Wolves: Jody Craddock's plea for confidence
STALWART Jody Craddock has told his Wolves team-mates they must have the confidence they can take points from every Premier League match next season.
The veteran defender was reacting to the publication of the fixture list which handed the Old Gold a home match with Stoke on the opening day of the campaign.
But it also presented them with the unenviable task of playing Chelsea, Man City, Man United and Arsenal in the space of three weeks, a prospect that might seem daunting to a club of Wanderers’ ambitions.
But Craddock insists Mick McCarthy’s men have nothing to fear from playing Champions League contenders and that they proved as much last term.
“The games with the bigger teams in October and November should not be written off,” he insisted.
“We showed last season that even though we sometimes didn’t get the right results we could do well against these teams.
“It’s about being confident in the matches and turning those performances into picking up points.
“They are games when people think we’ve got nothing to lose but in reality we have because there are points at stake.
“But when you are written off it can be used to your advantage.
“We will just work as hard as we can and hopefully come away with something even from the top teams in the division.”
Wolves can go into other parts of their season with even more conviction. Especially when they face the trio of local rivals that also inhabit the top flight.
It is the first time since 1984 that the region’s four biggest clubs have all played together at the highest level and facing West Brom, Villa and Blues is something Craddock is looking forward to.
“It’s going to be very exciting,” he said. “It’s a credit to all of the Midlands teams that we’re in the division together. It certainly makes things very interesting with so many derby games during the season.”
