TalkSport pundit and commentator Sam Matterface has blasted Wolves for their style of play under Bruno Lage.
The Portuguese head coach took over at Molineux from another Portuguese boss in the form of Nuno Espirito Santo, and having taken over a team that had suffered a significant dip in terms of their league finish, he has done a pretty good job in stabilising the club. They currently sit 8th in the league having won seven of their opening 18 games.
However, in doing so, they haven’t exactly been the most thrilling of teams to watch, scoring just 13 goals, the second-fewest in the league, whilst also conceding just 14, the third-fewest.
And it was those numbers that forced Matterface, who was speaking on the TalkSport Gameday Podcast (35:59), to slam Lage and his team for the way they were playing, accusing them of being an incredibly boring side to watch:
“Very, very impressive defensively, I mean they are literally the most boring team when it comes to entertainment value, because their games just never have any goals in them. They’re binary fixtures, 1-0, 1-0, 0-1, 1-1, 0-1. It’s like a digital printer, it’s a nightmare. 13 goals they’ve scored all season, 13 goals so far, Mo Salah’s got twice that. I mean it’s just an absolute joke.”
TIF Thoughts on Sam Matterface’s comments about Wolves and their style of play
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Whilst it might not be the most pleasing on the eye, there is certainly no doubt that it is effective in making sure Wolves stay up near the top of the table. And given that Lage is in his first season in charge at the club, he can be forgiven for being cautious whilst he tries to work out what the club needs to look like moving forward in the long-run.
There are echoes of Sheffield United’s 2019-20 campaign, in which they too weren’t exactly thrilling, with 39 goals both scored and conceded in their 38 games, which managed to take them to 9th in the league that year, which if Wolves could replicate would be an impressive return in Lage’s first year.
However, as Sheffield United proved, it’s not always going to be sustainable, once the balance tips one way or the other, with either the goals drying up for you, or goals flying in against you, then you end up in deep trouble and relegated, so it is something that Lage does need to sort out, even at the risk of being slightly more adventurous, if Wolves are to avoid falling apart further down the line.
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