Bruno Lage

[Halesowen wwfc]

Time for a reset which means lage has to go. Might not be his fault as he has inherited the squad with very few additions but i dont see how he can influence these players anymore. They seem stubborn in their defensive mindeness, and even that has fallen apart the last month. Sadly, as great as they were for the first 3 years, the spine of our team is the weakest part now right from central defence, centre midfield through to up front.

Boly , coady, saiss, moutinho, dendoncker should not be part of our first team next year. Moutinho dictates all of our play alongside coady but the sideways and backwards is too much to take now.

I am now of the view that if we can get a good fee for neves, 60m plus, and these funds are used to reinvest into the 1st team, then its time to let him to go to pastures new. This is the big if, and reliant on money being spent wisely. The noises of the likes of guedes and palinha concerns me as these are just more of the same as what we already have. Portuguese reserves who are good in a weaker league but not quite good enough to be considered top 6 players.

Anyway, ive rambled. Whole new mindset needed, and that means lage has to go by association, and the spine of the team needs replacing.

 

[Peszkywolf]

He's tried to get someone else's players playing a different style, played a decent number of kids, had to play a more pragmatic way.....
And still finishing 8th/9th. Give him a chance, what's happened to a bit of patience? Who do we think we are?!!

 

[Oliwolf44]

People saying we should never have sacked nuno clearly forgotten what it was like in his end days. Losing 3-2 at home to the baggies while Nuno sat on the floor staring into the camera not moving a muscle?
Everybody relax and see what happens in the summer. Its in the hands of Shi and Sellars (and Guo) not Lage now. We were finishing 4th in January, now the manager needs to go and we will be relegated next year. In the strange accent of Michael Gove 'Calm down'

 

[EastDorsetWolf]

Whatever our different opinions on Lage alarm bells have to be ringing. Its now 8 defeats in 12, conceding 8 in 2 games. Anyone at the Brighton game will know we were fortunate to lose 3-0. Anyone with this clubs future at heart must be seriously concerned. Our points haul in the earlier part of the season was greatly helped by the outstanding form of Sa. We have heard of training ground bust-ups and players questioning tactics. Any outsider looking in would say something is not right and I'am long enough in the tooth to know they would be right.

 

[Flump]

Whatever our different opinions on Lage alarm bells have to be ringing. Its now 8 defeats in 12, conceding 8 in 2 games.

I wouldn't base any alarm bells on two games, let alone one against City. Getting smashed by them is completely normal, especially when De Bruyne has a blinder.

Mid table teams, from say 4th to 15th will have good and bad runs of form throughout the season. But as 2 of our last 3 are against City & Liverpool, I'm sure most people will spend the summer upset about how terrible we are.

 

[Bill McCai]

Since Arsenal away on 24th Feb we have played 12 games.

P12 W3 D1 L8 F13 A21 Pts 10 (0.83 PPG)

Is this a dip in form, or a pattern?

Would Wolves be worried about this carrying over into next season?

 

[Ned]

I know it’s a bit of a joke and we’ve found it amusing but…

That De Bruyne stat from last night should be a sackable offence when you actually think about it.

 

[Zico]

Let him reshape the squad this summer with the kind of players he wants.

 

[JOSWolf]

Our form and non style of play is worrying to say the least and you would have thought the powers that be will be recognising this.

 

[OsloWolf]

Let him reshape the squad this summer with the kind of players he wants.

Just 10 Hwangs to go then.

 

[DanishWolf]

I'm mostly in favour of giving Lage another chance.
He's had to work with his hands tied a bit (3 senior midfielders, Adama being loaned out, players not really suited for his style) and all in all I believe he's a talented manager.

At the same time, there are quite worrying signs.
- Playing Jonny as a RCB
- Organisation being a mess
- No coherence between defence, midfield and attack. They're often miles apart and the team doesnt press well as a coherent unit.
- Poor communication, team work within the different units
- No clear style of play
Problem is, if we sack him, who do Fosun appoint next? Being a Mendes client and willing to accept a low salary seems to be what we aim for...

 

[TheConcourse]

People saying we should never have sacked nuno clearly forgotten what it was like in his end days. Losing 3-2 at home to the baggies while Nuno sat on the floor staring into the camera not moving a muscle?
Everybody relax and see what happens in the summer. Its in the hands of Shi and Sellars (and Guo) not Lage now. We were finishing 4th in January, now the manager needs to go and we will be relegated next year. In the strange accent of Michael Gove 'Calm down'

People saying we shouldn’t are disregarding the 3 years prior and totally ignoring the nuances of having to play football with no fans and having our #1 striker ripped away.

The football is no better now. The connection is non-existent. I’ve lost count of the amount of times the players have given up this season.

 

[Steampunk Rules OK]

I totally agree with what you say, but I am not convinced he’s that great a coach in all fairness. Sa has saved us many points and a few scruffy (what I would say were rather fortuitous) wins are masking how poor this team actually is. Just my opinion and I’m not going to say others are wrong because we all see and interpret things in our own way.
However, I feel our young players have developed slightly in spite of Bruno rather than because of. Kilman for example always had the ability but not the chance to play. I’d also say silva is being held back by playing second fiddle to Raul, well actually 3rd behind Raul and Hwang. Bruno says he rates and trusts Cundle, but virtually zero game time despite Moutinho form dropping off a cliff again and Neves looking increasingly like his mind is on his next move. Chiquinho looks a prospect and seems fearless as many young players tend to when given a chance to go into the first team.
I dunno, rambling maybe. But I genuinely don’t see Bruno as a particularly good coach as I just can’t see how he has developed this squad. Backing him with money doesn’t test his coaching ability as such, that allows him to buy better quality players.
Pep and Klopp would have to be judged on their coaching ability if they were in charge of a club with zero funds. But then we’d see whether it’s coaching or being able to buy the best players available. I just don’t see that Bruno has the ability to coach to a high level and am concerned that if he is allowed to bring in his own players that we will be having these same discussions 12 months down the line.

This!

 

[WickedWolfie]

Let him reshape the squad this summer with the kind of players he wants.

That implies trusting him. I absolutely do not.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Exactly. But it has been stated here several times this season. "Dont' care if we concede loads of goals, our boring football is unwatchable and I want to see us have a go". Which we did tonight, with the all too predictable result.

The more realistic of us knew what would happen and said so. The gung ho types knew better, LMAO.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Would take him back tomorrow and let him rebuild the squad.

Sadly l think that ship has sailed. Managers going back are rarely successful.

 

[Bawtry Wolf]

I don’t think you can necessarily judge Bruno on yesterday. The COVID outbreak would have had an impact on preparation and our best results against City have been when De Bruyne hasn’t played or they’ve had 10 men, even in the case of the latter it took the substitution of De Bruyne to spark the come back. When we lost 1-0 earlier in the season he was on the bench and didn’t come on until we’ll into the 2nd half.

Having said all of that about last night I still feel he is out of his depth. I think we need to revitalise the team and replace quite a few but I am far from convinced that he is the man to take the new team forward. Our form for the last three months has been disastrous but so have many of the performances. Get rid now and the new man can put their stamp on the team in a pre-season with no international tournaments as Nuno did in 2016.

Leave Bruno in place and the question is do we sack him if we have a start like last year in August or do we struggle on nicking results here and there but playing poorly but having a relegation fight. Objectively you can count the positive performances that resulted in victory probably on one hand. Many wins this season were seat of the pants stuff. Even beating Southampton 3-1 was far from comfortable and a draw would have been a fair result. If he stays he’s going to have to perform miracles and demonstrate attributes I haven’t seen.

 

[Oliwolf44]

People saying we shouldn’t are disregarding the 3 years prior and totally ignoring the nuances of having to play football with no fans and having our #1 striker ripped away.

The football is no better now. The connection is non-existent. I’ve lost count of the amount of times the players have given up this season.

I agree the football is bad. Some games this season have been terrible. But its also the same players that produced terrible football at the end of nunos tenure.
Nunos cycle had ended and the place had become stale, many of the players hinting this also. I wonder if it is now some of the players cycles have come to an end.
While each club is different, Man Utd have hired a range of managers and ended up exactly where they were 5yrs ago with the same set of players. I think we need a squad overhaul and let bruno, sellars and shi identify a new crop of players to come in.

 

[Oliwolf44]

People saying we shouldn’t are disregarding the 3 years prior and totally ignoring the nuances of having to play football with no fans and having our #1 striker ripped away.

The football is no better now. The connection is non-existent. I’ve lost count of the amount of times the players have given up this season.

Just adding to your point about having n1 striker ripped away at the end of nunos tenure, i would argue that Bruno has had to deal with no fully fit raul for the whole of his tenure. You can add no Neto for the season, Boly becoming a shell of his former self, Jonny 2 acls, Neves out for a month, Kilman the best defender (who nuno wrote off for sale) out for a month, Semedo injury prone, and no adama.
I dont want to come across as anti Nuno but lets not pretend that Bruno has had it all his own way. Add that to not being backed anywhere near enough in the windows.

 

[Highlandwolf2]

Since Arsenal away on 24th Feb we have played 12 games.

P12 W3 D1 L8 F13 A21 Pts 10 (0.83 PPG)

Is this a dip in form, or a pattern?

Would Wolves be worried about this carrying over into next season?

If the team and manager are largely unchanged next season I can only see relegation... Clearly we are declining with the present set up, sadly.

 

[TheConcourse]

I agree the football is bad. Some games this season have been terrible. But its also the same players that produced terrible football at the end of nunos tenure.
Nunos cycle had ended and the place had become stale, many of the players hinting this also. I wonder if it is now some of the players cycles have come to an end.
While each club is different, Man Utd have hired a range of managers and ended up exactly where they were 5yrs ago with the same set of players. I think we need a squad overhaul and let bruno, sellars and shi identify a new crop of players to come in.

I’m with you buddy.

I’m not calling you lazy when I say this, but I think the idea from Jeff that the cycle had ended was more of an indictment of him being unable to keep the playing side fresh. It felt like a lazy cliche at the time.

In buzzy corporate Fosun world retention and building culture is seen as a major +. In football world you have to keep moving and building from a position of strength. A couple of bad decisions, loss of form, internal issues and it all starts to unravel.

It’s no coincidence to me that the most successful teams in England have backed the manager over players. When Nuno/Jeff started to see a decline in your performance that was the only red flag they needed to refresh, generate the funds and go again.

For some inexplicable reason Jeff couldn’t see the warning signs - which for most fans were pretty clear - that Nuno was totally ****ed off.

I’m probably too romantic over Nuno, but I’d have given him the power to run this thing over Sellars everyday of the week.

Nuno’s attitude wasn’t good towards the end, but seeing how the activity inside the club has gone since, it feels like he shouldn’t take all of the blame on that front.

 

[KBWWFC]

We were absolutely murdered last season twice Vs City when we sat back and let them attack us.

The "we wouldn't have lost playing Nunoball" is a myth, Nunos biggest weapon Vs City was Adamas pace on the counter.

 

[Minimalist]

Bruno has done reasonably well overall. All things considered.

The issue is do we/the club feel he is the right man to rebuild the team and perhaps spend a bit of money.

I’m not sure... But if the plan is to let a few of those experienced out of contract players go, sell Neves, switch to a back 4... it all seems quite risky and you’d want to have 100% confidence in the manager.

 

[Ned]

I’m torn with Bruno at the moment.

At the start of the season I would have taken this. I was also on the side of “he’s doing great things in spite of Fosun not backing him” about 2/3 months ago but… it’s dropped off a cliff.

It depends how we look at the season; If it’s the season as a whole then I don’t see a reason why he shouldn’t be in charge next season. But there is no escaping that we are finishing the last 10/12 games of the season in relegation form.

 

[wolf of sedgley]

Let's be honest, he isn't going to work out. This is an important moment in our recent history, though. Fk this up and we are going down next season.

 

[Big Saft Kid]

'How do you solve a problem like de Bruyne?' (to echo that famous song from the Sound of Music) Well, I don't have any FIFA coaching badges like Bruno no doubt has, but I'd say you don't allow him the freedom of the pitch. You man-mark the ****er out of existence for 90+ minutes. Who could have done that? How about the man with the least creative talent in our team, Dendoncker, who is also, like de Bruyne, a large unit? He is also Belgian, so could have spent the game whispering Flemish insults in his earhole. As it was, he just wandered around like a lonely fart, as usual. Yes, he scored a goal, but if he'd been given the sole task of shackling de Bruyne, he might have saved us 4. Probably not a fashionable tactic anymore I will no doubt be told by the experts on here, but it can be very effective.

 

[JR’s Boots]

It's a horrible mess at the moment. My heart sank when I saw the team line up at kick off with that car crash trio of Otto, Chiquino and Dendonker all playing out of position. Sure enough City waltzed through and helped themselves to a shed load of goals.

This team is finished and a rebuild is required either way, otherwise we are in for a relegation scrap next season. It's up to Shi whether this is new team or new team plus new coach.

 

[Zico]

Just 10 Hwangs to go then.

Very funny! I'll raise you 10 Sas

 

[Zico]

That implies trusting him. I absolutely do not.

Fair enough. But I don't think there's enough evidence to make that judgement. I still think he wants to make us an attacking team. For sure it's a risk letting him carry on. But sacking him and bringing in someone else would be a risk as well. As people have said, correctly I think, anyone below 7th in this league could have a tilt at Europe or be in a relegation fight. Whoever leads us into next season, there's no guarantee either way.

 

[Zico]

If the team and manager are largely unchanged next season I can only see relegation... Clearly we are declining with the present set up, sadly.

I'll be very surprised if the team is largely unchanged. I believe we're going to see an overhaul.

 

[Rangiora Wolf]

Fair enough. But I don't think there's enough evidence to make that judgement. I still think he wants to make us an attacking team. For sure it's a risk letting him carry on. But sacking him and bringing in someone else would be a risk as well. As people have said, correctly I think, anyone below 7th in this league could have a tilt at Europe or be in a relegation fight. Whoever leads us into next season, there's no guarantee either way.

Fosun are doing everything on the cheap. They'll only sack him if ST sales are at risk and if they've got another yes man on a budget lined up.

 

[Kashmire Hawker]

Despite the mass debate here, I am sure we will put that aside and wish the gaffer our collective Happy Returns!

Happy 46th Birthday, Bruno, and I hope you feel as good as you can be!

 

[Oliwolf44]

I’m with you buddy.

I’m not calling you lazy when I say this, but I think the idea from Jeff that the cycle had ended was more of an indictment of him being unable to keep the playing side fresh. It felt like a lazy cliche at the time.

In buzzy corporate Fosun world retention and building culture is seen as a major +. In football world you have to keep moving and building from a position of strength. A couple of bad decisions, loss of form, internal issues and it all starts to unravel.

It’s no coincidence to me that the most successful teams in England have backed the manager over players. When Nuno/Jeff started to see a decline in your performance that was the only red flag they needed to refresh, generate the funds and go again.

For some inexplicable reason Jeff couldn’t see the warning signs - which for most fans were pretty clear - that Nuno was totally ****ed off.

I’m probably too romantic over Nuno, but I’d have given him the power to run this thing over Sellars everyday of the week.

Nuno’s attitude wasn’t good towards the end, but seeing how the activity inside the club has ront.

Yes i think youre right and nuno certainly not all of the blame. But in the football world we live in, the quickest and easiest fix is to change the manager. Its why there are calls for bruno to go now rather than anyone behind the scenes. Even if sellars et al may be just as culpable for what has happened during nuno and bruno tenure.
This summer is absolutely massive no matter who you think the manager or dof should be

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Nuno had a huge amount of power in our transfers. More than Thelwell or Sellars did

 

[Fenrir_]

Nuno had a huge amount of power in our transfers. More than Thelwell or Sellars did

Vetoed Hwang by all accounts...

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Vetoed Hwang by all accounts...

Prioritised Adama over Jota I believe as well

 

[old wittonian]

Vetoed Hwang by all accounts...

Football is littered by players who were cast off who came good.
Not saying Hwang will of course.

 

[Mugwump]

Just adding to your point about having n1 striker ripped away at the end of nunos tenure, i would argue that Bruno has had to deal with no fully fit raul for the whole of his tenure. You can add no Neto for the season, Boly becoming a shell of his former self, Jonny 2 acls, Neves out for a month, Kilman the best defender (who nuno wrote off for sale) out for a month, Semedo injury prone, and no adama.
I dont want to come across as anti Nuno but lets not pretend that Bruno has had it all his own way. Add that to not being backed anywhere near enough in the windows.

Thats nonsense really about Raul. He's been fit, he hasnt been in form He was fit towards the end of last season, he just wasnt cleared to play. Its also more nonsense about Kilman being wrote off for sale. There were rumours of a loan move, never a sale. Nuno may have thought he wasnt ready, but thats a different argument.

Every manager has injuries and players out of form to deal with. Its part and parcel of the game. Lage has had them. Nuno had them , i can go back to Taylor and Turner having them. I cant think of any managers though in my lifetime that have had to deal with a pandemic and all the problems that causes and not playing with any fans around. Last season was tough on so many fronts that we will probably never see again.

 

[Urko]

Since Arsenal away on 24th Feb we have played 12 games.

P12 W3 D1 L8 F13 A21 Pts 10 (0.83 PPG)

Is this a dip in form, or a pattern?

Would Wolves be worried about this carrying over into next season?

And the football is ****

 

[wwbug]

What made WWFC special ,in the good Nuno years, has gone.
It was a togetherness , that will be difficult to replicate .
Nuno and the major players, started with WWFC within a couple of years of one another. " THE PROJECT"

I can only think this will be difficult to replicate.