Ronald muscles in as Wolves raise the bar

One game down, one victory secured, one bad injury - and we're still no clearer knowing which team Mick McCarthy will send out on Saturday August 15.

I think there are five certainties for McCarthy's line-up against West Ham - Kevin Foley, George Elokobi, Michael Kightly, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Kevin Doyle.

And I expect the other six shirts to go to Karl Henry, Christophe Berra, Wayne Hennessey, Ronald Zubar, Nenad Milijas and Andrew Surman - with Surnam providing a more solid base on the left of midfield than an unfortunate Matt Jarvis.

So much could happen of course between now and Premier League D-day, but the comments coming out of Australia suggest Zubar will literally muscle his way into the heart of Wolves' defence.

Maybe we'll get Michael Mancienne on a season-long loan, which might alter things, but I'm sure McCarthy rates Berra highly, and he's quickly gone into print in praise of Zubar.

Of course I've watched the edited Youtube "highlights" of Zubar's career in France, and wondered what Wolves were buying, but not many, if any, players reach Champions League level without being a strong athlete.

And McCarthy's decision to buy the Marseille man was obviously not based around six minutes in cyberspace.

If McCarthy does get Mancienne, and that would be massively well-received by Wolves fans, there will be a huge log jam of centre halves at Molineux - with Bobo Balde also on trial for the next fortnight.

Jason Shackell and Darren Ward clearly have no futures at Molineux, but where does that leave Neill Collins? Following a similar path to Rob Edwards?

And it almost certainly leaves Jody Craddock - such a massive influence during the Championship title run-in - and Richard Stearman waiting for injuries or loss of form before they taste life in the Premier League.

Today's opening win against Perth Glory ultimately means nothing, and the injury to Chris Iwelumo is a cruel blow to a player who'd fought back to fitness after Lee Carsley's horror tackle.

But this Wolves squad is in a massively better position to tackle English football's elite than the Wolves squad training at RAF Cosford ahead of their doomed Premier campaign in the summer of 2003.