How Lage has revitalised Wolves with an exciting, attacking style of football

Conor Coady on the strategy that has enthused fans as club go in search of win today that would take them into top six

Days before he was appointed head coach of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bruno Lage visited the club’s Compton training base and made a crucial decision.

He insisted on a humble computer office being transformed into an auditorium, with seats for all the first-team squad and his staff, and it is this room which has instantly become the nerve centre for the Portuguese’s revolution.

Wolves face Leeds United today having won four of their past five Premier League matches and with Lage’s exciting, attacking style of football having revitalised the club.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s reign ended on a frustrating note last summer, with too many dour, cautious performances, but Lage has reintroduced the fearless approach for which they were renowned after promotion.

Conor Coady, the captain, has just finished a defenders’ meeting to deliver some insight into Lage’s vision and how the 45-year-old works.

“A lot of people think we play the same way as last season, but if you watch us, it’s completely different,” he says. “We were always a counterattacking team before, but now it’s been completely flipped on its head.

“The back three is a lot higher, we’re nowhere near as deep as we were. A lot of the time we’re man v man, trying to sustain attacks a lot more, so when the ball is in the opposition half we’re all the way in.

“Now it’s about trying to play through lines and having more of the ball than the opposition. We play in a totally different way.”

The focus is primarily on attacking, creating chances and dominating the ball, and Lage’s players appear to be thriving under his philosophy.

Midfielder Ruben Neves and forward Adama Traore have been reinvigorated, defender Max Kilman is in the form of his career, and summer signing Hwang Hee-chan is a skilful, pressing forward who looks perfectly suited to the Premier League.

Early this season, Wolves were third behind Liverpool and Manchester City for total shots and expected goals, yet in recent matches the handbrake has been applied, to underline how Lage can adapt to the opposition.

There is a spirit and belief coursing through the dressing room, underlined by last weekend’s 3-2 win at Aston Villa, where they recovered from two goals down with 10 minutes left.

The key behind Lage’s management is meetings, and lots of them, which usually last up to half an hour.

On this Friday morning, like most mornings, the squad congregate in Lage’s auditorium to discuss the Leeds assignment in lengthy detail.

Coady says: “We explain what we plan to do leading into the games and then take that on to the training pitch. We also watch an awful lot of the opposition.

“The attention to detail is amazing. Even down to how you win the ball back from a throw-in, because we want the ball as much as we can now. Those little details become massive for us. It has really opened my eyes. When I first went to England [the national team] it was a lot like that, and the gaffer here is very similar to how he works.”

Training is very intense, with Lage a central figure and hands-on in sessions. Full of energy and ideas, he is also demanding and thorough.

A pre-season training camp in Marbella was a pivotal moment, and Coady recalls Lage pulling the squad together a few weeks after and saying: “Ninety per cent of our work up to now has been offensive, 10 per cent has been the defending side of it.”

Wolves prefer to see it as evolution under Lage, rather than revolution, as the fundamental approach is the same as that of Nuno.

Like Nuno, Lage works with a big backroom team and it was coach Carlos Cachada who introduced meetings for players in certain positions. Goalkeeper coach Tony Roberts is vastly experienced in English football, having previously worked at Swansea and Birmingham, while he remains on the Wales national team’s staff.

Lage is unquestionably the central figure, though, and it has been a promising start in only his second managerial post, after a spell at Benfica. Victory at Elland Road today could lift Wolves into the top six. “We’re understanding the manager a lot more now, but we’ve not hit the heights yet for where we want to go,” Coady says.

“It’s a modern approach, but all about keeping the players comfortable. I read a lot about him before he came in, about how he was going to play 4-4-2 and all that.

“But he’s looked at every single one of us and fitted us into how he wants to play. It’s an exciting time for us.”