Bruno Lage

[Ernie the Wolf]

I really don't get this...

Lage purposely protects the players for the last few weeks after poor performances by saying they were okay & we did alright in the games - Fans call him out and say he talking ****e

After a 4th consecutive poor performance, he finally gives them the public *******ing they deserve - Fans say he's being too harsh

If Hoever can't be ***** to put in the effort for this club, why should he be protected any longer by Bruno & the coaching staff?? I understand some are combating this by saying, well why was he picked today? Does Lage really have any other option? Jonny has only just come back from back-to-back ACL's and looked off the pace against Arsenal only a week or so ago, it would've been a risk to start him at this stage, so what can he do?

A very sensible and measured post.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Honestly I doubt this behaviour is isolated to our team, nor will it end with Ki.

We’re witnessing a generation that’s grown up trying to impress people they don’t know on Instagram and Tiktok, and have a half-***** attitude to the real life events then. I’m not even too old (only 24), but the amount of my friends who I’ve seen put minimal effort into their careers, and then spend all of their time on social media is crazy. It’s going to be the same with footballers - and unless you have extraordinary talent, if you’re not putting in 100% you’re not going to make it as a premier league player.

Same thing happened with Otasowie and I believe there was even an article on it last week.

Players of yesteryear used to spend their time getting hammered 3x a week. I don't really buy any of this, kind of stuff one generation has made up about the next since start of time

 

[Parkfieldswolf]

Honestly I doubt this behaviour is isolated to our team, nor will it end with Ki.

We’re witnessing a generation that’s grown up trying to impress people they don’t know on Instagram and Tiktok, and have a half-***** attitude to the real life events then. I’m not even too old (only 24), but the amount of my friends who I’ve seen put minimal effort into their careers, and then spend all of their time on social media is crazy. It’s going to be the same with footballers - and unless you have extraordinary talent, if you’re not putting in 100% you’re not going to make it as a premier league player.

Same thing happened with Otasowie and I believe there was even an article on it last week.

You’re probably right and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Hoever feels he should still be at Liverpool and not having to ‘slum’ it down the Wolves. I’ve got news for the lad from what I’ve seen of him his ability doesn’t even warrant a mid table champ team.

 

[MasWolf]

He lost the dressing room fast enough at Benfica - the Portuguese media reported that the team pretty much downed tools - and his comments today suggest something similar is going on again.

I'm no so sure to be honest. It seems to be aimed at the younger players. He commented on how well Moutinho is training etc.

 

[WV10Wolf]

Maybe Bruno has spoken to him in private and he’s been ignored and as much as my heart says tear them a new ******** my head knows Bruno must remain diplomatic and just leave Hoever out of the squad altogether.

I don’t think we need to worry about him being in the squad going forward!

 

[MasWolf]

I don’t think we need to worry about him being in the squad going forward!

Good, he's crap.

 

[Andi130]

Big test for Bruno over the past 4 games and I'd give him 3/10 for selections and in game tactics. Granted, the players have been below par, but he completely destabilised the team against West Ham and Palarse with shoddy selections. He's generally had a great 1st season with us, so trying not to appear overly critical.

On a side, what really interests me is what actually went wrong at Benfica in season 2 after they had such a great run in his first season? I know they lost a couple players, but did he run out of ideas and are there any similarities in way he appears to go a bit off track with the team when it gets a bit sticky...Can anyone provide any insight?

 

[Contrarian]

What is he doing?
Silva was best wolves player against west ham yet doesn't even come on today.
Even more ridiculous he plays hoever even though he is absolutely useless.
Palace played how I have wanted us to play all season, passion, strong, pace, looked like scoring every attack.

Yet all they actually scored from was a scramble after a lucky bounce and a penalty. And a week from now, could well be 10 points behind us (they have Man City next). Not exactly setting the league alight, are they? Though looking at their line up today, it's not too shabby and trying to be unbiased, may even be stronger than ours. Seems a better balance of flair, skills and strength, just more balanced all round. If Viera was any good, he'd have them in our league position.

 

[MontyR]

Players of yesteryear used to spend their time getting hammered 3x a week. I don't really buy any of this, kind of stuff one generation has made up about the next since start of time

I’d argue they’re different though, and what Lage touches on is more related to social media.

He said: “Ki is a good example of the young kids, they want everything to happen (now).”

Younger people, myself included, have much less patience for things than my parents have. No doubt Instagram feeds, tiktok feeds etc have a hand to play in this. I had to delete all my socials to try solve the issue.

 

[MasWolf]

Big test for Bruno over the past 4 games and I'd give him 3/10 for selections and in game tactics. Granted, the players have been below par, but he completely destabilised the team against West Ham and Palarse with shoddy selections. He's generally had a great 1st season with us, so trying not to appear overly critical.

On a side, what really interests me is what actually went wrong at Benfica in season 2 after they had such a great run in his first season? I know they lost a couple players, but did he run out of ideas and are there any similarities in way he appears to go a bit off track with the team when it gets a bit sticky...Can anyone provide any insight?

From what I understand, he was actually doing really well in the second season till they lost to Porto near Xmas time. I'm not sure why this was the catalyst, but I heard they were poor from then on.

 

[North West Wanderer]

Don't like the digging out of hooever

Me neither at all.
If he doesn’t deserve to play, don’t play him.

 

[Chris H]

"I have too many kids in my team that don't work the way they should"

As explicit as it gets

Yeah I’ve read that now, the more general comment made me think that he meant kids in football in general, but that’s one’s specific and damming.

Perhaps he means both, either way it’s concerning and his comments publicly are strong which could go either way.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

I’d argue they’re different though, and what Lage touches on is more related to social media.

He said: “Ki is a good example of the young kids, they want everything to happen (now).”

Younger people, myself included, have much less patience for things than my parents have. No doubt Instagram feeds, tiktok feeds etc have a hand to play in this. I had to delete all my socials to try solve the issue.

Young people have always been like that though, people just pretend it is new.

 

[Martin Riggs]

About time a manager said it how it is, instead of the usual cliches.

Hoever is shocking anyway, he's got a first touch only a breeze block could love. £9m? Ha, the guy didn't even play 1 minute of league football for Liverpool. Add that to the Jota deal where payments are spread out over about 20 years, it must rank as one of our worst decisions in recent history.

 

[BCWolf]

Me neither at all.
If he doesn’t deserve to play, don’t play him.

I dont like Hoever as a player, but still think the public dressing-down is inappropriate. For me the worrying comment is that there are others. This has to include Trincao and Silva. Given the investment in both players it leaves Jeff between a rock and a hard place - cut bait or cut Bruno.

 

[CelebrityWolf]

Hoever is basically done for. I wonder if it turns out he isn't injured

I wondered at the time if he was just looking for an out as he was probably picking up some abuse/comments from fans and fully aware he was getting torn a new one but judging by Brunos comments he must have injured himself.

 

[hollo]

Worry for me is who are the other kids he is talking about?

Surely he can't mean chiquinho?

 

[Bradmore Wolf]

Get into 'em...**** 'em off. ( if they're not performing or showing correct attitude according to the Boss)

 

[TheConcourse]

Guessing the other is RAN? No other reason why he wouldn’t be starting ahead of Marcal.

RAN has the ability to be genuinely world class, but there are times where his style looks super lazy. Also struggles to complete 90 minutes.

I don’t have any problem with him calling Hoever out tbh. The kid’s ****, and it fires a warning shot for the other players to improve sharpish. If Hoever is collateral damage for improvements across the board then so be it.

Unless he improves his attitude that will be his final PL game for anyone.

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

What is he doing?
Silva was best wolves player against west ham yet doesn't even come on today.
Even more ridiculous he plays hoever even though he is absolutely useless.
Palace played how I have wanted us to play all season, passion, strong, pace, looked like scoring every attack.
We don't look like we could score in a year.
I mean it's mad coz we are 8th but the football is so rubbish, it's like a miracle we are above teams like Palace. Probably bored teams into submission!

You only post when we play Palace!

 

[hollo]

Deflection from putting out ****-poor teams the last 2 games. NO spearhead up front - amateurish.
We know midfield is likely to be ****e and overrun - well it has been 90% of recent games.
I think today was the most deflating, disjointed, pathetic excuse of a performance I have seen since Fosun came in.
Its been coming though.

Burnley last season. Chiquinho showed some fight at least

 

[wwbug]

Bring back Bruno ball. At least we were entertained.
I dread Watford

 

[Poztin]

I don’t know if it’s because we got used to the ultra conservative Nuno but I’ve increasingly found Bruno far too forthcoming with the media.

Everything from in depth tactical analysis, transfer window complaints, to now throwing young players under the bus. There’s no need for any of it.

Some may find him refreshing. I find his openness a car crash waiting to happen.

Button it.

 

[hollo]

You’re probably right and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Hoever feels he should still be at Liverpool and not having to ‘slum’ it down the Wolves. I’ve got news for the lad from what I’ve seen of him his ability doesn’t even warrant a mid table champ team.

Cameron bothwick Jackson and chris cornes spring to mind of talented players who didn't have the application.

 

[Fenrir_]

T

I don’t know if it’s because we got used to the ultra conservative Nuno but I’ve increasingly found Bruno far too forthcoming with the media.

Everything from in depth tactical analysis, transfer window complaints, to now throwing young players under the bus. There’s no need for any of it.

Some may find him refreshing. I find his openness a car crash waiting to happen.

Button it.

The in depth tactical analysis only comes after we win, show he knows what he's on about...

We've been a car crash in slow motion since September/October

 

[Flaneur]

Guessing the other is RAN? No other reason why he wouldn’t be starting ahead of Marcal.

RAN has the ability to be genuinely world class, but there are times where his style looks super lazy. Also struggles to complete 90 minutes.

I don’t have any problem with him calling Hoever out tbh. The kid’s ****, and it fires a warning shot for the other players to improve sharpish. If Hoever is collateral damage for improvements across the board then so be it.

Unless he improves his attitude that will be his final PL game for anyone.

He said Ait-Nouri had a virus so only managed to train for two days leading up to the game, probably the reason why he was on the bench for today

 

[wwbug]

We have suffered from not accepting that Jimenez was so crucial to our play that he needed replacing. Surely we had insurance.
Silva, Podence and Hwang are nowhere near adequate . The injury to Jimmy , the sale of Jota and now the loan of Traore have ripped out any attacking talent that was above average. Hence we are setting records for NOT scoring goals.

 

[wwbug]

You don't need to score 2 goals. All you need to do to win is ensure the opposition scores one goal less than you.

Our squad is seriously short on finishers/goal scorers, whatever you want to call them. So it makes sense to not go full Leeds as if we did, we'd score even fewer than they do and end up in around the same position as them. The key for the non-rich 6 to cope in this league is to be stingy in defence. Burnley, Sheff U (in their good season), Brighton, Us - all doing OK thanks to solid defences.

Pep and the Pundits hate it of course, because we are not playing into the hands of their beloved cartel. Until we have a couple of hundred million to spend and can attract the likes of MBappe, trying to out score the top half the table will end in struggling in the bottom half (Exhibit A: Leeds). Having said that, of course it would be good to be able to have a go at out scoring the bottom 6 and that is a problem with us - and has been since promotion, and only got worse since with injuries & departures.

It's now out in the open that Raul can't direct headers as effectively with the headguard. Our other forward options have no aerial presence, hence Traore has even less end product and is surplus. There does need to be a rethinking. Though most clubs go through phases of rethinks and changes of plan over a season, it's no crises, just something that needs addressing in the mid to long term. Since the start of the season, I've said many times here, that finisher is the position we need to spend the money on, ahead of anywhere else on the pitch.

TLDR: We simply don't have a team that can score 2 goals a game *and* win (important, that last part!) . We need new incomings to provide it.

We certainly didnt go full out today. Our first half was played in slow motion . Yet we went two goals down. Because Podence, Hwang and Neto played like distant strangers , handling a hot potato !

 

[thommo1984]

His comments have really got to me this evening, Fuming, to be honest. Think he needs to take a good long look at himself before he starts publically throwing our young players under the bus.

 

[peter&thewolf]

He might be right about the kids not working hard enough, but coming out and saying it in public and after 3 defeats is not the way to go about it. it's as if he's using that as a excuse for the defeats, but his team selection is the biggest cause, that team he picked against West Ham was a disgrace and picking Podence to play through the middle today was a joke. He's made some very strange decisions lately and losing it at the press conference today was another one

 

[Adrian_Monk]

Just before he went down Coady looked to be giving him a *******ing too for his poor decision-making.. I wonder if it's something the other players agree on as well? They certainly seemed to just stop bothering to pass the ball to him after around 60-70 minutes against West Ham last Sunday

Bruno absolutely lost his **** with him when he ran inside and gave the ball away. Then did exactly the same thing the next time he got the ball. Not surprised he's livid, and I'm all for him digging the player out - it was an uncharacteristically pointless signing at the time that felt like a necessary evil to get Jota his move. I'd shift him on ASAP, very clear he doesn't fit and there's only so much slack you can afford a young player - if the penny doesn't drop and you've done everything you can, it doesn't make you a bad manager.

I have heard rumblings about Silva being on the end of Bruno's ire a few times as well for not listening. Unsurprising he persists with certain players if that's the case

 

[Deleted member 7862Bler]

I don’t know if it’s because we got used to the ultra conservative Nuno but I’ve increasingly found Bruno far too forthcoming with the media.

Everything from in depth tactical analysis, transfer window complaints, to now throwing young players under the bus. There’s no need for any of it.

Some may find him refreshing. I find his openness a car crash waiting to happen.

Button it.

Agreed.
A car crash waiting to happen.
I remember when he was asked about supporters singing about Europe and he gave a two minute detailed answer about why the training trip planned for international break wasn’t going ahead due to covid.
I think his grasp of English isn’t good enough to be going into such detail.
Much prefer nunos or belisas approaches.

Today he said…“I was very upset in the end of West Ham game, today I’m not upset. Disappointing I think is the right word."

 

[Fifty Niner]

Big test for Bruno over the past 4 games and I'd give him 3/10 for selections and in game tactics. Granted, the players have been below par, but he completely destabilised the team against West Ham and Palarse with shoddy selections. He's generally had a great 1st season with us, so trying not to appear overly critical.

On a side, what really interests me is what actually went wrong at Benfica in season 2 after they had such a great run in his first season? I know they lost a couple players, but did he run out of ideas and are there any similarities in way he appears to go a bit off track with the team when it gets a bit sticky...Can anyone provide any insight?

He had a poor run of results which, for Benfica, was like Celtic or Rangers losing 6 or 7 on the bounce.

Not sure if it’s correct but a fan commented that Raul was brought on but took up a position on the wing? Surely not?

 

[Fenrir_]

His comments have really got to me this evening, Fuming, to be honest. Think he needs to take a good long look at himself before he starts publically throwing our young players under the bus.

I've done my best not to make any posts in this thread a Bruno vs Nuno thing. But there's no way that Nuno throws Hoever under the bus like that

Lage is struggling, massively. Said it months ago, miles out of his depth in the Premier League and it's beginning to look like it

 

[TelfordWolf]

His comments have really got to me this evening, Fuming, to be honest. Think he needs to take a good long look at himself before he starts publically throwing our young players under the bus.

Clearly something bubbling in the background that he’s not happy with? I’d personally rather the manager call it out publically. No issues with what he’s said today.

 

[TelfordWolf]

I've done my best not to make any posts in this thread a Bruno vs Nuno thing. But there's no way that Nuno throws Hoever under the bus like that

Lage is struggling, massively. Said it months ago, miles out of his depth in the Premier League and it's beginning to look like it

Would you have said this 3 games ago?

 

[old wittonian]

I've done my best not to make any posts in this thread a Bruno vs Nuno thing. But there's no way that Nuno throws Hoever under the bus like that

Lage is struggling, massively. Said it months ago, miles out of his depth in the Premier League and it's beginning to look like it

Moan, moan ****ing moan.
Just send your CV to Jeff Shi or maybe Lostock Gralam is your level.

 

[Royal wolf]

He had a poor run of results which, for Benfica, was like Celtic or Rangers losing 6 or 7 on the bounce.

Not sure if it’s correct but a fan commented that Raul was brought on but took up a position on the wing? Surely not?

Raul seems to be everywhere but inside the box atm

 

[Deleted member 7862Bler]

I think Bruno’s press conference was similar to Kevin Keegans “I’d love it if we beat them” moment. The moment we all knew the pressure had got too much for him.

Delia smiths half time address to the Norwich fans also springs to mind.

 

[Matt]

Just seen the video of his interview on Sky. He really is seething, you can tell how angry he is from his facial expressions.