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Glad Tidings: Wolves 2 – 1 Stoke

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Yes!

Wolves secure their first opening day win in 12 years, and with sufficient style to bode well for the future. David Jones picked up where he left off at the end of last season, with some intelligent, creative play, a few chances and a brilliant volleyed freekick. Fletcher, also, in particular looked like a fine acquisition, even nicking a goal from a few inches out on his debut.

Van Damme, playing on the wing, looked more comfortable than many a foreign import on their Premiership debut. Ward continued to confound my ingrained negative expectations by producing a solid performace at the back and some good moments going forward.

Stoke new boy, Kenwyne Jones, looked sharp until picking up an injury from a hard but fine tackle from Craddock. That seemed to be the end for Stoke for the first half, but amidst the celebrations, that first quarter of an hour in which Stoke were able to threated and Jones managed comfortable outpace and out muscle the usually sturdy Berra to get a shot rebounding off the crossbar should strike a note of caution for the future.

Stoke picked up in the second half, denying Wolves the luxury of one of those rare comfortable finishes. A win, however, is a win, and sees Wolves in the top four!

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Mascotspotting: Stoke City – Pottermus & Pottermiss

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

In the first of my soon-to-be-regular profiles of the inferior mascots of our opponents, let me introduce Stoke City’s Odd Couple.
What lovely eyelashes you have, Pottermus

Names: Pottermus and Pottermiss

DoB: Him: 1997, Her: 2002

Pun Value: 8.5

Charm: 5

Machismo: 2

Weirdness factor: 6 (yeah, they’re weird, but I sense there are further depths to plumb)

Overall mascotspotter rating: 5.5

Trivia: Both Pottermus and Pottermiss are available for hire for £60 for forty-five minutes (see Stoke City website to secure this once in a lifetime offer).  It is unclear exactly what services they can provide, however this clip of the pair in action may offer a clue:

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Stoke Preview: Haven’t they done well…

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
Celebrating Craddock's brace for a 2-2 comeback at the Britannia

Celebrating Craddock's brace for a 2-2 comeback at the Britannia

With Wolves set to go head-to-head at Molineux with Midlands rivals Stoke City on Sunday, and little else to occupy my cotton wool-filled mind, it’s worth taking a little look at our opponents.

This season Wolves have already exceeded my expectations and I hope we’ll secure the points needed to ensure survival very soon, and go on to consolidate next year. Much in the vein of Stoke, in fact, who have certainly been one of the most quietly impressive Premier League success stories of the past two years. Like them or loathe them, it’s hard to disagree that they have done jolly well (WorldWideWolfie hands out patronising virtual pats on the head to the Stoke team at this point).

Stoke finished in a good 12th place in their first Premier League season, and currently look set to improve on that, sitting as they are in 10th. They may have picked up an ugly reputation in their first season for unattractive long ball/long throw thumping, and for kicking chunks out of the opposition, but Stoke are very much on the up – although how much further they, or any club in a similar position, can progress without massive investment is a question the Premier League has still to answer.

I believe that Wolves will show themselves to be the better team on Sunday, however, in terms both of motivation and finesse and, with the home advantage (or perhaps more accurately without Stoke having the home advantage), have enough to nick the win. Stoke sit higher in the table, but Wolves have shown steady improvement, not least in confidence, throughout the season and have played and especially defended with greater conviction since Christmas.

Stoke will be visiting on the back of two victories (against bottom four teams) but Wolves will want to maintain the momentum of recent fine performances and heal a little the wounds of last week’s last minute shocker.

Mick McCarthy’s biggest selection question off the back of a run where he has managed to pick a very stable line up will be who to replace the suspended Karl Henry. I’d favour giving Milijas another go as the only change, to see if he can impress, but expect to see Guedioura, who should should produce a battling performace in the Henry mould, but with an added attacking threat.

Interestingly there is some suggestion that Tony Pulis may decide to rest top scorer Ricardo Fuller, who is sitting on nine yellow cards ahead of this weekend’s amnesty, to avoid risking a suspension.

A close call, but I’ll predict 2-1 Wolves.

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Fair Point: Stoke 2-2 Wolves

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

It’s beginning to look like the Hoddle days – all these draws.  Of course nothing could be further from the truth, because Hoddle was bumbling around with an over-priced, over-paid team in the Championship, and McCarthy has assembled a lean Premiership outfit, albeit one still nervously close to the drop zone, with far less resources that the majority of teams in the League.

A draw away against Stoke is a decent outcome for the team after going 2-0 down in a poor first half, although frustratingly a result that, like the last two games, could easily have been three points to the Wolves.

It was irritating to see an otherwise fine Christophe Berra with his arms wrapped around the opposition in the penalty area again – he’s going to give away more penalties if he carries on; but fantastic to see Milijas coming on at half time and having the impact that we’ve all been hoping, and even more fantastic to see Jody Craddock getting a couple of goals.  Craddock has been a fantastic professional for Wolves for many years now so I would never be surprised to see him giving his all, but I am both surprised and delighted to see him playing so darn well at this level.  Following on from two games playing full tilt with several stitches in his head, this man is rapidly becoming a Wolves legend.  I keep fearing he’s going to be found out in this league, but he hasn’t been so from now on I remain silent on the matter.

And the final word goes to Mick McCarthy, always great value in interviews, who professed himself not bothered how far offside Craddock’s first goal was: “We’ve had a few go against us this season and I’ve accepted them with good grace; it’s about time someone else had to.” And so say all of us.

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Wolves vs. Stoke (2-0)

Saturday, September 23rd, 2006

See that! Two goals! In one game!  Despite a shaky start (the ball barely left the Wolves half for the first quarter of an hour), well-taken goals from Leon Clarke and Seyi Olofinjana, and a host of chances in the final minutes meant that Wolves were well worth the win.  A late sending off for Stoke was followed by a fairly substantial collapse, and it is hard to see what threat Davies saw from his opponents when he decided to keep the ball in the corner in injury time.  A promising if patchy performance leaves me wondering if Wolves quite have enough to it keep winning enough this season, but Mick doesn’t seem to have got too much wrong so far.

This was my first game of the season, I had a great time in the front of the Steve Bull stand.  And thanks to the fat Stoke fan who refused to wave back at me. So hurtful.

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