Three questions Lage will be looking at in Wolves’ friendly with Stoke

Wolves will play their first of two pre-season games in two days with a friendly against Stoke tomorrow.

Bruno Lage’s men are now back in England after a training camp in Marbella.

As the Premier League season draws ever closer here is a look at three questions Lage will be looking at ahead of the match…

How do Wolves split their squad?

Wolves have another game against Coventry on Sunday.

It’s unlikely many players will feature in both games, so Lage has to find a way to split his squad effectively.

Will it be a first team for one match, then the kids for the other? Or perhaps a mixture of both in both games?

It’ll be interesting to see what he does.

Wolves had three games in four games in Marbella, if you include the behind closed doors friendly with Al-Shabab, so it’s not exactly new for Lage.

Which formation does he go for?

Lage has tried a 4-4-2, a 4-2-3-1 and a five-man backline so far during pre-season.

Will he experiment again here? Or is he going to settle on a first-choice system as the season moves closer.

Time will tell. Lage may well want his players to be adaptable and flexible, or he could want them focusing on one system now.

Stoke’s setup will also play a part and they’ll be well up for the game because their season starts next week.

Is Traore ready to be involved?

The Spain international only linked up with the squad this week after an extended break following Euro 2020.

He’s not had that much time to train, but will Lage throw him straight in? In truth, you’d expect so.

Tied into this is the fact that Lage now has all his senior players together. Traore was the last to return.

That means that there are decisions to be made on the youngsters who have been filling in while the international stars have been away.

Who will go on loan, and who will stay around the first team squad? Perhaps this weekend will be a final chance for the academy prospects to impress.

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