Bruno Lage

[Deleted member drgr12429]

Why is that throwing players under the bus ? If anything he is too honest about the players . I for one have no problem with him talking this way if certain players are not performing properly . I’m fed up with players deciding the manager is not good enough . If you don’t like playing for him then ***k off somewhere else .

Exactly. Why wouldn't we want hungry players? Reams of posts here moaning that the players have downed tools. By growing up i take it he means growing to another level. And again why wouldn't you want your players to be at the next level. It's how you get better as a team.
He wants a fast paced, fast transitioning team. Half the players aren't capable of this. He's trying to make them do it, but they have never been fast paced. The team was built for low block, slow transition until it got forward. We sold our fast transition forwards....

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Exactly. Why wouldn't we want hungry players? Reams of posts here moaning that the players have downed tools. By growing up i take it he means growing to another level. And again why wouldn't you want your players to be at the next level. It's how you get better as a team.
He wants a fast paced, fast transitioning team. Half the players aren't capable of this. He's trying to make them do it, but they have never been fast paced. The team was built for low block, slow transition until it got forward. We sold our fast transition forwards....

Reading that and I’m struck that MGW ticks all those boxes, including the “grown up” aspect.

 

[Alex Rae The Substitute]

In truth Lage has done as good a job as I think we could have expected.

The squad is small, and not his, however, let’s not lose sight of the fact he has the likes of: Neves, Moutinho, Raul, Semedo, Sa, Coady (England international) in his starting XI alongside hot prospects Kilman, RAN and Trincao (not to mention Belgian international Dendoncker) to pick from. Many managers would be very envious of that list.

Credit where it is due though he’s got us a solid top 10 finish. He deserves praise and respect for that.

The obvious and nagging concerns for me though are as follows:

• We’ve largely been reliant on an impressive mid-season run of 1-0 type wins and Sa MOTM performances that have got us to where we are. Now the limited scoring has dried up it seems, and the defence is leaking. This urgently needs addressing.
• Speculation only at the moment, but we could very easily lose both Neves and Moutinho this summer, that will leave a huge void in our team and I think it’s naive to think we’ll easily replace like for like.
• Where are the goals going to come from? We’ve not really answered the problem since losing Jota and Doherty. I love Raul, but I’m starting to concede we may only ever see him at his current standard, not the elite player he was before. £30m gets you an Ollie Watkins… we’ll likely need to spend bigger than this to get a top marksman.
• Maybe unfair to look back, but, Lage struggled in his second season with Benfica, and for me there are a few worrying similarities with how our form is dipping this tail end of the season. Plus I also feel he has less of a plan B than Nuno did, which is alarming.
• There’s an overriding air of apathy around Molineux at the moment. Maybe it’s because we’re safe for a record 4th season in a row in the PL. But everything seems so ‘meh’ at the moment. Atmosphere is flat more often than not, stadium is looking VERY tired, Fosun/ Shi are particularly quiet, and there seems to be more and more empty seats every weekend. My point being here, I hope what seems to be apathy isn’t us sleep walking into a difficult season next year.

Just my thoughts anyway, in general I’m still incredibly optimistic about Wolves, perhaps not as much as circa 2018-20, but still can’t believe how far we’ve come in recent times.

It feels like a case of stick or twist with Lage? The naturally cautious person in me says stick with what you know. But the Wolves fan in me can’t help but wonder what could be if we got a Lopetegui type…

 

[VancouverWolf]

If i was Bruno i'd be fuming. Because the board gave away the best option he had to get us up the pitch quick. Every defender and manager in the PL had to think about Traore. He was our most devastating weapon to get the ball up the pitch. It's no surprise to me we've been **** up front since he left.
As much as people hate him on here he was a weapon that every team wants. Devastating pace, can beat players for fun, can set up goals. Without him in the team the opposition defences are comfortable in the knowledge that Wolves have no attacking option.
Maybe Chiquinho might be, but right now we have zip, especially with no Podence and a half fit Neto. Hwang, Trincao and to an extent Raul can't hold the ball up, or get past players to put the opposition under pressure.
Immediately that puts pressure on our midfield and defence, and it's one of the big reasons we've looked shakier in the middle and at the back.

Traore wanted OUT.

The board wanted him to stay…….that’s why they offered him a contract extension.

 

[Rhyl Wolf]

On summer plans: "We are working so hard with Scott (Sellars) and Matt Hobbs. We need to have solutions. We have more than one plan for every position. If we buy a player for £10m/£15m it's hard to turn down an offer for three or four times that."

 

[Jawwfc]

I guess we will know more tonight at 10:30....out of curiosity does anyone know why there is this 10:30 embargo?

 

[Mugwump]

That the Sevilla manager who has Sevilla in "relegation form' over the last 3rd of the season?

Is 16 points from a possible 36 relegation form? That would put them about 9th in the league. Not as good as 4th like now, but still not relegation form.

 

[Mugwump]

If i was Bruno i'd be fuming. Because the board gave away the best option he had to get us up the pitch quick. Every defender and manager in the PL had to think about Traore. He was our most devastating weapon to get the ball up the pitch. It's no surprise to me we've been **** up front since he left.
As much as people hate him on here he was a weapon that every team wants. Devastating pace, can beat players for fun, can set up goals. Without him in the team the opposition defences are comfortable in the knowledge that Wolves have no attacking option.
Maybe Chiquinho might be, but right now we have zip, especially with no Podence and a half fit Neto. Hwang, Trincao and to an extent Raul can't hold the ball up, or get past players to put the opposition under pressure.
Immediately that puts pressure on our midfield and defence, and it's one of the big reasons we've looked shakier in the middle and at the back.

Getting us up the pitch quick wasnt really doing much for us in the scheme of things because there was very little quality at once we were there.

 

[Stoichkov]

I guess we will know more tonight at 10:30....out of curiosity does anyone know why there is this 10:30 embargo?

national papers demand it from locals and websites to protect the story (ie so people still buy the paper). otherwise they have a strop and gang up on the local reporter

FFS does anyone newspapers any more?!!

 

[Deleted member drgr12429]

Getting us up the pitch quick wasnt really doing much for us in the scheme of things because there was very little quality at once we were there.

Yea, but we had that out player. The opposition had to have a plan for him, and that changed the way they defended. Also getting up the pitch quick AND keeping it gives our defence and midfield time to reset. Against Man City particularly the defence was all over the place because almost all the time the ball would come straight back after it was cleared.

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

national papers demand it from locals and websites to protect the story (ie so people still buy the paper). otherwise they have a strop and gang up on the local reporter

FFS does anyone newspapers any more?!!

Yup! Relic of a bygone era!

 

[Deleted member drgr12429]

Traore wanted OUT.

The board wanted him to stay…….that’s why they offered him a contract extension.

He did, but he was still under contract here. The board let him go despite this. They could have just said you can stay here till the end of the season then do the loan/buy/give away which ever will be applicable.
Sending him before the season ended hurt us badly.

 

[Northampton_wolf]

He did, but he was still under contract here. The board let him go despite this. They could have just said you can stay here till the end of the season then do the loan/buy/give away which ever will be applicable.
Sending him before the season ended hurt us badly.

Did it? he made an impact in the first couple of games for barcelona, and then has drifted to the bench and small substitute appearances. I saw really positive impact in chiquinho ie winning the ball and pressing, from that what i saw in traore.

Mans a maverick love his play, but he hasnt clicked properly since his run of assists with raul and his goals against city.

 

[Mugwump]

Yea, but we had that out player. The opposition had to have a plan for him, and that changed the way they defended. Also getting up the pitch quick AND keeping it gives our defence and midfield time to reset. Against Man City particularly the defence was all over the place because almost all the time the ball would come straight back after it was cleared.

We had an out player who barely had an impact. Adama despite his pace is fairly easy to deal with in a lot of ways because of the quality of his end product. He beats players easily a lot of the time, and he can be a handful but without that end product there is very little benefit to him. Chiquinho for example has had impact with directness and pace and had an impact in terms of an end product. Our current form has nothing to do with Adama not being here. Its down to tactics and us not bringing in suitable players to improve us.

And regardless of him being under contract, he wanted to go. He's wanted to go for a long time and you arent going to deny him a possible move to Barcelona. It was a poor deal on our part, but i dont think we thought he would flop as badly as he has there.

 

[Deleted member 7862Bler]

If we could get the seville manager it would be good.

If we could get Savile manager it would still be an improvement on Bruno

 

[Chris H]

If we could get Savile manager it would still be an improvement on Bruno

Now then, now then!

 

[WolfLing]

Bruno is very ambitious. That should be a good thing for many people criticising the club for lack of ambition.

His messages are fairly consistent too. Be prepared to go with him on his journey, or go elsewhere.

It’s very much out of the Mourinho playbook, which can be decisive, but if the approach is fully backed by the club, it tends to yield results. It’s not one for the long term though. Tends to work in 3 year cycles and then it’s too much!

 

[Gold Flag Flying High]

In truth Lage has done as good a job as I think we could have expected.

The squad is small, and not his, however, let’s not lose sight of the fact he has the likes of: Neves, Moutinho, Raul, Semedo, Sa, Coady (England international) in his starting XI alongside hot prospects Kilman, RAN and Trincao (not to mention Belgian international Dendoncker) to pick from. Many managers would be very envious of that list.

Credit where it is due though he’s got us a solid top 10 finish. He deserves praise and respect for that.

The obvious and nagging concerns for me though are as follows:

• We’ve largely been reliant on an impressive mid-season run of 1-0 type wins and Sa MOTM performances that have got us to where we are. Now the limited scoring has dried up it seems, and the defence is leaking. This urgently needs addressing.
• Speculation only at the moment, but we could very easily lose both Neves and Moutinho this summer, that will leave a huge void in our team and I think it’s naive to think we’ll easily replace like for like.
• Where are the goals going to come from? We’ve not really answered the problem since losing Jota and Doherty. I love Raul, but I’m starting to concede we may only ever see him at his current standard, not the elite player he was before. £30m gets you an Ollie Watkins… we’ll likely need to spend bigger than this to get a top marksman.
• Maybe unfair to look back, but, Lage struggled in his second season with Benfica, and for me there are a few worrying similarities with how our form is dipping this tail end of the season. Plus I also feel he has less of a plan B than Nuno did, which is alarming.
• There’s an overriding air of apathy around Molineux at the moment. Maybe it’s because we’re safe for a record 4th season in a row in the PL. But everything seems so ‘meh’ at the moment. Atmosphere is flat more often than not, stadium is looking VERY tired, Fosun/ Shi are particularly quiet, and there seems to be more and more empty seats every weekend. My point being here, I hope what seems to be apathy isn’t us sleep walking into a difficult season next year.

Just my thoughts anyway, in general I’m still incredibly optimistic about Wolves, perhaps not as much as circa 2018-20, but still can’t believe how far we’ve come in recent times.

It feels like a case of stick or twist with Lage? The naturally cautious person in me says stick with what you know. But the Wolves fan in me can’t help but wonder what could be if we got a Lopetegui type…

Depends how much of the first team changes for me, if it changes considerably then i Would keep the manager we have, yes he’s got some good players but like you say he hasn’t had a chance to bring in what he thinks is needed to make us a different team. I thought in the friendly games he was playing the formation he wants to play but saw quite quickly he didn’t have the defenders for it.

We defend as a whole team so it masks our defensive weaknesses, but now there are ageing players in other areas which is starting to show. We don’t need much to see a different formation and a more dangerous outfit. But the more windows of inactivity in the transfer market makes it harder, gambling only on talented youth and sticking with a certain level of first team player is a gamble indeed. I hope all the youth buys pay off like Ait Nouri who I think is getting better but most of that first team hasn’t changed in a while, the premier league does not hang about for any club.

 

[Northampton_wolf]

Back him, if we do go a full reinvention be that without a core of moutinho, neves, raul, saiss and perhaps jimenez. There is a lot of change, let him run his philosophy with a fully fit neto in preseason and go chasing the dreams

 

[Fenrir_]

If i was Bruno i'd be fuming. Because the board gave away the best option he had to get us up the pitch quick. Every defender and manager in the PL had to think about Traore. He was our most devastating weapon to get the ball up the pitch. It's no surprise to me we've been **** up front since he left.
As much as people hate him on here he was a weapon that every team wants. Devastating pace, can beat players for fun, can set up goals. Without him in the team the opposition defences are comfortable in the knowledge that Wolves have no attacking option.
Maybe Chiquinho might be, but right now we have zip, especially with no Podence and a half fit Neto. Hwang, Trincao and to an extent Raul can't hold the ball up, or get past players to put the opposition under pressure.
Immediately that puts pressure on our midfield and defence, and it's one of the big reasons we've looked shakier in the middle and at the back.

Might have helped if Lage played him more often. After the Brentford game Traore was the one who paid with his place and from then on spent more time on the bench than the pitch. So you can blame the board for 'giving' him away if you want, but Lage never truly valued him anyway

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

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?

I don't care whether you thought Kevin Thelwell, Kevin James or Kevin Keegan signed them. Nuno was the gaffer when they came in. Fact

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

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.

The players are largely mediocre but Lage has shown me absolutely nothing outside of 3 games. Maybe the players bottled it and reverted and if we clear out those not capable of playing an attractive style then it would work but I have my doubts

 

[Summer_Wolf]

If we could get the seville manager it would be good.

We wouldn't though would we, let's be honest. That ship sailed 6 years ago.

 

[Bawtry Wolf]

Could someone please explain what our philosophy of our way of playing is as I haven’t got a clue. I presume defensive and turgid isn’t the philosophy.

"To continue at this level, rebuild a strong team to continue the philosophy of our way of playing."

 

[Wonder Boyo]

The players are largely mediocre but Lage has shown me absolutely nothing outside of 3 games. Maybe the players bottled it and reverted and if we clear out those not capable of playing an attractive style then it would work but I have my doubts

To be a very good manager you have to motivate your players to change to your way of thinking, or at least convince them that it is the way forward, or at least enforce your will. This a surely a huge aspect of management. The very best managers are able to do this with other manager's squads, or incomplete squads. Conte at Spurs is a prime example of this and that is why he is so successful. Not expecting everyone to be like Conte because he demonstrably one of the world's elite managers, but I think it is always a cop out to suggest that a manager is hamstrung by a previous manager's squad and there is nothing they can do. It is a major part of management. Successfully managing the mindset, expectations and attitudes of the players in your squad.

 

[JayStringer]

Bruno was brought in to do a certain job, and surely we can all -whether you like him or not- agree he wasn't given the full tools to do that job. Go back a few months and people in the national media were starting to talk up our chances of finishing fourth. Yes, we collapsed. But we collapsed with an out of form striker, with Saiss's form dropping off a cliff, injuries to Neves and Podence, and one of the most appalling red card decisions of the season. And when things went bad, there were literally no options in midfield to try and change things,

So back Bruno this summer and give him next season to see where we can go.

 

[Manic88]

Could someone please explain what our philosophy of our way of playing is as I haven’t got a clue. I presume defensive and turgid isn’t the philosophy.

"To continue at this level, rebuild a strong team to continue the philosophy of our way of playing."

- Don’t spend any money
- stay up

That’s the philosophy

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

By most metrics he's succeeded.

He's failed the metric of 'play attacking football'. Quite spectularly too!

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

To be a very good manager you have to motivate your players to change to your way of thinking, or at least convince them that it is the way forward, or at least enforce your will. This a surely a huge aspect of management. The very best managers are able to do this with other manager's squads, or incomplete squads. Conte at Spurs is a prime example of this and that is why he is so successful. Not expecting everyone to be like Conte because he demonstrably one of the world's elite managers, but I think it is always a cop out to suggest that a manager is hamstrung by a previous manager's squad and there is nothing they can do. It is a major part of management. Successfully managing the mindset, expectations and attitudes of the players in your squad.

Quality is more important than mentality. Pep couldn't take the Dog and Duck to the Prem.
He's never won a Champions League without Messi.

 

[1972 i began]

Something happened behind the scenes spanning back to the hoever incident that has grown.
Are you seriously saying nothing is wrong when johnny otto runs around half heartedly in the brighton game?
Spiers won't tell us but there is something toxic under the surface.

Perhaps they dow like hard truth.He's more of less told em to grow some balls.From what I can gather,he's upped the training methods to suit his style.And the players are either no good at it or not bothered to do anything about it.In which case means we need a new spine which as been mentioned.Some have obviously bin told they are on the transfer list,or their contract is not being renewed.And it's bloody showing.

 

[Deleted member drgr12429]

We had an out player who barely had an impact. Adama despite his pace is fairly easy to deal with in a lot of ways because of the quality of his end product. He beats players easily a lot of the time, and he can be a handful but without that end product there is very little benefit to him. Chiquinho for example has had impact with directness and pace and had an impact in terms of an end product. Our current form has nothing to do with Adama not being here. Its down to tactics and us not bringing in suitable players to improve us.

And regardless of him being under contract, he wanted to go. He's wanted to go for a long time and you arent going to deny him a possible move to Barcelona. It was a poor deal on our part, but i dont think we thought he would flop as badly as he has there.

"Despite his pace he's fairly easy to deal with". Yea, even easier when he's not even here. You don't understand. Teams HAD to deal with him, whether he didn't do much or not. Did you not hear Pep in his interview? Wolves are much easier to deal with without Traore!
Pep, you know, the manager of the champions. I'll take his word rather than someone off the mix...
Teams had to set up differently with Traore in the side. That is a fact.
He wanted to go yes, but he only went because they let him. He is a professional under contract. If Wolves had of insisted he stayed to the end of the season he would have had to, and he would have put his heart into it.
Has he flopped there? He did great when he got minutes. Xavi fancies Dembele more, and has used Traore to get Dembele to get his **** together, nothing more.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Traore created shots for us, top 20% in Europe at it. His end product was not good enough, that is fair comment but the rest of our team barely create any shots outside of Podence.

Trincao is bad at it and Hwang is like as bad as it gets. Bottom 3% across Europes top 5 leagues.

3
Percent.

I know people hate stats like these, but don't they match your eyes?

 

[Wonder Boyo]

Quality is more important than mentality. Pep couldn't take the Dog and Duck to the Prem.
He's never won a Champions League without Messi.

This is very true and point taken, but at the same time you should be able to get the most out of a decent squad, or at least some reasonable attacking play. To draw so many blanks, created so few chances and scored so few goals with a squad that has included Traore (before he went), Podence, Raul, Neto, Hwang, Trincao etc. If anything, we're in a better position than I expected, which is why I'm prepared to stick with Lage and give him more time, first 3 games aside plus Watford and Leeds home, the football has been truly awful. The squad isn't that useless.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

This is very true and point taken, but at the same time you should be able to get the most out of a decent squad, or at least some reasonable attacking play. To draw so many blanks, created so few chances and scored so few goals with a squad that has included Traore (before he went), Podence, Raul, Neto, Hwang, Trincao etc. If anything, we're in a better position than I expected, which is why I'm prepared to stick with Lage and give him more time, first 3 games aside plus Watford and Leeds home, the football has been truly awful. The squad isn't that useless.

You are correct that for whatever reason the attacking play has been horrific since GW 4. We barely create a chance, people go on about finishing here but it is honestly it is a bit overrated - give me a mediocre finisher with fantastic movement, who can dribble well and create for others over a great finisher who does nothing else all day.

Chance creation is the key, get yourself players who can make their own chances with their movement and get yourself a midfielder with the balls to go through the lines to them.

 

[JonahWolf]

To be a very good manager you have to motivate your players to change to your way of thinking, or at least convince them that it is the way forward, or at least enforce your will. This a surely a huge aspect of management. The very best managers are able to do this with other manager's squads, or incomplete squads. Conte at Spurs is a prime example of this and that is why he is so successful. Not expecting everyone to be like Conte because he demonstrably one of the world's elite managers, but I think it is always a cop out to suggest that a manager is hamstrung by a previous manager's squad and there is nothing they can do. It is a major part of management. Successfully managing the mindset, expectations and attitudes of the players in your squad.

Which is an excellent point.
Conte did need 2 quality players to make progress though. Until he got Bentancur and Kulusevski in, he spent most of the time moaning that he didn’t have the tools or mentality to make a success of it.
2 world class players in your squad is also a massive boon, takes less magic to build the whole team around Kane and Son.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Which is an excellent point.
Conte did need 2 quality players to make progress though. Until he got Bentancur and Kulusevski in, he spent most of the time moaning that he didn’t have the tools or mentality to make a success of it.
2 world class players in your squad is also a massive boon, takes less magic to build the whole team around Kane and Son.

Dunno about world class (see other thread ha) but they are terrific players. I didn't rate Bentacur for a long time but I get him now.

Kulusevski is like a poor mans KDB (no insult). Got some dog in him as well, will not back down and is hard as nails.

 

[Don Corleone]

I guess we will know more tonight at 10:30....out of curiosity does anyone know why there is this 10:30 embargo?

What’s happening at 10:30 tonight? Sorry if I’ve missed something…

 

[Joshwolf218]

What’s happening at 10:30 tonight? Sorry if I’ve missed something…

We usually get another wolves story that's all as that is when the embargo ends

 

[Chris H]

You are correct that for whatever reason the attacking play has been horrific since GW 4. We barely create a chance, people go on about finishing here but it is honestly it is a bit overrated - give me a mediocre finisher with fantastic movement, who can dribble well and create for others over a great finisher who does nothing else all day.

Chance creation is the key, get yourself players who can make their own chances with their movement and get yourself a midfielder with the balls to go through the lines to them.

Yep, throw enough **** and some of it will stick.

Rather than, erm, having a sticky wall but no **** to throw at it?

The analogy has become very sketchy I’ll admit but I’m sure you catch my drift…

 

[Manic88]

"Despite his pace he's fairly easy to deal with". Yea, even easier when he's not even here. You don't understand. Teams HAD to deal with him, whether he didn't do much or not. Did you not hear Pep in his interview? Wolves are much easier to deal with without Traore!
Pep, you know, the manager of the champions. I'll take his word rather than someone off the mix...
Teams had to set up differently with Traore in the side. That is a fact.
He wanted to go yes, but he only went because they let him. He is a professional under contract. If Wolves had of insisted he stayed to the end of the season he would have had to, and he would have put his heart into it.
Has he flopped there? He did great when he got minutes. Xavi fancies Dembele more, and has used Traore to get Dembele to get his **** together, nothing more.

I sympathise with Traore. I was so good that I was marked out of every Sunday game and only managed a handful of goals per season.