show up" after a 2 week international break. I'll leave you to work out the likely outcome, penguinblue
0

Keaneish added 09:16 - Nov 21
Is that true Arnie? I seem to remember us getting a really good draw away to Bournemouth after the International break last year and then only losing one in seven or eight. Think we lost 1 in 8 the season before post the November International break too.

So, thanks for the typical unfounded pessimism but i'll be backing a 2-nil win today.
2

ArnieM added 09:49 - Nov 21
I did say "rarely" show up. I can't be bothered to collate results for you. But we always seem very lack.lustre after a two week break. I hope that isn't the case today but I'm not holding my breath.
0

rinkydinkpanther added 10:06 - Nov 21
@ArmieM - Please do bother to collate results next time.
4

blueboy1981 added 10:10 - Nov 21
....... with this wind today the game could go either way and may become something of a lottery - let's hope we desert the hoofball, and play it on the ground ...... for once.
0

ArnieM added 10:40 - Nov 21
Rinkydinkpanther. What? Like every other poster on this forum does when they make a comment?? Yes, sure.
0

jpring89 added 10:42 - Nov 21
If we hoof and win i dont care as long as we win.
0

ArnieM added 10:48 - Nov 21
Saxly, i wouldn't be surprised if we did.

Sorry I cant give the stats on that comment.
0


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