Debutant Hahnemann earns Mick's praise

Nov 30 2009 By Andy Walker

BOSS Mick McCarthy was pleased with Marcus Hahnemann’s league debut for Wolves.

The American goalkeeper replaced Wayne Hennessey between the sticks after the young Welshman shipped ten goals in his previous three games.

Despite watching Lee Bowyer’s well-taken effort float into his net in the third minute, the summer signing didn’t put a foot wrong. McCarthy later praised Hahnemann and explained his thinking behind dropping Hennessey.

“I thought Marcus played really well and couldn’t have done anything about the goal,” he said.

“We needed a bit of experience on the pitch.

“Wayne had just had a couple of tough games and I’ve got no problem with Marcus’ performance at all.”

While the hammerings to Arsenal and Chelsea cost Hennessey his place in the side, McCarthy doesn’t believe the series of heavy defeats were the reason behind Wolves’ disappointing display against Blues.

“We can’t lay it at the door of being beaten by Chelsea even though we were well beaten.

“We were at home, against Birmingham, we needed a performance and we didn’t get it.

“You can’t inject confidence into people anyway, there’s no medication for it. If you don’t start a game well and don’t compete then there’s no foundation on which to build.

“I don’t think it was relatively easy for them (Blues) in the second half – at least there was some competition there for them. I’ve said Birmingham deserved their win.

“Losing 1-0 at home to Birmingham is always going to give me discomfort whether we’ve been brilliant or otherwise.”