Just how good were/was/is/are (Wolves Edition)

[Johnny75]

Looked alright at LCB, including a brief period where we played 3 at the back too I think?
M

Have you become Bond's boss during lockdown?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Have you become Bond's boss during lockdown?

:icon_lol:

McGhee seemed desperate to get rid of him but as everyone else was injured he did indeed play at LCB for a lot of 96/97. Was very good.

 

[Tredman]

Have you become Bond's boss during lockdown?

Ha, I wish.

 

[AndyWolves]

Really liked Veno, especially that free kick against Coventry. Plus an actual good goal from Darren Ferguson

https://youtu.be/zS4XIS8Z88k

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

4. Wayne Hennessey

Wayne Robert Hennessey (born 24 January 1987) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Crystal Palace and the Wales national team.

Hennessey's first professional games saw him set a new League Two record for consecutive clean sheets while on loan at Stockport County. He played 166 times for Wolverhampton Wanderers over eight seasons, including three years at Premier League level. After several injury setbacks, he moved to join Crystal Palace in 2014.

A full international since 2007, Hennessey has earned more than 80 caps for Wales.

Hennessey was recalled by Wolves in April 2007 after another injury to first-choice Matt Murray and found himself on the substitutes bench for several games. When Murray broke his shoulder on the eve of Wolves' Championship play-off semi-final first leg against local rivals West Bromwich Albion, Hennessey stepped in to make his Wolves debut.

With Murray sidelined for the whole of the 2007–08 season with yet another injury, Hennessey became firmly established at the club's number one, being an ever-present in the league and signing a new extended contract. At the end of the season he was named in the 2007–08 PFA Championship Team of the Year as well as being named Wolves' Player of the Season. FourFourTwo magazine ranked him 22nd in their Top 50 Football League Players list.

The 2008–09 season saw a strong start for Hennessey and Wolves with eight victories out of the first nine league games. This fine run ended against promotion rivals Reading with a 0–3 loss begun by an own goal from Hennessey. Soon after manager Mick McCarthy dropped him to the bench, citing mental fatigue as the reason. Reserve keeper Carl Ikeme deputised and impressed enough to leave Hennessey on the sidelines until an injury ruled him out for the majority of the season. Hennessey then regained and kept his place in goal for the remainder of the season which culminated with promotion to the Premier League as champions after a five-year absence.

Hennessey began the club's 2009–10 Premier League campaign as first choice goalkeeper, making his 100th senior appearance for the club in a 2–2 draw at Stoke City in October 2009. However, after conceding four goals in two successive games, he was replaced by the more experienced Marcus Hahnemann and remained on the bench for the rest of the season as the club finished 15th.

In July 2010, Hennessey extended his contract with Wolves to run until the summer of 2015. The following season began with Hahnemann retaining the number one spot until his own loss of form saw Hennessey return to the starting line-up in November 2010. He then held on to the spot for the remainder of the campaign as the club narrowly avoided relegation on the final day.

During the 2011–12 season, Hennessey was part of the Wolves defence that went a club record of 30 consecutive league games without a clean sheet. They finally ended this with a goalless draw at Sunderland in April 2012, but by then the team was rooted to the bottom of the table. Despite the game halting this run, it brought bad news for Hennessey as he suffered a torn cruciate knee ligament during it that was due to keep him sidelined until Autumn 2012. After completing several reserve games during his comeback he re-injured the knee during training in November 2012 which kept him out of action for the remainder of the 2012–13 season.

He made his return to the Wolves goal during pre-season ahead of their 2013–14 campaign – with the club now in League One having suffered two relegations since Hennessey's initial injury – but he was not selected to start the club's opening fixtures. On 12 August 2013 it was agreed for the goalkeeper to spend a month on loan at Yeovil Town as he recovers from his long-term injury problems. However, before this deal was officially concluded Hennessey suffered a hamstring problem while on international duty with the Welsh national team and so the proposed loan was scrapped. Although, on 21 August 2013, after an injury to Yeovil's replacement goalkeeper Sam Johnstone Hennessey officially joined Yeovil Town on an initial one-month loan which was eventually extended until 17 November 2013. He made his Yeovil debut in a 0–3 loss to Derby County on 24 August 2013. In his penultimate home match Hennessey received the man of the match award after the Glovers achieved their first ever home win at Championship by defeating Nottingham Forest.

After his loan spell at Yeovil ended, Hennessey returned to Wolves but did not displace Carl Ikeme in goal. When Ikeme suffered an injury in January 2014, Hennessey declined to play in the following fixture against Gillingham, launching speculation that he wanted a move away from the club. Although he subsequently apologised for his refusal to play, he did not play again for Wolves and negotiations were later entered into with Premier League team Crystal Palace.

On 31 January 2014, Hennessey joined Crystal Palace on a three-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee, with media speculation suggesting it to be an initial £1.6 million, with add-on clauses.

 

[Templeton Peck]

I never really had full confidence in Hennessey. Dunno if it was cos I'd been spoiled by Murray and Stowell but although he was clearly decent just never had that same level of trust. Very highly rated as a kid but only really gone on to have a mediocre top flight career.

 

[Tony Towner]

A coward of a goalkeeper. There was a point in our promotion season I thought his flaps were going to cost us. Reserve keeper for a mid table Prem side is his level.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

A good keeper who I think possibly suffered from his predecessor having been a brilliant keeper.

To have had Murray, Hennesey and Ikeme (to a lesser extent) come through the club shows we were doing something right.

 

[lemonjelly]

I think Hennessey benefitted by "coming through the academy", which is debated.
Aspects of his game were very good. Clearly one doesn't obtain a record for consecutive clean sheets, albeit in a lower league, without having some ability.
However, there were so many aspects of his game that didn't really improve.
Think he got a lot of undeserved love as he clashed with Johnson publicly. However his character has left some stuff to be desired, and I have more than once wondered who was the real bad guy there.

 

[lemonjelly]

A coward of a goalkeeper. There was a point in our promotion season I thought his flaps were going to cost us. Reserve keeper for a mid table Prem side is his level.

See I think there is much to this. Almost everyone will say "good shot stopper", which is a minimum requirement for any goalkeeper. He was a decent shot stopper, but really, none of the rest of his game stood out. And he certainly should have been much better with crosses. FFS he watched Matt Murray!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He was 20 when he made his debut for us, he's 33 now. He is essentially the exact same goalkeeper and that should never be the case unless you're absolutely exceptional at everything at a very early age, which he wasn't.

Pulled off some brilliant stops in his time here but how he never managed to develop at all in terms of command of the box (he's 6'6'') is beyond me.

Our SHITE defence and paperweight midfield in 2011/12 meant he never stood a chance that season. If you can ever bring yourself to watch Mick's final game back, he's forced to pull off save after save before he ends up making a rick.

The League One stuff was just weird though - why were we loaning out our own players to Yeovil of all clubs, notwithstanding that they were somehow a division above us?! And he was clearly miles better than Ikeme, as in not even a contest. I'd like to know the full story behind the Gillingham thing, it was a very odd turn of events (and also upsetting to see how cut up Matt Murray was about it when he was doing punditry on that game - that's a man who'd have given anything to just play one more time for Wolves).

 

[lemonjelly]

2nd sentence is so bang on the money DW.

 

[Langers]

I hate the phrase 'good shot stopper'. Sort of the minimum requirement for a goalkeeper. You never hear 'not a good shot stopper' when describing a keeper, do you? (Lonergan aside, obvs...). "Yeah, he's good on crosses, distribution is excellent but he is known to move out of the way when someone shoots at him."

I suppose that in the same way, Joao Moutinho is a good ball kicker.

It's up there with 'strong left foot' as very strange attribute to mention.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Indeed. Like saying an accountant is "handy with a calculator". Well, you'd rather hope so.

What I would say is Hennessey was capable of making saves that he had no real right to make. He was great at low saves for a massive gangly oik.

Probably our best keeper with the ball at his feet too, good distance and accuracy off either foot. Although given we've had Jones, Murray, Lonners and Rui, this might not be that high a bar...

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

The distance on his kicks is excellent, looks like he is at about 70% effort too. When you compare that to Stowell who always looked like he was about to pop out a hernia when he was kicking.

 

[Johnny75]

Hennesey was a good shot stopper in that his reactions were very good and he made good decisions when he had to whilst taking up good positions to force strikers into making harder shots. Contrast that with Rui who doesn't need to be a good shot stopper as his footwork is so good he never needs to make worldie saves. Ruddy also has good footwork and had good reactions but makes odd decisions with his position (throwing the ball in the net?). Hennesey's distribution is better than both Rui and Ruddy, it's the one thing he does really well.

Hennessey's footwork was relatively poor and his strength in the air was shocking. He either didn't have the confidence or technique to dominant aerially and as DW says he is 6'6" with a sizeable wingspan so why he couldn't build his upper body strength or jumping technique (a la Barthez) is down to sheer bone idleness of not wanting to improve himself.

Always came across as an arrogant big time Charlie who over estimated his abilities. Turns out he is a prick as well.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Oh yeah, forgot about the Hitler salute, and then his defence being that he didn't know what a Nazi salute was.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Being displaced by a 123 year old American in Hahnneman tells you everything about Hennessy. Awful command of the box for a giant. Not even Palaces best keeper either. Rui and Ruddy are both far better. We should do my mate the late Mark Kendall. For his limitations on height he. Commanded the area better than WH. And MK was a real jewel of a human being too! Absolute fun a minute character. Could cheer up the foulest mood. Bloody glad to have had him here.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

The Cat Kendall was also more than a touch bonkers.

I don't know about Hennessey. When he first came through I was really excited about him being a genuine successor to the God that was Murray. But the command of the box was such a massive weakness in his game.

 

[Tony Towner]

Kendall was the right man for the right time, but another who had a touch of the Dracula's. Got knocked out of the Cup one year at Grimsby with a goal straight from a corner that he waved in.