Bruno Lage

[WickedWolfie]

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!

COVID on his birthday, that's a bummer. As you say l hope that it's as good as it can be.

 

[Joshwolf218]

Happy birthday to the man

However even if we put in a good performance against Norwich I think this had to be a summer of change

Money needs to be spent rejuvenating the squad and the might mean selling Neves, however how that money is spent is really the question.

Transfers are always a gamble, will lage be able to get the best out of them, I'm not sure he can.

He seems a very good coach but not a head coach/manager. Tactically naive and makes odd decisions, he also doesn't seem to have a plan if things happen.

If we had lost 8 in 13 at any other point in the season would it be acceptable, sure man city are light years ahead with their squad costing over 1 billion.

But all the other losses are questionable.

Shi and sellers aren't going to get sacked, Shi for what it is worth is running a profitable asset, and shi trusts sellers. Only Guo makes the shi call, however I'm sure they are all concerned with the quality of football being played, meaning wolves are less attractive especially if they are encouraging investment.

So two games to go, if Bruno stays or Bruno goes. A squad rejuvenation is needed either way, its just a case of who takes them forward

 

[Deleted member sbk12944]

Man Utd have had multiple managers the last few years but a lot of the same players, so is it the managers fault they have been ****e compared to their usual high standards or the players themselves.
Asking our players to play on the front foot is like asking Mo Farah to be a 100m sprinter, its just not going to happen. With the majority of the group we have it just seems the cycle has come to an end, let Bruno/Mendes get the players in that can improve us to play a different way as no manager will get this current group higher than they have achieved the last few years (no shame in having limitations its life). We now have to look to the future and some hard and harsh decisions will need to be made but the players to stay should be based around the best younger players we have. ( I don't include Hwang in that though)

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Who do people fancy if he goes?

I am a fan of Christophe Galtier, done well everywhere he has been including beating PSG to the league in France. Left Lille because they got no money and has gone to Nice and done ok, they actually have a bit of money for French league so I think they were expecting top 4 but 5th ain't bad.

Likes 4231 or 4-4-2, fairly simple but modern stuff. Pass and move, likes width and ball playing defenders.

If they don't get CL he could be tempted maybe? Don't know why I am even thinking this through but

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Strange thing is with Bruno, he's been here a full season, we're 8th, but if he got the chop tomorrow I don't think more than 5% of Wolves fans would care or bat an eyelid.

The wider fan base hasn't really taken to him. Nuno was a tough act to follow but the football has been meh and he's not exactly charismatic is he?

Some people suggesting we should back Bruno to build a team and then judge him.

I feel a better barometer is what a coach can achieve with someone else's players. Nuno for example won the Championship with 8 regulars who he didn't sign himself.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

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.

I couldn't give a **** about the City result. It's the results v Burnley, Leeds, Brighton and Palace I'm concerned about.

Another slip up v Norwich would complete a pathetic return from those games. I'm not particularly worried about the Liverpool result either, although if they still have a chance of winning the PL, I am concerned about the magnitude of the defeat.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

The wider fan base hasn't really taken to him. Nuno was a tough act to follow but the football has been meh and he's not exactly charismatic is he?

Some people suggesting we should back Bruno to build a team and then judge him.

I feel a better barometer is what a coach can achieve with someone else's players. Nuno for example won the Championship with 8 regulars who he didn't sign himself.

Oh come off it, he had ****ing Jota , Neves, Boly. Also I'd love to know those 8 regulars?

Neves, Jota, Boly, Bennett, Douglas, Ruddy, Bonatini, N'Daiye all come in that summer. Afobe in Jan.

Most of his regular team he signed, far more than Bruno actually.

 

[VancouverWolf]

Maybe Jeff will keep Bruno and maybe Jeff will get him 3 new players that he wants.

The fact is that there were a lot of bad performances this season and only a fool wouldn’t be a little bit concerned about next season.

Bottom line is we simply don’t know if Bruno is good enough to improve our playing and scoring next season, even with new players.
Lets face it…….there’s a big red flag around Bruno.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Maybe Jeff will keep Bruno and maybe Jeff will get him 3 new players that he wants.

The fact is that there were a lot of bad performances this season and only a fool wouldn’t be a little bit concerned about next season.

Bottom line is we simply don’t know if Bruno is good enough to improve our playing and scoring next season.
Lets face it…….there’s a big red flag around Bruno.

That is not unfair but bigger one around Jeff for me atm

 

[VancouverWolf]

That is not unfair but bigger one around Jeff for me atm

Fair enough and there’s a lot of that going around.

I‘m now 68, (gulp..lol) and I didn’t need or want to have this worrying feeling in the pit of my stomach as we start the next season. I’m already concerned a little bit about relegation.
Look at Everton this season……in and out of the danger zone ……(shudder) ……crickey.

I just hope that we’re in a good position as we start the World Cup break.

 

[Mugwump]

The wider fan base hasn't really taken to him. Nuno was a tough act to follow but the football has been meh and he's not exactly charismatic is he?

Some people suggesting we should back Bruno to build a team and then judge him.

I feel a better barometer is what a coach can achieve with someone else's players. Nuno for example won the Championship with 8 regulars who he didn't sign himself.

Despite how we didnt play well in his final season, Nuno was always going to be a very, very tough act to follow. Look how the players reacted to him in his final game. He had a huge bond not only with players, but with the fans and also with the City. Bruno despite him doing fairly well for a lot of the season, just doesnt have the same presence around the place Nuno did.

 

[Don Corleone]

Losing 12 of the last 16 games… no real goal threat and no mobility in the team, no real squad depth to call on. Coupled with key injuries during those games.Players seemingly disinterested…
We’ve big problems and for one I see relegation a real possibility next season without a major overhaul and early in the summer at that.
Lose to Norwich and Molineux won’t be kind to them on Sunday.
I’d start with relieving Lage of his duties irrespective of Sunday’s result he clearly has no influence or no idea. Started with a glimpse of what could be… but that’s long gone.
This decline will take some serious money to put right, the thing is will the board allow or do they have the financial investment required as it’s no use relying on youth. They’re just not ready on what I’ve seen and the odd good game by one or two of them won’t be enough on its own…
The squad needs investment again and by that I mean similar to when Fosun bought Neves in and all of the others that summer, not one or two but five or six players and keep the key players from now if possible and most definitely Neves. Build a team around him, if we can persuade him to stay. But if we can’t then move on quickly.
We need pace and strength through the middle and need to find our cutting edge again as we have little of either at the moment.
We need our mojo back…but Lage only has Humbugs and gob stoppers to give us.

 

[Supadavewolf]

Man Utd have hired a range of managers and ended up exactly where they were 5yrs ago

In fact, they've gone backwards




(hooray)

 

[Chris H]

The wider fan base hasn't really taken to him. Nuno was a tough act to follow but the football has been meh and he's not exactly charismatic is he?

Some people suggesting we should back Bruno to build a team and then judge him.

I feel a better barometer is what a coach can achieve with someone else's players. Nuno for example won the Championship with 8 regulars who he didn't sign himself.

We signed about 12 players the summer Nuno joined, most of which went in to the match day squad if not the first XI.

His most used XI was Ruddy; Bennett, Coady, Boly; Doherty, Neves, Saiss, Douglas; Costa, Bonatini, Jota

Of those 11, 7 were signed the summer Nuno joined (Ruddy and Bennett came in just before he was officially announced but he’d absolutely have been asked if he wanted them or not). At least 3 of them were way to good for that level of football as well.

Nuno did brilliantly for us, but he was given an almost blank canvas, he got to keep the players he wanted and we cleared out anyone he didn’t want.

He then shaped us exactly how he wanted us and took us to heights we hadn’t seen for decades. But to say he worked with someone else’s squad isn’t true at all.

By comparison, Lage got 4 new players last summer and 8 or 9 (Trincao and Podence have similar minutes) of his most used XI were part of last years squad already.

He’s been asked to change the style of play without being given players that he needs / asked for in order to do so.

Is he the right man to take us forwards? I’m not sure. Has he been given every chance to mould us in his style before we judge him, almost certainly not.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Oh come off it, he had ****ing Jota , Neves, Boly. Also I'd love to know those 8 regulars?

Neves, Jota, Boly, Bennett, Douglas, Ruddy, Bonatini, N'Daiye all come in that summer. Afobe in Jan.

Most of his regular team he signed, far more than Bruno actually.

Nuno did not sign Bennett, Douglas, Ruddy. In my calculations I completely forgot Jota, so I'll correct it to seven regulars - Ruddy, Douglas, Doc, Bennett, Coady, Costa, Cav. Oh and Saiss, so it is eight. These numbers don't actually add up unless we were playing with twelve players - which would explain the fiirst six months of that season.

Boly, Jota, Neves and Bonatini were Nuno signings. Agreed?

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

We signed about 12 players the summer Nuno joined, most of which went in to the match day squad if not the first XI.

His most used XI was Ruddy; Bennett, Coady, Boly; Doherty, Neves, Saiss, Douglas; Costa, Bonatini, Jota

Of those 11, 7 were signed the summer Nuno joined (Ruddy and Bennett came in just before he was officially announced but he’d absolutely have been asked if he wanted them or not). At least 3 of them were way to good for that level of football as well.

Nuno did brilliantly for us, but he was given an almost blank canvas, he got to keep the players he wanted and we cleared out anyone he didn’t want.

He then shaped us exactly how he wanted us and took us to heights we hadn’t seen for decades. But to say he worked with someone else’s squad isn’t true at all.

By comparison, Lage got 4 new players last summer and 8 or 9 (Trincao and Podence have similar minutes) of his most used XI were part of last years squad already.

He’s been asked to change the style of play without being given players that he needs / asked for in order to do so.

Is he the right man to take us forwards? I’m not sure. Has he been given every chance to mould us in his style before we judge him, almost certainly not.

Ruddy, Bennett and Douglas were considered by most on this very forum to have been Thirlwell signings. I'm not having it that they were Nuno signings.

 

[KBWWFC]

Ruddy, Bennett and Douglas were considered by most on this very forum to have been Thirlwell signings. I'm not having it that they were Nuno signings.

We were rumoured to be in for Ruddy and Bennett when Lambert was still manager.

But the rest of his post is certainly valid, Nuno did rebuild the squad from top to bottom in his image and was given immense backing.

Realistically, we've not improved on our first PL squad in the past 3 summers, it's stale, players have regressed either through the ravages of time or through injury.

We needed a big rebuild last summer, we need an even bigger rebuild this summer. We don't have the money to do it.

If Nuno was managing us right now, I think nobody would begrudge him for walking away in the summer faced with continued lack of investment from Fosun.

 

[Chris H]

Ruddy, Bennett and Douglas were considered by most on this very forum to have been Thirlwell signings. I'm not having it that they were Nuno signings.

Okay, then Mosquera and Hwang were Sellars signings if that’s how we’re viewing it.

So let’s revise it down and say Nuno had 4 new players in his regular 11.

Lage has 1, Sa. Trincao has played similar minutes to Podence and Traore played more than both of them before he left in January.

So Lage has been given exactly the same outfield and told to improve us. The one regular starter who he got was Sa who has been a revelation.

Nuno got 4 of 11, so theoretically you’re right in that the majority weren’t his signings. But then 3 of those 4 were Boly, Neves and Jota. In the championship!

That’d be like us giving Lage Van Dijk, Fabinho and Mane in the summer and saying can you improve us with a team that’s mostly not yours still. I’d certainly expect Lage to have done so then.

 

[Burford T Justice]

Ruddy, Bennett and Douglas were considered by most on this very forum to have been Thirlwell signings. I'm not having it that they were Nuno signings.

Nuno said himself that he had agreed to those signings or words to that effect. The fact remains he had 7 or 8 new players in his 11 and when January arrived he got another to replace Bonatini who had fallen off a cliff.

He did great but let's not rewrite history to make it better or worse than it was or say he only had those signings you want to say were his. They were signed for that season with his knowledge

 

[KBWWFC]

Lage has 1, Sa.

The Sa deal was being worked on before Lage became manager too...

 

[Sephiroth]

Interestingly in the "Jones Knows" predictions on Sky Sports, he has gone for Norwich to win 2-0 at the weekend and with the high possiblity it'll cost Bruno his job.

 

[Chris H]

The Sa deal was being worked on before Lage became manager too...

True, Patricio was already rumoured to be going before the end of the season wasn’t he.

So Lage got Trincao then. A player who, whilst viewed as disappointing now was largely seen as a brilliant signing last summer, it just hasn’t worked out as expected.

 

[Deleted member sbk12944]

For those of you that want Bruno gone, who would have done better this season under the hand that he has been delt? What expectations did you have with virtually no backing and a squad seemingly unable to play any other formation or style of play. Would we have finished any different if Nuno had stayed with the squad Bruno has had? I highly doubt there would of been a major difference. Kilman would probably have been sold though and the last 12 months ish under Nuno threw up just as poor performances tbf. Why not at least let Bruno get the players he wants in to at least play the way he wants otherwise we will stay the same until some players retire or leave. Patience is required and I say this as someone who is an impatient *******.

 

[Bawtry Wolf]

Interestingly in the "Jones Knows" predictions on Sky Sports, he has gone for Norwich to win 2-0 at the weekend and with the high possiblity it'll cost Bruno his job.

If the former is correct then the latter should follow.

 

[Mugwump]

I think its a pretty lame excuse to say only has Nuno's players to work with. There are plenty of quality players in this squad and they all arent stuck in playing one particular way. You could still get players playing with 3 at the back to be a way more potent attacking side with a few tweaks. Thats on the manager. He could have bought in different options than Hwang and Trincao for example.

No matter how people want to dress it up, our for is that of relegation battlers. Thats simply not good enough and as i have said, combine that with us looking like we have no idea tactically, no real identity as to what we are as a team, leaking goals for fun and barely scoring, its a recipe for disaster and doesnt bode well for the future.

 

[Mugwump]

Nuno said himself that he had agreed to those signings or words to that effect. The fact remains he had 7 or 8 new players in his 11 and when January arrived he got another to replace Bonatini who had fallen off a cliff.

He did great but let's not rewrite history to make it better or worse than it was or say he only had those signings you want to say were his. They were signed for that season with his knowledge

That probably makes it even more impressive what Nuno did if he can basically replace a whole team, implement a new system and playing style in a matter of weeks and walk a notoriously difficult division to get out of.

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

Theres no doubt Bruno hasnt been backed sufficiently to judge him totally
That said we have to judge on what hes done with what he has,and in the main hes gone backwards

Whether thats his fault, or the system, or the players is neither here nor there, its results that you get judged on
Overall its been a good season position wise,even if we fall a few places,i said preseason 10th would be decent, and i stand by that
But results in the last few months have been relegation form,and the performances have been increasingly poor ,with some players showing very poor body language

Of course we dont know what occurs behind the scenes, but something doesnt seem right
Over the last 4/5 seasons one thing has always been constant,thats the bond on the field with the players,they almost always fight to the end and are one unit this last few months that seems to have mostly gone
Is it staleness? Have some just had enough? I dont know the answers, but in the end Bruno must be held accountable as he is the Head coach, and all things team related are his responsibility

A big overhaul is required no doubt,and im increasingly leaning to the first out the door is Bruno,lose to Norwich and im sure it will happen

 

[Mugwump]

Theres no doubt Bruno hasnt been backed sufficiently to judge him totally
That said we have to judge on what hes done with what he has,and in the main hes gone backwards

Whether thats his fault, or the system, or the players is neither here nor there, its results that you get judged on
Overall its been a good season position wise,even if we fall a few places,i said preseason 10th would be decent, and i stand by that
But results in the last few months have been relegation form,and the performances have been increasingly poor ,with some players showing very poor body language

Of course we dont know what occurs behind the scenes, but something doesnt seem right
Over the last 4/5 seasons one thing has always been constant,thats the bond on the field with the players,they almost always fight to the end and are one unit this last few months that seems to have mostly gone
Is it staleness? Have some just had enough? I dont know the answers, but in the end Bruno must be held accountable as he is the Head coach, and all things team related are his responsibility

A big overhaul is required no doubt,and im increasingly leaning to the first out the door is Bruno,lose to Norwich and im sure it will happen

The performances concern me more than the results.

 

[Highlandwolf2]

Theres no doubt Bruno hasnt been backed sufficiently to judge him totally
That said we have to judge on what hes done with what he has,and in the main hes gone backwards

Whether thats his fault, or the system, or the players is neither here nor there, its results that you get judged on
Overall its been a good season position wise,even if we fall a few places,i said preseason 10th would be decent, and i stand by that
But results in the last few months have been relegation form,and the performances have been increasingly poor ,with some players showing very poor body language

Of course we dont know what occurs behind the scenes, but something doesnt seem right
Over the last 4/5 seasons one thing has always been constant,thats the bond on the field with the players,they almost always fight to the end and are one unit this last few months that seems to have mostly gone
Is it staleness? Have some just had enough? I dont know the answers, but in the end Bruno must be held accountable as he is the Head coach, and all things team related are his responsibility

A big overhaul is required no doubt,and im increasingly leaning to the first out the door is Bruno,lose to Norwich and im sure it will happen

The owners/directors (and possibly the players) of any club will always have a scapegoat when things go wrong I e. the manager even in this case when he has had no financial backing. Bruno will not be here come Christmas. Don't underestimate the power of players when/if they lose confidence in the manager

 

[Bawtry Wolf]

To be honest I don’t mind a rebuild. Historically as a club and fans we have held onto players far too long, going back to the 70s. Teams need to be changed regularly otherwise they become old and stale together and then performances drop off a cliff. There are two ways of doing it, the evolutionary way of replacing 2/3 players a year and the revolutionary way of replacing 6/7 players all at once. The former is less risky than the latter.

I think Nuno intended to do the evolutionary approach from 2019 but it didn’t work due to Cutrone being a crock, Vallejo as useful as a chocolate teapot and Jordao being injured. Only Neto and to an extent Podence worked. The idea was to bring these young players into the squad and gradually replace the existing players. The following season, post Sevilla, and still in COVID we tried the same approach but again events and injuries conspired against us so that players were playing before they were ready.

So due to events, poor recruitment (Thelwell and Sellars) we are now in a position that we require a revolutionary change as performances and results have dropped off a cliff. It is no coincidence that this has happened after we got to 40 points. Has there ever been a team on the beach for so long? Will we bring in the right players? probably yes as despite the duds we have probably had more hits than failures and the last two summer transfer windows were impacted by COVID uncertainty. I would say even Trincao hasn’t been a complete failure, if you assess his impact against Chelsea where he had a wingback running past him from midfield and creating space he was much more effective. The second part of the equation is Bruno the right man for the process? On balance no. As an experienced youth team coach you get used to forging a new team every season but I haven’t been overly impressed this season with his first team management. That may be down to the players and the fact they cannot play the way he wants them but I think it’s a massive gamble to put all the blame on the players for the last 3 months. It’s a gamble that, if I was in Jeff’s position,I would consider high risk. I would certainly be hedging by speaking to Jorge and Scott and seeing who else might be available.

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

The performances concern me more than the results.

I agree totally
Just looking at current form only Norwich have a worse return over the last 5 games though and thats a concern

 

[NewarkWolf]

I couldn't give a **** about the City result. It's the results v Burnley, Leeds, Brighton and Palace I'm concerned about.

Another slip up v Norwich would complete a pathetic return from those games. I'm not particularly worried about the Liverpool result either, although if they still have a chance of winning the PL, I am concerned about the magnitude of the defeat.

Agree, a poor display and result v Norwich and I can't help but think the board will be considering his future

 

[stevev53]

I too think that Bruno has been let down by the owners . I think he is a good coach and given the right players would transform the way we approach games . Unfortunately this is a results game and I’m not sure wether Fosun trust him enough to change the team and keep us safe from relegation. If reports are accurate Neves is going so there will be say £40-50m as a starter. I also think Jimenez needs to have a new challenge. Understandably he is not the striker of 2 years ago and we are not able to put enough pressure on teams defences to score .

With regret I think we need to replace Bruno with a more experienced manager . Who that is I’m not sure. On Sunday hopefully we can play some attractive football , win and say goodbye to not only Neves but a couple of other players too . It will be the end of an exciting era for our fans and I look forward to next season with hope . Over to you Jeff !!!

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Okay, then Mosquera and Hwang were Sellars signings if that’s how we’re viewing it.

So let’s revise it down and say Nuno had 4 new players in his regular 11.

Lage has 1, Sa. Trincao has played similar minutes to Podence and Traore played more than both of them before he left in January.

So Lage has been given exactly the same outfield and told to improve us. The one regular starter who he got was Sa who has been a revelation.

Nuno got 4 of 11, so theoretically you’re right in that the majority weren’t his signings. But then 3 of those 4 were Boly, Neves and Jota. In the championship!

That’d be like us giving Lage Van Dijk, Fabinho and Mane in the summer and saying can you improve us with a team that’s mostly not yours still. I’d certainly expect Lage to have done so then.

If Fabinho and Mane were teenagers maybe. I'm struggling to see a link between prime willy and prime Virgil though.

Wolves were by no means favourites for promotion. Nuno took a weirdly cobbled together squad, added some real quality and coached the **** out of them and formed a team of effort, style and endeavour to give us an identity.

Our identity under Lage is different from one game to the next. For six months we were defensively sound (Sa was a massive help) and we could pass it about quite nicely. Not so much of late.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Interestingly in the "Jones Knows" predictions on Sky Sports, he has gone for Norwich to win 2-0 at the weekend and with the high possiblity it'll cost Bruno his job.

I've no confidence we'll get a positive result.

 

[Wednesbury Wolf]

I've no confidence we'll get a positive result.

Norwich are exactly the type of team who will beat us, nothing to play for and our players having been on the beach for weeks, coupled with our awful form.

 

[Rednal Wolf]

The Sa deal was being worked on before Lage became manager too...

Just as well because Sa is largely responsible to this point for Bruno still having a job imho

 

[Burford T Justice]

That probably makes it even more impressive what Nuno did if he can basically replace a whole team, implement a new system and playing style in a matter of weeks and walk a notoriously difficult division to get out of.

Not denying that. What he did that season and the following one was remarkable.

I imagine having a team containing Jota, Neves and Boly in the championship made it less difficult than if he had Edwards, Batth and Weimann though.

 

[Sedgers]

With regards the argument about what either manager had there's absolutely no doubt the squad is significantly weaker today than it was two seasons ago. And that's not good is it?

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

Losing 12 of the last 16 games… no real goal threat and no mobility in the team, no real squad depth to call on. Coupled with key injuries during those games.Players seemingly disinterested…
We’ve big problems and for one I see relegation a real possibility next season without a major overhaul and early in the summer at that.
Lose to Norwich and Molineux won’t be kind to them on Sunday.
I’d start with relieving Lage of his duties irrespective of Sunday’s result he clearly has no influence or no idea. Started with a glimpse of what could be… but that’s long gone.
This decline will take some serious money to put right, the thing is will the board allow or do they have the financial investment required as it’s no use relying on youth. They’re just not ready on what I’ve seen and the odd good game by one or two of them won’t be enough on its own…
The squad needs investment again and by that I mean similar to when Fosun bought Neves in and all of the others that summer, not one or two but five or six players and keep the key players from now if possible and most definitely Neves. Build a team around him, if we can persuade him to stay. But if we can’t then move on quickly.
We need pace and strength through the middle and need to find our cutting edge again as we have little of either at the moment.
We need our mojo back…but Lage only has Humbugs and gob stoppers to give us.

Have we really lost 12 of 16????

That's awful.