Is Bruno Lage A Good Manager Or Should He Go?

[Deutsch Wolf]

Bye bye. A terrible manager who will never get a job anywhere near this level ever again.

 

[Lupo]

I'm done with it, the past few weeks has been relegation form, we have been poor in attack all season but we have now lost our defensive stability too. Something is drastically wrong. Yesterday's performance was humiliating and depressing all over the park. As much as we were pleasantly surprised to be 8th we all know that this feels like a false position, probably as much to do with other teams slipping up as our own work (though our from in January and February was good if not convincing).

We all loved Nuno for the great times he gave us and the connect he had with the fanbase, I am struggling to see any justification for swapping Nuno for Bruno.

Plus, he keeps picking Hwang and talks about him as if he was Messi.

I keep harking back to when he first rocked up with Matt Wild and he walked around the place with his hands in his pockets and messing with his phone, looking disinterested. I'm not sure he has ever been on board with the club or the fanbase, its just another job to him.

Time is up for me

 

[PuntsWolf]

There are mitigating circumstances in that the club is rotten at the top and he hasn’t been backed. But at the same time I don’t think we have bad players.

I’ve also thought that for the majority of the season performances haven’t matched results, but you get the benefit of the doubt. But when you start losing AND results are beyond awful, you are in trouble. Can’t remember Molineux looking so empty since the end of games in the terminal end of the Jackett days and there was probably only 15k in at the start for those.

There’s little to support him. He’s dull, uncharismatic and unlikeable. The football is awful. The signings he’s made have been wank. A record of 14 losses from 15 games you concede in (ignoring the one you didn’t lose was a fluke) is one of the most bizarre stats I’ve ever seen for a club in 8th!?

Rumours of players wanting to leave. Training ground bust ups. Nonsense post match interviews. There are literally no positives. Only “but we’re 8th” which is built on sand and may be as little as a 5 point gap to 15th by the end of the season.

I could probably tolerate him being given a transfer window “just in case” as I don’t think giving him until October would be too damaging. But that’s more because the replacement will likely be no better.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

It's all fallen apart hasn't it. I really can't see us getting any more points this season.

If I wanted a sliding doors moment, I'd go with Leeds at home, we were playing well and in control. Had an injury to Saiss where he shoukd have been taken off, then a red to Raul and well we did nothing. Yes the goals were comical but there was no game plan.

Since then team selection has been ever more bizarre and erratic.

I was still on the fence and was willing to gice him a summer but surrendering to Brighton 3 nil at home is not where we want to be.

I think Fosun and Shi need to take a look at what they want from us as a club, because I see this as a result if their decisions.

My view is that Nuno didn't want to accept the reduced transfer kitty and wanted more of his own targets, that led to his sacking.

Bruno was an appointment of a yes man and whilst I think there's a half decent coach there, his man and game management are clearly lacking. He also has the personality of a wet fish and there has never really been a connection with the fans, this has compounded who he's had to replace.

Do I want him at the club next season, for the first time I'm saying no, I will caveat the answer in that whoever they replace him with needs to be a real manager who will be backed. We can't just have another yes man who's grateful of the job.

If we do then I may consider keeping up my membership but to be honest I enjoyed myself more on Friday night than I have at a football game for a long time

 

[Lycan]

At Benfica the players stopped playing for him, they look like they've done it at Wolves as well. The guy just can't manage a dressing room.

 

[AndyWolves]

Lage at 40/1 has to be worth a few quid

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/next-manager-to-leave-post/spreads/car_15

 

[Paul]

 

[Boozad]

Fuck him off.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

He is the new Glenn Hoddle.

We have steadily regressed over the course of the season from a team that was hard to beat and could win games. Now we are neither of those things. We had times like that under Nuno too but he had the knack of pulling us out of any mini slump…I don’t see that happening at the moment and our end of season fall away looks terminal for him unless there are some freakish results.

I think he’s gone.

 

[Tredman]

I missed most of the Hoddle years but im genuinely struggling to think of a time I’ve been more disillusioned with the team and style of play.

We genuinely have no attacking ideas other than lump it forward or give it to a wing back - usually when surrounded by 3 players. The centre backs are all very slow but being asked to play a high line - see second penalty yesterday. Our manager seems utterly clueless and spends all the match berating his players from the sideline. He’s also has a horrible trait of wanting to blame anyone but himself - a sure a sign of a cunt as any.

It’s not Bruno’s fault he’s employed or that the club is totally rudderless, but it is his fault he is getting such terrible performances from good players. He’s a poor manager and a coward - the sooner he’s gone the better.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

I missed most of the Hoddle years but im genuinely struggling to think of a time I’ve been more disillusioned with the team and style of play.

We genuinely have no attacking ideas other than lump it forward or give it to a wing back - usually when surrounded by 3 players. The centre backs are all very slow but being asked to play a high line - see second penalty yesterday. Our manager seems utterly clueless and spends all the match berating his players from the sideline. He’s also has a horrible trait of wanting to blame anyone but himself - a sure a sign of a cunt as any.

It’s not Bruno’s fault he’s employed or that the club is totally rudderless, but it is his fault he is getting such terrible performances from good players. He’s a poor manager and a coward - the sooner he’s gone the better.

This is Hoddle. The club had no direction then either, seemingly happy to plod along in the upper mid table region flirting with the play offs. Hoddle was a one dimensional coach and couldn’t get anything meaningful out of a team that was really poor to watch.

Go back a few weeks to Lage calling out Hoever and I think we saw the signs of something not right. The past few years we have been better than the sum of our parts, pushed on by a collective desire to run through walls for each other. There was none of that yesterday. It was leaderless on and off the pitch. Neves wasn’t fit enough to play a full game but starts - that’s what you do in pre-season. What impact does that have on Cundle. Boly is a shadow of his previous self, how does Gomes deal with that? Saiss looked like he needed oxygen at the end of the game and was out on his back.

At the start of the game, for a few minutes, I thought we were playing 3 in midfield and 2 up top…but then Dendoncker started to drift into that right forward position for which he is totally unsuited for. Hwang and Silva briefly suggested they would cause problems, picking up the ball and driving forward but it was fleeting rather than concerted. The half time changes made us worse.

All of this is in the manager. Previously I would have said the results gave him enough credit to have the summer and bring in players he wants but they way this season is finishing we might not even finish top 10.

 

[Adrian Peckham Monk]

I actually don't think he's as bad as many are making out. His ideas aren't terrible, he's had some success with limited backing after a terrible season last time around, and he's improved Kilman, blooded Toti (then inexplicably dropped him) and Cundle, arguably got more out of Neves, Podence, Marcal and Moutinho than any of us expected, and has not been helped by long-term injuries to Jonny and Neto, and disruptive injuries to Neves, Kilman, Mosquera, Podence, and Raul's failure to regain form. At times we've looked good, the football has been good, and it's not been a total disaster of a season.

On the flip side, he's been tactically naive, slow to react, unimaginative in team selections and has been bloody lucky to have the best keeper in the league outside the top 4. He's eeked little out of Fabio despite signs he's starting to develop, and aside from Sa his signings have had little impact. There's also the question mark against his man management - several rumblings from the club that he isn't popular with the players - not an issue if they're performing well, but if they aren't, then that issue is potentially directly impacting performances. Leaving Ait-Nouri on despite him clearly having a terrible day at the office was baffling, and does nothing for a player's confidence.

Most concerning for me is despite his words in the press, the players clearly aren't listening right now. They've downed tools, aren't doing what he says/look confused when they do. He's becoming increasingly frustrated on the sidelines. The key risk indicators are all flashing red right now.

Not only do I think it's probably time to go at the end of the season, I think it'll be a miracle if the board don't think the same. Mind you, if jokers like Sellars and Vinny can keep their jobs, anything is possible

 

[Wilf Wolf]

There are mitigating circumstances in that the club is rotten at the top and he hasn’t been backed. But at the same time I don’t think we have bad players.

I’ve also thought that for the majority of the season performances haven’t matched results, but you get the benefit of the doubt. But when you start losing AND results are beyond awful, you are in trouble. Can’t remember Molineux looking so empty since the end of games in the terminal end of the Jackett days and there was probably only 15k in at the start for those.

There’s little to support him. He’s dull, uncharismatic and unlikeable. The football is awful. The signings he’s made have been wank. A record of 14 losses from 15 games you concede in (ignoring the one you didn’t lose was a fluke) is one of the most bizarre stats I’ve ever seen for a club in 8th!?

Rumours of players wanting to leave. Training ground bust ups. Nonsense post match interviews. There are literally no positives. Only “but we’re 8th” which is built on sand and may be as little as a 5 point gap to 15th by the end of the season.

I could probably tolerate him being given a transfer window “just in case” as I don’t think giving him until October would be too damaging. But that’s more because the replacement will likely be no better.

Agree with everything here apart from tolerating giving him a transfer window. He’s not good enough so let his replacement have the window.

 

[Tredman]

I do think he’s probably pretty good as a tactician, he just can’t think beyond a pre-defined plan and has the motivational skills of my cat.

 

[The Bear]

Bruno has overachieved this season based on the squad he has. Nuno finished 13th with practically the same players. And this season we have had no Neto, and a Jimenez that clearly isn't the same player. We were 5 points clear of last seasons total even before the last three losses.

I'm still concerned as anyone about the last month. Am I worried about our form? Yes. Am I worried that this is the best we can hope for under Lage? Possibly. Do I think they've stopped playing for him? Unlikely. Lage needs to do better to motivate the squad though.

I certainly agree that the Leeds loss was a massive turning point and knocked the stuffing out of us. Coupled with Neves getting injured right at a bad time, it has derailed our season.

It was unlikely we'd continue the form that would have gotten us into Europe IMO. I was never convinced we could keep picking up results to make it happen. And I think that has coloured people's opinions as the really bad spell has ended that opportunity.

For me it still comes down to recruitment, which has been incredibly poor. We haven't made any signings that improve the central defence or midfield for years, and all the wide players and strikers haven't been good enough.

Time for Fosun to put their hands in their pockets and make some bold signings. Because as soon as Neves ups ship and leaves we're going to be in even bigger trouble.

 

[Boozad]

14 league games we've gone behind this season and scored in one of them. He's not a good manager and I don't think he's a good tactician either, we've gone back to how we were 12 months ago under a different manager. There were no tactics yesterday at all, nor in the last two games.

 

[Tredman]

Bruno has overachieved this season based on the squad he has. Nuno finished 13th with practically the same players. And this season we have had no Neto, and a Jimenez that clearly isn't the same player. We were 5 points clear of last seasons total even before the last three losses.

We can’t keep just copy/pasting the same tired old argument. Who gives a fuck about last season, watching this garbage is what matters now.

 

[Dire Wolf]

As someone who has repeatedly said he needs to be given the opportunity to work with the players he wants rather than Nuno's squad, if Hwang is anything to go by then his own players will make us even worse. He's lost me by repeatedly playing one of the worst Premier League footballers I have ever seen. He's rubbish (Lage, not Hwang. Hwang wishes he could reach the level of rubbish), he's got no clue how to turn things around when we fall behind and he keeps picking Hwang. That alone should be a sackable offence.

 

[Tony Towner]

I don't have anything new to say about him that I haven't been saying for the last few weeks. Sacking him could see an improvement, what it won't do is give us leadership or recruitment with a direction or purpose, reconnect the club to the fans or refresh a stale squad.

Not a reason to keep him and not a 'deckchairs on the titanic' situation, but if you get rid you are addressing one of a number of problems which may make a little difference if you don't address the fundamentals, even more so if we just go to Mendes for the next in line. The issues at the club are much bigger than Bruno Lage.

 

[Dire Wolf]

There is definitely something rotten in the state of Wolves that is more than just the current manager. But he is absolutely contributing to the rot.