McCarthy praises striker Stefan

New Wolves striker Stefan Maierhofer can have an immediate effect on the team's attack - and be their Peter Crouch.

That's the verdict of manager Mick McCarthy, who also revealed the £1.8m arrival of the Austrian target man will see the team revert to a 4-4-2 formation in most games - possibly tomorrow at Blackburn.

The boss said: "Of course I can see him having an immediate effect. He's a 27-year-old international who's been scoring regularly for his club - he's not an 18-year-old kid.

"He's not someone we're thinking is going to take to time to improve - even though I hope he does improve here."

Maierhofer hadn't trained with his new team-mates before today and McCarthy cautioned against him starting tomorrow, but he appears ready-made for the physical test against Sam Allardyce's outfit.

McCarthy said: "Bearing in mind he hasn't had one training session with the players yet, that's a disadvantage. But Stefan can really play. It's not just that he's 6ft 7ins, he's mobile and he's got a really good goalscoring record over the last couple of seasons. He brings people into play and he holds the ball up too, so he'll be a good player for us.

"Look at when Tottenham played Birmingham the other week - when Peter Crouch came on, he changed the game completely.

"Now Crouch is a good footballer, and Birmingham just couldn't deal with him.

"Having someone like that is another string to your bow. It's something we haven't had since losing Chris Iwelumo - someone winning balls in the air and causing problems.

"Sam Vokes does, but he's learning the game, while Kevin Doyle, Andy Keogh and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake pose a different threat."

By TIM NASH