Is Bruno Lage A Good Manager Or Should He Go?

[Deutsch Wolf]

To be fair Trincao almost certainly isn't staying so shouldn't have been used at all in the final weeks (Chelsea aside, he wasn't doing anything anyway) and we don't know what the full story is with Podence's injury (or "injury") or whatever's going on behind the scenes, but there could be other factors at play there depending what you believe.

I'm not sure why Fabio went from getting a decent amount of game time (even preferred to an available Raul at West Ham) to barely even getting off the bench, and Chiquinho was our most dangerous player against both Chelsea and Man City then didn't start the last two or even come on at Anfield.

He just does odd things on a regular basis, I'm not sure I buy a conspiracy. Were we playing Marçal over Ait-Nouri earlier in the season to appease our social media following in Brazil? Did he ignore Boly completely until we finally sorted out a deal with some Ivorian media company then he was fine to come back in? Did Roberto Martinez ask him to see if Dendoncker could play as a sort of false right winger to trial an idea he had for Belgium but didn't feel confident to throw in himself? And so on and so on.

Occam's Razor is that he makes erratic choices, reads games badly and sticks with what he knows rather than assessing the situation with an open mind. I mean look at the Norwich game, are you ever going to get a better chance to see how we go with a back four and a reshaped midfield with pretty much nothing on the line? Europe essentially gone, at home to the worst team in the division who've already been relegated. Stuck with the same shape as normal and should have lost.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Not every decision could be down to social media, but some of them could be, and the Hwang one looks the most likely to be.

The comparisons aren't fair at all, Marcel, Boly etc hadn't lead to Wolves creating a channel specifically for their country in the way that Hwang has, neither have they lead to 2000% extra YouTube hits.

I think Occam's Razor actually does point to higher parts of the club wishing for Hwang to get minutes over other players being far more likely than Bruno thinking he would be the better option in that game yesterday for 100% footballing reasons.

 

[Loki]

If Lage is "obliged" to give Hwang playing time, why didn`t he make him a late substitution if he doesn`t rate him?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

No but they're examples of the manager making weird choices that are beyond the comprehension of most fans.

He probably just thinks Hwang is a good player and a genuine goal threat, because he's not a very good manager.

 

[Deano]

I've mentioned this before but Fosuns thinking is the wrong way round. They think they can artificially manufacture brand growth. They've most likely seen other clubs that have different spokes to the wheel and are trying to copy that, the issue is the clubs that have large revenues which are contributed to by other factors go hand in hand with a successful football team.

Nobody is going to give a shit about the Wolves brand if the football team is playing in the Championship, if a player is a good fit for the where the team wants to be and happens to bring more eyes from overseas so be it but you can't be signing and playing players that aren't good enough for these reasons (if that is what's happening)

Either way, it looks like there's at least some minor unrest in the background with the reports of fall outs with players and Podence liking that tweet yesterday
. Doesn't have a great feel about it.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I've mentioned this before but Fosuns thinking is the wrong way round. They think they can artificially manufacture brand growth. They've most likely seen other clubs that have different spokes to the wheel and are trying to copy that, the issue is the clubs that have large revenues which are contributed to by other factors go hand in hand with a successful football team.

Nobody is going to give a shit about the Wolves brand if the football team is playing in the Championship, if a player is a good fit for the where the team wants to be and happens to bring more eyes from overseas so be it but you can't be signing and playing players that aren't good enough for these reasons (if that is what's happening)

Either way, it looks like there's at least some minor unrest in the background with the reports of fall outs with players and Podence liking that tweet yesterday
. Doesn't have a great feel about it.

Yeah, it's the end game of having people at high levels who are operating well above where they should be and don't know what they're talking about. They've seen our numbers from Mexico with Raul* and thought "wow, if only we could harvest the same or even more from the Far East, let's go down that road", without realising that Raul has his own following because he's actually a very good player, Mexico's premier export in Europe as it stands (which clearly Hwang is never going to be for South Korea while Son is still playing) and already a hero for the national team. They're lower key but having the likes of Tsun Dai, Hong Wan and David Wang at the club was a tepid attempt at getting a player of Chinese origin for us, and it's anyone's guess why we've signed Kawabe but it's some kind of crack at the Japanese market.



*I'm sceptical that this actually makes us any money or anything at all tangible beyond worthless numbers on a screen, and the idiots still didn't seem to realise in those shit interviews last year that as soon as Raul leaves - which he will one day - then the hordes of Guadalajara and Tijuana are not going to give a shit about Wolverhampton Wanderers. The indignant, huffy way that Wild (?) countered Johnny Phillips saying that Wolves aren't *actually* their number one team with "I think you'll find they are" spoke volumes. You don't have a clue mate.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

If Lage is "obliged" to give Hwang playing time, why didn`t he make him a late substitution if he doesn`t rate him?

You're over thinking it, i just think Hwang's SM presence has a part to play in his selection, it might be 5% it might be 90% but a part.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Yeah, it's the end game of having people at high levels who are operating well above where they should be and don't know what they're talking about. They've seen our numbers from Mexico with Raul* and thought "wow, if only we could harvest the same or even more from the Far East, let's go down that road", without realising that Raul has his own following because he's actually a very good player, Mexico's premier export in Europe as it stands (which clearly Hwang is never going to be while Son is still playing) and already a hero for the national team.



*I'm sceptical that this actually makes us any money or anything at all tangible beyond worthless numbers on a screen, and the idiots still didn't seem to realise in those shit interviews last year that as soon as Raul leaves - which he will one day - then the hordes of Guadalajara and Tijuana are not going to give a shit about Wolverhampton Wanderers. The indignant, huffy way that Wild (?) countered Johnny Phillips saying that Wolves aren't *actually* their number one team with "I think you'll find they are" spoke volumes. You don't have a clue mate.

I bet it would be quite interesting/depressing to re watch that interview with Jeff etc again now.

 

[AndyWolves]

Fosun didn't get where they are by employing duffers. Would anyone take a relegation to clear out Shi, Sellars etc?

 

[darlowolf64]

No

 

[Tony Towner]

No

 

[darlowolf64]

Relegation could lead to years at the lower level and I've had enough of that shit in my time as a Wolves fan

 

[Deano]

Fosun didn't get where they are by employing duffers. Would anyone take a relegation to clear out Shi, Sellars etc?

That's pointless in the scope of football. They might be good businessmen in other areas but they know fuck all about football.

 

[AndyWolves]

That's pointless in the scope of football. They might be good businessmen in other areas but they know fuck all about football.

Relegation would be seen as failure, no?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I never want to play in the Championship again at any cost. It's shit. You see relegated clubs' fans delude themselves that it's "more fun" but it isn't.

A concession I privately made to myself was that I didn't mind too much if we dropped down the table yesterday, because having £4.4m wiped off what they would have budgeted for might focus the owners' minds a little more and it also immediately throws out for good the trite "we're 8th" argument I've seen plastered around (not so much on here).

 

[Aikiwolf]

Yes, it's more fun (@DW )

Tbh, being a midtable team in the PL is as exciting as midtable in the championship except it's cheaper.

I wouldn't suggest it as a strategy to get rid of the rot though, it's risky!

 

[AndyWolves]

I never want to play in the Championship again at any cost. It's shit. You see relegated clubs' fans delude themselves that it's "more fun" but it isn't.

A concession I privately made to myself was that I didn't mind too much if we dropped down the table yesterday, because having £4.4m wiped off what they would have budgeted for might focus the owners' minds a little more and it also immediately throws out for good the trite "we're 8th" argument I've seen plastered around (not so much on here).

I think it's more of an theoretical question. It doesn't feel like there is much positivity around at the moment, everything feels very negative.

If relegation meant we got someone in charge who knows a few things about football and made better football decisions would that lead to a more positive outlook?

I'm not advocating for either, but it doesn't seem like folk are enjoying wolves much at the moment.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

1) We wouldn't massively drop prices if we got relegated. You know what they're like. They'd probably freeze them and big up you getting four extra home games for your money.

2) If you're 8th in the Premier League (as we were 24 hours ago) you might not actually achieve anything but you have a chance of seeing the likes of Neves, Moutinho, Jonny etc play for your club. If you're 8th in the Championship then it's a racing certainty that you have a collection of deeply average and worse footballers.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I think it's more of an theoretical question. It doesn't feel like there is much positivity around at the moment, everything feels very negative.

If relegation meant we got someone in charge who knows a few things about football and made better football decisions would that lead to a more positive outlook?

I'm not advocating for either, but it doesn't seem like folk are enjoying wolves much at the moment.

Some of the changes we could make don't take a great deal of imagination. It's just whether the club decide whether to ignore the iceberg or not.

Get a proper manager and DoF, refresh a squad that's looking stale with money we've already generated ourselves and would add to through sales, stop being wankers about ticket prices, pack in nonsense about eSports and start communicating properly, these aren't lofty aims.

 

[Tony Towner]

we could make don't take a great deal of imagination. It's just whether the club decide whether to ignore the iceberg or not.

Get a proper manager and DoF, refresh a squad that's looking stale with money we've already generated ourselves and would add to through sales, stop being wankers about ticket prices, pack in nonsense about eSports and start communicating properly, these aren't lofty aims.

I don't think people would pay too much attention to the side hustles if they got the core footballing part right. People get agitated when they are already pissed off. A bit like Nuno's solutions, for 3 years nobody gave a toss, in year 4 we wanted to throttle him every time he said it as the football was poor