Bruno’s shown he’s Lager than life
BUT IT’LL ALL GO FLAT IF HE CAN’T GET ATTACK FIZZING
THERE is plenty to like about Bruno Lage’s first half-season in charge at Wolves.
The Portuguese has made the transition from Nuno Espirito Santo look easy, like slipping into a comfy pair of slippers.
The 45-year-old has tweaked though not overhauled structures put in place by his compatriot.
But something’s missing.
Wolves are sitting comfortably out of immediate danger, there can be no doubt that unlocking one old door could make a huge difference to the remainder of the campaign.
Wolves remain tight at the back and a threat on the counter-attack.
If only Lage could help leading scorer Raul Jimenez rediscover the kind of form that the Mexico ace displayed for Nuno, any lingering doubts that the club could enjoy a healthy campaign would simply disappear.
Perhaps it is expecting too much from a player who suffered a head injury 13 months ago that was not merely career-threatening .
After a lengthy rehabilitation, Jimenez has returned – and each of the three goals he has scored since have had a direct influence on matches turning in his club’s favour.
Twice he found the net in singlegoal victories over Southampton and West Ham. In the 2-1 win against Everton – his strike for 2-0 earned the points.
However, by this stage in his previous two completed seasons – and even the one curtailed at the Emirates – he had scored over twice as many.
A return to that form would be a huge benefit to Lage who won plenty of early-season praise for the number of chances his new-model side made.
Their problem then as now is that Lage’s side is not over-flowing with goals or goalscorers.
Hwang Hee-chan leads the club’s charts with four goals, followed by defender Romain Saiss and Jimenez with three, and Daniel Podence with a couple to his name. A cluster of other players have netted once. Since beating the Toffees at the start of November, Wolves have played eight times, scoring just twice.
That was sufficient to bring victories over West Ham and Brighton.
But while the run of fixtures included games against Liverpool and Manchester City, the lack of a cutting edge is undoing plenty of good work in a rearguard once more marshalled superbly by skipper Conor Coady and ably assisted by Saiss.
The lack of threat was underlined last week in a 0-0 against a Chelsea side that was unusually vulnerable amid a Covid outbreak.
Lage will be helped if he can harness Adama Traore to greater effect. The Spain international frightened the life out of Liverpool at Molineux three weeks ago – he was the outstanding attacking threat as Wolves came within a whisker of a point. He played a major part in Jimenez’s original success in the Black Country, too.
And with Ruben Neves still a big player at the heart of Lage’s midfield and Coady an influence at the back, the old building blocks are there.
But now Lage must find a way to unleash the attacking potential at his disposal – or his season will end with a whimper not a bang.