Conor Coady has been speaking about playing in a back four at Everton, after leaving Wolves following a change of system at Molineux.
For years, Coady was a regular in Wanderers’ defence.
The star featured in the middle of a back three in a ‘sweeper’ role, which brought great success for Wolves.
The star had arrived at Molineux as a holding midfielder, with Nuno Espirito Santo shifting him further back to take advantage of his passing range.
He took to the role like a duck to water.
Coady shone there, and played a huge role in Wolves getting to the Premier League and into Europe and the semi-final of the FA Cup.
Bruno Lage came to the club last year, and he initially wanted to change the formation to a back four. He realised he didn’t really have the personnel to do this, and stuck with the system that had been so successful under Nuno.
But after some heavy backing this summer, Lage finally changed the system, with Coady losing his starting berth for the first time.
He was on the bench for the first game of the season against Leeds United. Days later, he joined Everton on loan.
Lage supposedly felt Coady wasn’t really suited to playing in a back four.
But now, the England international has been playing in a back four at Everton and has largely done quite well.
Speaking to Sky Sports about the irony, he said after an exhale of breath, a quick shake of the head and a wry smile: “It was never something that I looked at and thought I could not do.
“It was something other people said. Every time something happened at Wolves, it was, ‘He can’t play in a four’. Other people were making a big deal of it. For me, it was just playing football.”
Conor Coady has now proven he can play in a back four, but he did struggle at Wolves
Without doubt, Coady has shown this season that he has the capability to play in a back four.
And that has come as a surprise, because he did look uncomfortable when Wolves did play with a four the odd time under Nuno. The 3-2 defeat against West Bromwich Albion in 2020/21, a game in which Coady was substituted, still sticks out.
Lage’s concerns were understandable. But perhaps the Portuguese made up his mind a little too quickly on Coady. Maybe he just needed time to adapt to a new role.
But the decision was made to offload Coady, once the player had gathered he was no longer going to be a regular.
Fair play to him for getting out of a situation he didn’t like. But Wolves should definitely have done a much better deal than they did.