Bruno Lage was confirmed as the manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday.
The club’s search to replace Nuno Espirito Santo didn’t take all that long in the end, with Lage reportedly impressing Jeff Shi two weeks ago, and receiving his work permit last week.
The work starts now for Lage, and there are plenty of things for him to do and address:
Implement his style
Wolves fans are expecting a big change in terms of the brand of football they will be watching from here on in.
Under Nuno, the game plan was often to sit and invite pressure, defend well and hit teams on the counter. That often made for a difficult watch. Especially after Raul Jimenez got injured.
Lage arrives with a reputation of being someone who champions attacking football.
It’s important for him to select a system that can get the best out of the array of talented attacking options in the squad.
Hopefully, there will be plenty of goals scored and points picked up.
Improve the defence
Wolves were very inconsistent at the back in 2020/21.
Nuno chopping and changing the formation perhaps didn’t help, but the drop off compared to the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons was alarming.
A particular weakness last term was the defending of set-pieces.
Lage must give extra attention to this in training, and work closely with the recruitment team to get the necessary players in.
Get the underperformers performing again
Players like Leander Dendoncker, Conor Coady, Willy Boly, Joao Moutinho and, in parts, Adama Traore, had poor campaigns in 2020/21.
These are guys that have tremendous ability and Lage must breathe new confidence into them.
It’s vital they step up, as there are a lot of young players in the squad and they need to be leading by example.
Invest extra time into Silva
Fosun will hope Lage can be the man to get Fabio Silva to reach the next level.
Jeff Shi is an absolutely huge fan on the 18-year-old, and he’ll want Lage to improve the big-money signing.
While some fans have criticised him, he is quite a popular figure at Molineux and most want him to do well.
A lot of money was invested to bring him to the Black Country, and ideally Lage will set the youngster on the path to success.