Is Bruno Lage A Good Manager Or Should He Go?

[Tony Towner]

I don't really buy the Nunes signed partly because of Lage stuff. He signed because a combination of Sporting and Mendes pushed him into it, whilst we made it very attractive financially and the Portuguese contingent make it comparably easy to settle in.

Listen to any Coady interview at Wolves and now at Everton it's all the same language, same enthusiasm, same really positive stuff about the club. It's all just playing the game.

I'll never understand and this was happening at the time, how the last 1/3 of last season can be airbrushed away by those who are positive towards him. So much was wrong which went much deeper than injuries or recruitment. I've reeled off half a dozen defeats before that were squarely on him

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I suppose c) might be that there doesn't appear to be anyone obviously massively better on the market at the moment, and it may be worth waiting, rather than getting rid and appointing someone a bit better, rather than someone MUCH better.

Also it does seem that Nunes signed at least in part because of Lage.

That's outside our control though and we can't carry on hardly ever winning until the right guy comes up.

Plus what's to stop us doing what Chelsea have, just lower down the food chain. Everyone is technically available, much as I can tell whoever I'm working for now to do one if someone offers me something much better.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Well, arguably, two good managers for a club like us would be Rogers or Lopetegui.

We could sack Lage tomorrow and we wouldn't be able to get either of those, where as we wait a week or two, then we could.

There really isn't a strong list of potential replacements for Lage right now, even fewer if we are only going to look at Mendes clients, i think that's clearly an issue for Wolves, hell it's a big part of why we ended up with Lage in the first place.

You use Chelsea as an example, which up and coming manager would you be looking to nab?

 

[Tony Towner]

Well, arguably, two good managers for a club like us would be Rogers or Lopetegui.

We could sack Lage tomorrow and we wouldn't be able to get either of those, where as we wait a week or two, then we could.

I'd imagine if we approached either club we could get them for little compensation. If everything you read about Leicester is true the only reason they haven't sacked him is because they don't want to pay him off. We'd be doing them a favour

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I'd imagine if we approached either club we could get them for little compensation. If everything you read about Leicester is true the only reason they haven't sacked him is because they don't want to pay him off. We'd be doing them a favour

Perhaps, but when has that ever happened?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Perhaps, but when has that ever happened?

Souness from Blackburn to Newcastle

 

[Tredman]

Not sacking him because ‘there’s no one better’ is utter nonsense. There’s plenty we could pick from league 2 who could do a better job.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Souness from Blackburn to Newcastle

So approaching 20 years ago?

It's not something that happens very regularly, (a manager on the brink of being sacked, getting picked up by another club).

If the club are thinking about sacking him (lets hope they are, but who knows) then they may well be thinking that we aren't in any immediate danger, and if they wait a couple of weeks they could have Lopetegui and Rogers to choose from and not have to pay a penny for either.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You asked if it ever happened and I told you

I don't care about precedent, I want us to get rid of a crap manager.

We are in danger btw.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Not sacking him because ‘there’s no one better’ is utter nonsense. There’s plenty we could pick from league 2 who could do a better job.

Na, THAT is nonsense, Richie Wellens is currently top of League 2 with Orient, how about him? Or better still Steve Evans is currently 2nd with Stevenage, lets get him in then.

I just think it might be in Shi/Fosun's mind that waiting a little while might expand our options and be cheaper. It's a hardly a controversial point, far less controversial than suggesting we should just settle for someone from League 2, that's the kind of garbage i'd expect to see on the E&S comments page.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I don't care about precedent, I want us to get rid of a crap manager.

And so do i, you asked for potential reasons as to why we are hesitating, i gave you one.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Problem is 'waiting a little while' means we hardly ever win.

We *could* go down (I don't think we will).

 

[Tony Towner]

And so do i, you asked for potential reasons as to why we are hesitating, i gave you one.

I think it will be Lopetegui eventually, assuming neither he or Lage go on a good run. Johnny's review of his playing style worries me though

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Waiting a while might be better in the long term, Albion fell lucky a number of times with the timing of their sackings when they nabbed Hodgson for example.

Where as when we sacked Mick, the options were pitiful, and look at how in those examples it panned out.

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

Would actually be interested to hear from the diminishing pile of pro-Lage posters:

Do you want him to stay because

a) You genuinely think he'll turn around one of the worst runs we've had in 35 years (a lot of that is his fault), and if so, based on what exactly given he has pretty much no track record of ever doing so and we've been shite for months

or

b) We need to be seen to be "fair", which seems a colossal waste of time to me, why throw games away

I'm not sure there really is a c).

Not one of your better posts, Dan. You are MUCH better than this relentless negativity and hostility.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I think it will be Lopetegui eventually, assuming neither he or Lage go on a good run. Johnny's review of his playing style worries me though

I wouldn't be convinced by JL, but you'd hope/imagine he'd be far better than Lage!

 

[Tony Towner]

Not one of your better posts, Dan. You are MUCH better than this relentless negativity and hostility.

People keep telling Deutsch he's much better than what he posts, it must happen once a week. The conclusion therefore has to be he isn't

 

[Bigbadwulf07]

Would actually be interested to hear from the diminishing pile of pro-Lage posters:

Do you want him to stay because

a) You genuinely think he'll turn around one of the worst runs we've had in 35 years (a lot of that is his fault), and if so, based on what exactly given he has pretty much no track record of ever doing so and we've been shite for months

or

b) We need to be seen to be "fair", which seems a colossal waste of time to me, why throw games away

I'm not sure there really is a c).

You are wrong if you think that I'm particularly pro-Lage. I just feel that all last season he was hands tied. There are many posts that say the last 3 windows were crap so he was tied to the players he inherited and they were familiar with a back 3 system. I think that he will have identified the positions that needed improvement and whilst he may or may not have identified the actual players we subsequently bought in I'm sure he would've had a substantial input. I don't like the crap that he spouts but take the Sasa injury for eg. The medics that attended him on the pitch allowed him to play for another 5 or so minutes so that was what would've been conveyed to Lage who then spoke of the injury in less serious terms. In my opinion the true test of his abilities has only just been able to be viewed and not the previous 44 games. Even then he is lacking a striker, Raul unfortunately continues to be chronically fatigued (as opposed to groin strain), we were unlucky with Sasa but maybe that was predictable given his previous injuries and Costa is going to have a limited impact for some time. I just feel it's a 'be careful what you wish for' situ.

 

[Tony Towner]

You are wrong if you think that I'm particularly pro-Lage. I just feel that all last season he was hands tied. There are many posts that say the last 3 windows were crap so he was tied to the players he inherited and they were familiar with a back 3 system. I think that he will have identified the positions that needed improvement and whilst he may or may not have identified the actual players we subsequently bought in I'm sure he would've had a substantial input. I don't like the crap that he spouts but take the Sasa injury for eg. The medics that attended him on the pitch allowed him to play for another 5 or so minutes so that was what would've been conveyed to Lage who then spoke of the injury in less serious terms. In my opinion the true test of his abilities has only just been able to be viewed and not the previous 44 games. Even then he is lacking a striker, Raul unfortunately continues to be chronically fatigued (as opposed to groin strain), we were unlucky with Sasa but maybe that was predictable given his previous injuries and Costa is going to have a limited impact for some time. I just feel it's a 'be careful what you wish for' situ.

Loses his CF against Leeds, doesn't replace him, leaves 2 Wide Forwards on the pitch, the ball comes back time and time again, doesn't change it. We lose

Loses the midfield against Newcastle from the first minute, does nothing even after a get out of jail free offside, they inevitably score and we lose

Plays a managerless Burnley, the team has no intensity we lose

Picks the completely wrong team against Palace, their 433 predictably takes us apart

Players down tools against Brighton, some blame on them, but why did they?

5 losses on him, all not related to the players at his disposal, but the way he played and coached the ones he had. Better players should theoretically bring a higher floor, they won't make him a better manager

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

People keep telling Deutsch he's much better than what he posts, it must happen once a week. The conclusion therefore has to be he isn't

I'm essentially TWF's Paul Cook at this point, which I'm uncomfortable with.