Mick McCarthy revealed why he flew into a rage after Wolves lost the attacking impetus by kicking the ball out to allow Liverpool’s Maxi Rodriguez treatment.

McCarthy’s anger was sparked near the end of the first half when Rodriguez was lying in the Wolves half after being caught by a Karl Henry tackle as Ronald Zubar attacked down the right before kicking the ball out of play.

“The rule is to play on – you don’t have to kick it out because the rule gets abused if you do,” said McCarthy.

“I said to the players at half time that we gave them sympathy there and yet they would have given us sweet FA sympathy.

“If they had a chance they’d have smashed it in our net and would have been laughing up the tunnel taking the mickey and we’d still be on 19 points.

“That’s why I got upset and annoyed – because I want to win.

“I’m not into the thing where one player goes down and all the rest of them go ‘OK, we’re going to stop’.

“It’s not in the Premier League rules.”

McCarthy added: “I did apologise because I thought he might have been badly injured and I don’t want to see that.

“But I’ve seen far too many go down and the games get stopped and then they get up and carry on.

“Why not play on? I don’t see too many opposition players kicking the ball out for our team.”

McCarthy said he was happy with the goalless draw after admitting he set his stall out to do so.

“I was pleased with a point,” he said.

“I was tempted to put Geoffrey Munjangi Bia on, but as much as it would have been nice to try to win it, I didn’t want to lose it either.

“I think we more than deserved a point because we played very well and it was a draw against one of the ‘top four’ teams.

“I knew if we could keep it tight and stay in the game we’d got a chance.

“From the very first corner they had a free header which went wide but apart from that, I don’t think Marcus Hahnemann had a save to make.

“I believe that’s because of the way we played.

“I was asked if we should have had a tougher task and I took exception to that because I think people should be giving credit to my players rather than be knocking anybody else’s.

“Liverpool seemed to be make more last ditch tackles and clearances as the game wore on, but there weren’t many chances.

“It was a really solid performance.”

McCarthy changed formation to 4-5-1 with Michael Mancienne sitting in front of the back four to mark Steven Gerrard.

“That role suits Mancienne,” he said.

“I’m sure it was a bit frustrating for Gerrard having him there but we had to play that way because otherwise we’d have got ‘done’.”

McCarthy was also pleased with debutant Adlene Guedioura, adding: “Adlene has got something about him.

“He actually won the header from the corner from which he’d won the tackle as well. He’ll be fine.”

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez said: “It was a difficult game for both.

“We were in control in the first half. They pushed us back in the second.

“The result was a fair one but you have to be disappointed if you’re trying to reduce the gap at the top.”