All change at Wolves

Its all a bit of a whirlwind at Wolves at the moment with changes galore and games coming along thick and fast at the start of the season. The big money sales that have been on the cards all summer have finally happened, a couple more new faces have arrived to add to the multi national squad that is now being put together, and while all that is going on there is another game at Molineux to look forward to on Saturday.

I think most Wolves fans accepted some time ago that the shortfall in income that comes along with relegation would be largely made good by the sales of Steven Fletcher and Matt Jarvis. Sad but inevitable to see them go and the only compensation is that injury has prevented Wayne Hennessey and Jamie O’Hara joining them at the exit door. The sale of Fletcher to Sunderland could evidently eventually bring in £14m and the Jarvis sale to West Ham will also add up in the end to over £10m. Sales of that value are unheard of from teams outside the top flight and I suspect they are largely book balancing sales rather than a war chest for Solbakken to hit the summer sales with.

Not that Wolves are failing to use the market to bring new players in. The signings of Malian Tongo Doumbia, Icelender Bjorn Sigurdarsen and Pole Slawomir Pezko, have now been added to with Austrian Georg Margreitter and Swede Tim Jacobssen. Margreitter is a 23 year old centre back who has represented his country at U18, U19 and U21 level and comes from Austria Vienna with 87 league games under his belt. Jacobssen is a 17 year old winger from Frej, a small team in Northern Sweden that attract crowds of around 400. Big step up for him so he will be one for the future.

There could be plenty more comings and goings yet before the transfer window closes. Hunt, Hamill, Milijas and Jonsson are all looking for new clubs while Batth is set to be loaned out again. Berra is also transfer listed but did regain his first team place on Tuesday so maybe there is a future for him yet. Meanwhile although the majority of the transfer income will be used to keep the bank manager happy there will surely be some invested in team stregthening with midfield the area suddenly looking sparse.

For Saturday’s game with Derby at Molineux it looks like Henry will be missing with a hamstring problem and added to Jarvis’s departure that means two gaps to fill in midfield from Tuesday’s team. David Davis is the logical replacement for Henry and it may be that David Edwards will be in for Jarvis with a different formation with a narrower midfield the likely solution. Alternatively there could be a start for Sigurdarsen in a 4-3-3 line up.

Wolves have a good record against the Rams in recent years with only one defeat since 1995 in a period that has seen 7 Wolves wins and 5 draws and Wolves notching 28 goals in those 12 games. Derby have lost at Bolton and drawn at home to Sheffield Wednesday in their opening games, and drew 5-5 after extra time against Scunthorpe in the league cup before going out on penalties. So thats 9 conceded in three games to show why they sit in the bottom three early on. And that dodgy defence might tempt Solbakken to test them out with an attacking formation.

Its not an ideal start behind the scenes for Solbakken with so many players coming and going and some inevitable feelings of discontent as there always are at times of change. So it would be a major achievement if another lively performance can be produced to follow on from the win in the week over Barnsley. A win of any sort would be more than welcome and set a good platform for when the men of the new era have settled in to life in Wolverhampton.

Category: Team News