Paul Lambert: I want a squad of 23 at Wolves - there's more players here than in Ben Hur!
Paul Lambert says he needs an abacus to count his Wolves squad – and believes 23 is the ideal number.
The Wolves boss is preparing to trim his squad in January, with several departures expected after 13 were brought in last summer.
When all are fit – and not counting James Henry who is due to return from Bolton next month – Wolves' first-team squad numbers 30 players.
With Lambert looking to bring players in – particularly up front – it means January could be a busy transfer window.
"There's more people than in Ben Hur!" Lambert said of his squad. "And there were thousands in that movie.
"You need an abacus to count how many we've got. It's something we have to look at. We need to trim the squad, there's no two ways about it.
"You can't have that many when you train – one, you lose fitness with everybody else and two, there's just too many.
"It's still high even with the injured lads.
"I'd say 23 would be an optimum number."
Injury victims Prince Oniangue, Lee Evans and Joe Mason are nearing a first-team return, while Mike Williamson could make a comeback in January as he looks to put his injury woes behind him.
Longer-term absentees Jordan Graham and Michal Zyro are then due to be available later in the campaign.
Is Lambert therefore no closer to knowing his best XI?
"There are still one or two in the treatment room who I'd like to see," he added. "They have to give me a problem to get in the side.
"The attitude of every one of them has been brilliant. The ones who haven't been playing have been excellent. But I expect that – I don't expect anybody to go around the place sulking. We don't have time for that.
"There are too many players and we need to cut down, but their training attitude has been first class.
"I've got it in my head where we need to be stronger.
"We'll have meetings in the coming weeks – there are a few positions we're looking at."
