Wolverhampton Wanderers kick off pre-season in Bray
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Wolverhampton Wanderers begin their pre-season tour of Ireland with a friendly fixture against Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds on Saturday, kick off 3pm.
Despite playing Shamrock Rovers in the Airtricity League less than 24 hours before hand, Pat Devlin’s side will provide the recently relegated Wolves side a stern test in their first game of a busy pre-season schedule.
The Championship side have spent the past five days in Carton House as they step up their preparations for the new campaign. New Boss Stale Solbakken has expressed his desire to create a new Wolves identity and he has used this week’s training camp in Ireland to put across more of his tactical ideas to his players.
The players have had two sessions a day during their stay at the County Kildare venue which has also hosted the likes of Real Madrid and the Brazilian national team. Early morning gym and fitness sessions along with yoga have started to prepare the Wolves squad physically for the demands of a Premier League promotion bid while the afternoons have been devoted to tactics and individual sessions as Solbakken familiarises himself with his new players.
The 26 man travelling party doesn’t include the Irish trio of Stephen Ward, Kevin Doyle and Stephen Hunt as they have been given extra time off following their involvement in Euro 2012, however there is still plenty of Irish interest in the squad.
Kevin Foley, who was excluded from Giovanni Trapattoni’s selection at the last minute is likely to start at the Carlisle Grounds and the right-back admitted he is ready to put a frustrating season behind him.
“I’m feeling good again now and a lot better than this time last year.
“I’m feeling good this season and hopefully am ready to start on the front foot this time," he said.
“I think every pre-season you want to come back and impress the manager and it’s even more important when it’s a new manager. I’m definitely looking forward to the season.
We’ve got a new manager and new ideas and I think everyone is excited by the prospect of playing. It is a different league with different expectations to what we’ve been used to in the last three years and we have to take that on board.” Foley added.
“The most important thing is not to take the Championship for granted.” The right back concluded.
Stale Solbakken is likely to fully utilise his squad on Saturday as he looks to give all his players minutes on the pitch. Former Bohemians defender Matt Doherty, Republic of Ireland under-19 international Anthony Forde and 20-year-old goalkeeper Aaron McCarey will all be hoping to impress the new manager at the Carlisle Grounds.
As for Bray, they will no doubt make wholesale changes to the side that took on Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght. Pat Devlin used Tuesday evening’s friendly with Scunthorpe to give some of his younger and new players the chance to shine and is likely to do the same on Saturday.
Two players who should be involved are Paul Moffatt and Ryan Dooney, who both signed for the Seagulls during the week. Ger Pender suffered a serious shin injury in that defeat to Scunthorpe and Devlin won’t want to risk any of his key players with an important few weeks of domestic action coming up.
Wolves kick of their Npower Championship campaign on 18th August with a trip to Elland Road to take on Leeds United.
Bray Wanderers v Wolves kicks off at 3pm on Saturday and you will be able to follow live updates from the Carlisle Grounds on extratime.ie
Wolves squad: De Vries, Ikeme, McCarey, Foley, Zubar, Stearman, Elokobi, Johnson, Berra, Batth, Reckord, Doherty, Henry, O’Hara, Edwards, Jonsson, Davis, Milijaš, Jarvis, Hammill, Forde, Nouble, Sigurdarson, Ebanks-Blake, Fletcher, Vokes.
