Jody Craddock signs new deal

Craddock won the fans' player of the year award last season.

Jody Craddock has signed a one-year contract extension.

The 34-year-old told Wolves’ official website: “A couple of years ago I thought I might be dropping down the leagues but I’m still at Wolves and we’re still in the Premier League.

“It’s brilliant to get the contract sorted, I couldn’t have asked for anything better for my career.”

Mick McCarthy told Wolves’ official website: “He’s one of those defenders that does exactly what it says on the tin, but above all he’s a top professional in the way he handles himself on and off the pitch.

“He will know – as we all do – that there is probably an even bigger challenge ahead in the Premier League next season.”

Jody Craddock named Wolves STH’s player of the year

Craddock has been outstanding for Wolves this season and got my vote!

Jody Craddock was named Wolves fans’ player of the year at the club’s end of season awards dinner in Telford last night.

Craddock beat off competition from Kevin Doyle, Karl Henry and Marcus Hahnemann to win the award.

Wolves’ season ticket holders voted for the award at the home game against Blackburn.

Other awards handed out were:

Academy player of the year: Nathan Rooney

Young professional of the year: Danny Batth

Fan of the year: Shaun Porter

Champagne moment: Wolves’ 3-1 win at West Ham.

Players’ player of the year: Kevin Doyle

Goal of the season: Nenad Milijas vs Bolton

*Wolves new away shirt for the 2010/11 season was also officially unveiled and you can see pictures of the new shirt here and here.

* Sportingbet.com have extended their sponsorship with Wolves by a further three years.

Wolves and Stoke City play out a snore-draw at Molineux

Wolves remain 14th after the draw

Wolves drew 0-0 with Stoke at Molineux to move six points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

In a hugely forgettable game, neither keeper was seriously tested and the game was continually disrupted due to the time it took Stoke to set up for Rory Delap’s long throws.

Delap had 27 throw-ins during the game yet he only completed 24 passes. Maybe you’re better suited to basketball mate?

Wolves defended the aerial onslaught well and can go into the final four games knowing that either Burnley or Hull will have to win two more games than Wolves

As a result, Wolves struggled to put a good passing game together and it was not ever going to be a game that attackers Matt Jarvis and Kevin Doyle could compete in due to their physical opponents of Robert Huth, Abdoulaye Faye and Danny Higginbotham.

The Potters have the joint meanest defence in the Premier League having only conceded 16 goals on their travels.

Wolves went closest when Kevin Foley’s dipping shot dropped narrowly wide from 20-yards and Stoke’s Mammady Sidibe should have converted midway through the second half.

My verdict: Boringgggggggggg. Strange game really because although Stoke’s set pieces kept halting play, once Wolves did have the ball they looked happy to keep it and play square balls instead of taking it forward.

Man of the match: Jody Craddock – the experienced defender headed everything away that came in his direction and lead the defence well to defend Stoke’s long throws.

Flop of the match: George Elokobi – not George’s best day in a Wolves shirt. His passing and overall decision making was dreadful to say the least. Mick McCarthy took exception to some Wolves fans booing the Cameroonian but I have no quarms with criticising him on here. I’d be surprised if McCarthy knows what a blog is.

Referee: Chris Foy – despite one or two 50/50 decisions that went in Stoke’s favour I think the Merseyside official had a good game.

Stoke City vs. Wolves – October 2009

In the last of this week’s look back at games involving Wolves and Stoke City we focus on the clash earlier this season at The Britt. A Jody Craddock brace rescues the game for Wolves after going into half-time 2-0 down.

What do you think will happen at Molineux on Sunday? Leave your comments below.

Jody Craddock insists morale is still high in Wolves’ squad

Craddock was loaned to Stoke City and looked set to leave Wolves last season before coming back and cementing his place in the team at Molineux.

 Wolves defender Jody Craddock has labelled Saturday’s narrow defeat to Champions League flops Arsenal as the “hardest defeat to take this season”. 

Craddock is set to make his 500th league appearance against former loan club Stoke City on Sunday but the defeat to the Gunners was a sickener for the 34-year-old. 

Craddock said: “It was bitterly disappointing – for me, it was the hardest defeat to take this season because we’d done so well. Yes, we were under the cosh and they’d had some chances, but we’d done brilliantly to hang on in there, especially with 10 men. 

“You get to 90 then almost 94 minutes and you think that should be the end of the game and we’d held them. So to lose it so late on was horrible. 

“But that’s why they are where they are and we took it on the chin and we’ll get on with it – I don’t think that will affect confidence. To have held them for so long at the Emirates shows how far we’ve come but it also shows how a game can change in a split second.” 

My verdict: It was horrible to see Wolves lost the game in that way but as Craddock points out the players have taken it on the chin and will get on with it. Let’s hope it’s the only time a late winning goal is conceded this season. 

*Sylvan Ebanks-Blake was on target for Wolves reserves in a 1-1 draw with Fulham last night. 

What do you think about Jody Craddock’s performance this season? Leave your thoughts and comments below!

Steve Froggatt praises Wolves’ achievements this season

Froggatt was bought for £1,000,000 before leaving Wolves in 1998

Former winger Steve Froggatt has tipped Wolves to stay in the Premier League and points much of the success at striker Kevin Doyle. Froggatt believes Doyle could play for any Premier League club.

Froggatt made 111 appearances for Wolves during a spell four-year-spell at Molineux and he thinks what Mick McCarthy has done for Wolves is remarkable.

Froggatt said: “When you consider the constraints McCarthy was put under it has been a brilliant achievement. Kevin Doyle was a great signing, I think he could play for any Premier League club in the country at the moment. 

“Any team that comes up from the Championship and finishes fourth from bottom has done great. He (Mick McCarthy) has got together a really good and young team. The thing for me is that they all look really strong and fit. It would be great next year to see all four West Midlands clubs in Premier League next year if West Brom can get up which looks likely.

“Doyle has been Wolves’ best player all season. Jody Craddock’s experience has played a part and he’s scored a few goals as well which is great considering he’s a centre-half. When Kightly and Jarvis are fit they’re great. Players with pace frighten defences and Jarvis in particular has come to the fore in the last few weeks. The service he has delivered he has created chances for the team.”

Another one of Wolves’ unsung heroes Karl Henry has been praised by Froggatt who thought he was Wolves’ best player against Aston Villa last weekend.

He said: “I gave Karl Henry M.O.M in the Sky studio and he is now playing his best position. When he joined the club he was playing at right back and on the wing. It was not doing himself any favours. Now he gets through a hell of a lot of work and plays a hugely important part in the team. He has led by example all season.”

Wolves need to keep up their good form at Arsenal

Wolves travel to Arsenal next weekend before facing rivals Stoke eight days later at Molineux.

Another good point and also a clean sheet at the sixth time of asking made sure that we are now up two places to 14^th and more importantly five points clear of the drop zone.

You could even say we are effectively six points clear due to our relatively good goal difference of minus 22. It’s not bad in comparison to Hull’s minus 33, Burnley’s minus 34 and Wigan’s minus 30. It really could come down to that especially if everything is to play for on the final day of the season. The bookies are also starting to fancy us to stay up as our odds have lengthened to 9s, 10s and 11s to beat the drop.

It was a great atmosphere at Molineux yesterday as Wolves fans continuously cheered our team on after recent good performances away from. You would be mistaken to think that we had beaten Everton such was the cheer that greeted Mike Jones’ final whistle.

We rode our luck at times but the determination of people like George Elokobi and Jody Craddock to get in important positions at crucial times paid dividends.

I always thought it would be hard for either team to get a good passing game together as the midfield was so crowded. Both teams opted for five men in midfield and it just ended up being a bit scrappy at times..

Looking ahead…

Following the result yesterday I feel it’s so important to carry the good form into next weekend. Arsenal will be really up for the game as they know that either Manchester United or Chelsea will drop points in their lunchtime clash. You get the feeling we may have to park the bus and attempt to catch them on the counter attack as we did at Villa Park last weekend.

I think next week will be the same as when we went to Eastlands to face Manchester City at the start of the season.

Everyone was on a high after winning at Wigan and we just wanted to see Wolves put in a good performance. As it happened, Wolves only lost 1-0 and were unlucky not to have taken anything from the game. If Wolves can put in a similar showing next week that doesn’t damage our goal difference then I will come away happy.

I’m really looking forward to going down to the Emirates, it’s now only one of three Premier League grounds I haven’t been to and it looks like a great place to both play and watch football.  Here’s to another point (or three)!

Up the Wolves!!!

Wolves hold Everton to a goalless draw at Molineux

Wolves are unbeaten in their last four league games

Wolves drew 0-0 with form team Everton to move up to the dizzy heights of 14^th position in the Premier League.

Both teams lined up with a 4-5-1 formation which meant there was little space for anyone to create anything in the midfield area.

Wanderers mustered only one shot on target all game compared to Everton’s 14 and rarely gave Tim Howard any trouble in the Everton goal.

Everton were tidy with their passing but missed good chances at a sun-soaked Molineux.

Ronald Zubar seemed to have a huge, green Fifa 10 arrow above his head as he continuously bombed down the right flank to support the impressive Kevin Foley but his crosses didn’t find their intended targets.

My verdict: A great point for Wolves and our first clean sheet since beating Spurs in February. The fact there was no Mikel Arteta for Everton helped us as his replacement didn’t cause many problems. I’m a bit gutted that I didn’t get to see him play because he’s been on fire recently.

Man of the match: Jody Craddock – great display from the veteran to keep Saha and then Yakubu in check. A vital goal line clearance in injury time made sure Wolves took a point.

Flop of the match: Christophe Berra – despite some people saying he’s a no messing defender, I think he’s terrible. He just seems to mess up needlessly and bottle it under pressure. To compound Berra’s misery, Ronald Zubar said on Soccer Saturday that he had the worst accent in the whole Wolves squad.

Referee: Mike Jones – I’m not going to waste my time writing about the catalogue of bad decisions from the official today. In one word – shambolic!

Wolves are this weekend’s big winners in the fight for Premier League survival

Wolves are set to remain unchanged for their seventh successive game tomorrow

Another set of games over and Wolves have run out the big winners. Portsmouth beating Hull was a huge result for Wanderers and I cannot express my gratitude towards Nwankwo Kanu enough.

Saturday’s draw at Villa could really be pivotal in our chances of staying up. I was so worried that Messrs Downing, Young and Milner would pick us apart but in the end both goals were unlucky. The first was clearly offside as John Carew checked back onside after the ball was played to slot it past Hahnemann and the second Carew ran in between defenders to guide it into the corner.

I’m still not convinced about the 4-5-1 we are playing (or 4-3-3 according to MM). We’re just not creating enough chances. The four goals we’ve scored in the last two games have come with a huge slice of luck and on another day they probably wouldn’t have gone in:

• Tyrone Mears’ poor back pass
• Clarke Carlisle’s own goal
• Ronald Zubar miss hitting his own shot into Jody Craddock’s path
• James Milner’s own goal

Although we played well we have been very lucky and aside from the two goals on Saturday we didn’t force Brad Friedel into a meaningful save.

But hey, we’ve been on the wrong end of some terrible luck ourselves along with some baffling refereeing decisions this season so anything lucky or fortunate that comes our way I’ll take.

Tomorrow’s game at West Ham is a difficult one to call. I’m thinking…Upton Park, intimidating place to go, fans right on top of you etc. On the other hand, you think well West Ham have to be on the fringes of the relegation zone for some reason.

Omens aren’t on our side as far as broadcasting is concerned. We have featured ten times on Sky Sports, ESPN or ITV this season and we have only won a single game (2-0 vs. Burnley) – lets hope we can add to that because at the moment my mates are laughing at me!

It’s crazy to think that West Ham came to Molineux on the opening day of the season and convincingly beat us 2-0. I thought they would be a decent team this season.

I think coming away with a point would be a great result and it would stretch the gap between us and the chasing pack. I think we can write off Burnley, their team is dreadful and doesn’t seem to have either the quality or strength to compete at this level.

Here’s the relegation table:

Team – Games Played – Goal Difference – Points

Wigan 31 (-30) 31

Wolves 30 (-24) 28

West Ham 30 (14) 27

————————–

Hull 31 (-33) 24

Burnley 30 (-35) 24 (They will be relegated)

Portsmouth 30  (-25) 13*  (They will be relegated)

*Pompey were eventually deducted nine points after going for broke and seeing it backfire spectacularly, (administration).

For me it’s going to be one team from three. I think Wigan (as much as I despise them) have got enough to stay up. I’ll reserve judgement one the Hammers until after tomorrow’s game. I’ve probably only seen them twice this season so I’m not sure what they’ve got in their locker.

What do you Wolves’ chances are now? Post your comments below.

Come on the boys!!

Villa 2-2 Wolves

The game was the 100th meeting between the two sides.

After coming from behind, Wolves let a goal lead slip to draw with Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Wolves remained unchanged for the sixth successive game and Chris Iwelumo came back into the squad following the completion of his loan spell at Bristol City.

An early offside goal from John Carew put Villa ahead before goals from Jody Craddock and James Milner meant Wolves went in at half time 2-1 ahead. Wolves parked the bus second half and after huge Villa pressure, Wanderers finally buckled ten minutes from time as Carew added a second.

Mick McCarthy said after the game:

“My heart rate is still pounding but I’m pleased – but also disappointed. Once we settled down we gave an excellent account of ourselves. I thought we were terrific. I’m disappointed with the goals but there are more positives. It feels like we’ve had a couple of points snatched away but it was our own downfall.”

Man of the match: David Jones – one of his best games in a Wolves shirt. He wasn’t afraid to get in amongst it and didn’t let Petrov have too much space in the centre of midfield. Distributed the ball well to Foley and Jarvis.

Flop of the match: Carlos Cuellar – turned inside out by Jarvis and Doyle and was partly at fault for both goals after being exposed.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg – bit of a mixed bag from the Geordie. Doyle seemed to get pushed and pulled all voer the place by Villa’s central defensive pairing of Dunne and Collins and was given nothing. It was more the linesman that cost Wolves today as John Carew was offside for Villa’s first goal.

My Verdict: Great point for the boys. Despite being ahead for 45 minutes, after Villa scored their first it looked as though it could be a mauling. Cracking comeback and we would have all taken a point before kick-off. Thoughts now turn to Tuesday’s crunch match with West Ham at Upton Park.