The Bullys - MyWolvesBlog silly awards

It's been a funny season hasn't it, a memorable one with some very funny moments. Here are some I remember..


Silliest moment

I really wish I could find a picture of it, but this happened early in the season away at Chelsea. Christophe Berra had been fouled, and as he was lying on the floor not knowing a freekick had been given he was trying toget the ball out of play with his head. Had me in bits!

Act of braveness that was really stupidity

Here is one picture of Berra I have found. No wonder he never scores when he does ridiculous things like this! A cross comes in for the right and instead of tapping in from a yard he decides to go for a diving header. He connects... with the goalpost.

Best opposition fail

This came on the opening day, in our victory over Stoke. Holding onto a two one lead, Rory Delap stepped up to take a throw in in probably their last attack.His throw ins are nearly always a threat but not this time. Rory look in disappointment as it slipped as his hand to give away a foul throw.

Best slip

Richard Stearman hadn't been on the pitch long when he broke away from two challenges against West Brom. We got on our feet, he had the legs to make something of this opportunity. Unfortunately his legs decided not as he tripped over himself, cue laughter.

Grooviest dance

Forget Gyan's celebration, I think everyone should try the Mick!

Best Mick QuoteS

It wouldn't be right if there wasn't a classic Mick quote somewhere. In fact, let's have a few.

"The sending off last year was disgraceful – I didn’t think it was a particularly bad foul on Lucas,” said McCarthy. “Pepe Reina ran 70-odd yards to get involved and get him sent off but he was going anyway so it wasn’t needed. “If he recognised Wardy’s face bearing down on him and sticking the ball past him for the winner then I’m delighted.”

"I'm surprised because I told them to go out and knock seven bells out of them like I usually do, and they've actually played free flowing football" - Mick McCarthy following Wolves' draw with West Ham, mocking the allegations that he informs his players to foul the opposition. 

"It's Wayne Rooney in the news this week, is it? Blimey, we've not tackled him have we?"

"What is the wing-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" 

And on Sunday, after being sprayed by George Elokobi: "If it was anyone else I'd do them....my body double."

Think I've missed out some funny moments, comment below with yours!

Lucky Wolves

I haven't said that often this season.

The 18 minutes that we were in the relegation yesterday seemed like an eternity as I was sat praying in the car on the way back from my brother's cup final. Typical, both four o'clock kick offs. I had BBC live Football updates on my phone, refreshing the page every minute even though it automatically updates itself.

I wasn't even sure if I wanted to watch Football First at half eight, because I'd heard how rubbish we were in the first half and how Blackburn just sat back in the second half.

But you know what, I didn't even think we were that bad. We had dominated in periods, looked quite comfortable and then conceded two quite unlucky goals. Sure, we could have defended a bit better but both goals were deflected as far as I could see. Jason Roberts will not score a jammier goal and I'm convinced Hennessey would have saved Emerton's volley had it not skimmed off Elokobi on it's way. Hoillet's goal was very poorly defended all over the place. We shouldn't take too much away from him though, it was a goal of real quality.

In true Wolves style, we battled back. We were allowed to press forward, but Blackburn have a decent set of defenders and a top class goalkeeper. Our two goals were both brilliant.A repeat of the free kick v West brom worked it's magic again, with O'Hara finishing well. Hunt's goal, typically at the right place at the right time, was a goal of the season contender. The first touch was perfect, the finish even more so.

There was no doubting who our standout performers were in the game. Jamie O'Hara has slowly improved after a dip in form, and is looking more comfortable in a four man midfield. We simply have to sign him, because he is the type of player we need to progress up the league. The other player, my man of the match, was a more unsung hero. Stephen Ward shows great backbone every time he plays because he is under the most pressure of them all. He's barracked so often, yet recently has played a huge part in keeping us up.

Hennessey - 7

Foley - 7
Craddock - 6
Mancienne - 7
Elokobi - 6

Jarvis - 6
Henry - 6
O'Hara - 8
Hunt - 7

Fletcher - 7
Ward - 8

We can have some time to celebrate for now, but I'm not sure my heart can take another day or even season like that. We really need to push on now, we've got ourselves in a great position to do it.

Well done Wolves.

It all comes down to this

 

Here we are, ready for the final day of the season. Is it just me that is really, really nervous? Maybe it's that I won't be able to watch the game, and like last week will have a radio in my ear listening for results.

We go into the game against Blackburn in probably the most favourable position as we are the only team in the relegation scrap with a home game. This is however Wolves we are talking about, we don't always do it the easy way.

They key could be getting the first goal, not just in our game but the first of the day. We've been pretty good at that recently, scoring first in four of the last five games. In the last two, we've gone on to score three.

You'd expect to see the same line up bar one. I can see Matthew Jarvis returning to the side instead of Adlene Guedioura. Being dropped seems to have given Matty a good kick up the arse, as he helped turned the game around against Sunderland. I could have seen Kevin Doyle starting, but it looks like he injured his knee at the end of the game at the Stadium of Light and could miss out tomorrow.

Defending and attacking set pieces is going to be huge aswell We know the threat that Blackburn offer. Samba, Jones, Givet, N'Zonzi and Roberts are big players that can nick a goal from a corner or free kick. We've been pretty decent at set pieces too recently, and in Stephen Hunt we have one of the best corner takers in the league.

Player of the year Jarvis should start

Here's what Mick will probably go with:

Hennessey

Foley
Craddock
Mancienne
Elokobi

Jarvis
Henry
O'Hara
Hunt

Fletcher
Ward

Fletcher and Ward have put together a pretty good partnership, and they'll have to be at their best against Samba and Jones. As good as Fletcher is in the air, it won't be much use booting it up to them so we will need to work our way round them. They aren't particularly quick at the back, so an outlet like Jarvis will be a huge problem for them.

I do think it's going to be a tight game, but I see us edging it and that would mean not having to worry about other results. 2-1 Wolves for me.

If you are going to Molineux, have a great time and get behind the lads. Come on you Wolves.

Prediction League: Chance to win a signed Wolves football

Here we are, the last week to predict!

Wolfie holds a big lead at the top, surely Bob China can not catch him now?

Here are the fixtures:

Aston Villa v Liverpool
Bolton v Man City
Everton v Chelsea
Fulham v Arsenal
Man Utd v Blackpool
Newcastle v West Brom
Stoke v Wigan
Tottenham v Birmingham
West Ham v Sunderland
Wolves v Blackburn

Good luck

At the double: Sunderland 1 Wolves 3

Another three one win, two wins on the trot and our first double of the season. It can hardly have gone much better can it?

And yet, I still have that nervous feeling that I have had for the last two weeks that we will still manage to mess this up. With Blackpool winning, we still look over our shoulder worryingly. A win for them at Old Trafford next week is not possible, right?

We did well not to cave in when Sunderland equalised, plenty of other teams might have fallen apart at this point but once again we fought back. That battling spirit and a three bits of quality saw us through. We did get some bits of luck, as we could have been a couple of goals down by half time. Zenden struck the bar early on, and Hennessey made some good saves.

Nothing pleased me more than Jarvis' run and hanging cross for Fletcher to nod in either, he was excellent when he came on. Fletcher is on fire now, and I'm licking my lips at a partnership of him and Doyle next week.

Jamie O'Hara looks like he is returning to what we saw when he first joined us. He was unlucky not to score and his ball in for Elokobi's goal was perfect. If we can stay up and sign him, with a full pre-season he could be an even bigger player for us than he already is.

To think we were down and out only two weeks ago, and now we are so close to another year of Premier League football.

Sunderland v Wolves preview

If results go well this weekend, it could possibly end up with Wolves not having to worry going into the final game at home to Blackburn.

But when have Wolves ever done it the easy way?

This is an ideal time to be playing Sunderland. Ravaged with injuries, no centre forward and in very poor form. They secured safety last week, much like West Brom which could work in our favour. A get-in-your-face attitude, pressing high and flying into tackles could help us on our way to three precious points.

For that kind of performance, Stephen Hunt is vital. His set piece delivery in this game could be the difference in what will quite likely be a scrappy game. He finally looks rid of injury and looks like he is actually fit. His touch has improved a great deal too.

I can't see Mick messing with the team, if there are no injuries.

Hennessey

Wolves celebrate SEB's late winner v. Sunderland

Foley
Craddock
Mancienne
Elokobi

Guedioura
Henry
O'Hara
Hunt

Ward
Fletcher

This team proved you don't have to have loads of pace to win a game convincingly. They might not fancy this type of game, especially with all the injuries surrounding them so I'm going for a 2-1 Wolves win. That would be two on the trot for the first time this season.

If you are going, get behind the lads and have a great time.

Pinch me: Wolves 3 West Brom 1

We've had some great results this season against some great teams but I think this one tops them all.

A rare derby win, three goals and most important of all it lifts us out of the bottom three with just two games remaining.

I have to admit, when the teams were announced I wasn't confident in the slightest. I feared we were going to be overrun in midfield and that we had no outlet out wide. How silly of me!

You've got to hand it to Mick and the players. They wanted it more and the work rate was unbelievable.

The standout players were the three Stephens for me. Ward, Fletcher and Hunt were all fantastic. Ward isn't exactly flavour of the month amongst most fans but I don't think many can argue that this was possibly his finest performance in an old gold shirt. Him and Fletcher led the line and defended from the front. Mr.Fletcher could be keeping us up with his goals, that's ten in the league this season. No Wolves player has ever achieved that in the Premier League. He won almost everything in the air today. His header back across goal for the second goal was fantastic, he's really looking worth every penny of the six and a half million pounds we paid for him.

And finally, Stephen Hunt. Have you ever seen a more determined performance? He doesn't ever pull out, and he finally looks like he is over his injury problems. When he first came into the team, he looked sluggish and his touch had deserted him. Now he is a breath of fresh air. Not forgetting his crossing ability. His corners for the goals were both perfect.

Hennessey - 8

Foley - 8
Mancienne - 7
Craddock - 7
Elokobi - 6

Guedioura - 7
Henry - 7
O'Hara - 7
Hunt - 9

Fletcher - 9
Ward - 8

As was the case this week, we face another team who are now safe from relegation. Sunderland with all their injuries will now be looking forward to the end of the season. Could we get some precious away points?

Another opportunity arises - Wolves v West Brom preview

With the four teams around us drawing, Wolves are left with yet another chance to climb out of the bottom three.

West Brom (excuse my language) come to Molineux safe for another year in the Premier League. Undoubtedly, their fans will be relishing the idea of condemning us to Championship football. We live in hope that the Albion players have taken their foot off the gas, planning their summer holidays.

Can we overcome Roy Hodgson's men, one of the in form teams in the league? They say form goes out of the window for derby games, let's all hope so!

It gets harder every week to predict how we will line up. What formation we will go with? I have a sneaky feeling Mick might go with a five man midfield. We don't want to get outnumbered and lose the midfield battle. He talked about a lack of guile, while he kept Nenad Milijas on the bench. I can see him being recalled however, next to Karl Henry and Jamie O'Hara. The latter needs to up his performances, would anyone really be surprised if he was dropped?

What I see us going with:

Hennessey

Foley
Craddock
Mancienne
Elokobi

Jarvis
O'Hara
Henry
Milijas
Hunt

Fletcher

If we keep the ball well, give Steven Fletcher some decent service and we can win this game.

Can we get a result? I'm not too confident. I'm going for another score draw. 1-1

Prediction Leaue: Chance to win a signed Wolves football

After a long absence, the prediction league is back!

Funnily enough, no one predicted that Phil Neville would score against Wolves either...

Wolfie still tops the table, by 35 points.

It's really easy to join in, just copy the list of fixtures and put your scores and scorers.

Fixtures:

Aston Villa v Wigan
Bolton v Sunderland
Everton v Man City
Newcastle v Birmingham
West Ham v Blackburn
Tottenham v Blackpool
WOLVES v West Brom
Stoke v Arsenal
Man Utd v Chelsea
Fulham v Liverpool

Good luck!