Express & Star

Wolves star Conor Coady's reaction to Match of the Day praise: "I nearly fell off the couch!"

Wolves captain Conor Coady says he nearly fell off the couch when hearing Match of the Day pundits Alan Shearer and Ian Wright back him for an England call-up.

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Coady was overlooked by Gareth Southgate when he named his latest squad last week.

John Stones, Harry Maguire, Joe Gomez, Kyle Walker and James Tarkowski were called up as centre half options, while Brighton's Lewis Dunk has since been added to the squad to replace the injured Tarkowski

Southgate praised Coady when speaking to the Express & Star last season but said the ex-Liverpool man needed to be playing in the Premier League to be called up.

However the England boss last week named Derby's on-loan Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount, who's never played in the top flight, in his squad.

Wright said on Match of the Day: "Last season (Coady) played brilliant in the Championship and he didn't get a call-up because of that reason.

"Now you see Mason Mount, who got his call-up and deservedly so as well, and the Wolverhampton fans are very disappointed because they thought that Conor Coady should have got one.

Now he's continued that form into the Premier League and he's been overlooked. I share their disappointment because he's been magnificent.

Shearer added: "He's played at youth level for England, captained England, 17s, 19s, 20s, if he keeps on performing like that it won't be long before he gets a full shout from Gareth Southgate."

Coady has regularly played down his England chances but he admitted he was delighted to hear the two Premier League legends sing his praises.

Speaking on TalkSport on Tuesday morning, Coady said: "It was fantastic listening to what Alan Shearer said, a big legend like him.

"I was sat at home on the couch watching it – I've watched Match of the Day all my life so I nearly fell off the couch to be honest!

"It was brilliant but it's not something I really think of. If it ever came it'd be brilliant but I'm concentrating on hopefully playing as well as I can for Wolves."

Wolves are flying after making an impressive start to Premier League life.

They're on a six-game unbeaten run and currently sit seventh in the table, just three points behind the Champions League places.

Coady said: "It’s been difficult, believe me. It’s such a tough division but we’ve got a certain way of playing, a certain style, and it’s been one where we’ve said we’re going to stick to it.

"Up to now it’s been an ok start.

"It's been about keeping things tight. We pride ourselves on our clean sheets, I know we played some good football last year but we still kept quite a few clean sheets as well.

"It's important we keep that within our game. At the minute we've done alright, we've got a lot of improving to do but as long as we keep going this way hopefully we'll be ok.

"The quality's obviously a lot higher in terms of the speed of the play, but at the end of the day it's 11 men v 11 men.

"We're quite a fearless team, we don't know any other way of playing.

"We work on it every single day. As long as we keep on listening to the manager we should be ok.

"We work on moving the ball as quickly as possible, one and two touch, but the good thing is we play in a formation where there are always options for you.

"The boys are always showing, whether they're coming to feet or going in behind. We've got some fantastic players."

Wolves supporters are dreaming of what their team can achieve this season.

Like his boss, though, Coady isn't interesting in talking about targets other than staying in the league.

"We've not really set any targets," he added. "It's always about survival, we need to stay as a Premier League club, but we've never put targets on it.

"We've got a big thing at the club where we take it game by game. We've got a free weekend to enjoy being with our families and the next big game for us is Watford at home."