‘Wolves An Unknown Quantity Under Lage’

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‘Wolves An Unknown Quantity Under Lage’

Wolverhampton Wanderers will be optimistic heading into Saturday’s Premier League match-up with Leicester City, according to Liam Keen, Wolves Correspondent for the Express and Star.

2021-08-14T09:46:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

14 Aug, 2021

‘Wolves An Unknown Quantity Under Lage’

Wolverhampton Wanderers will be optimistic heading into Saturday’s Premier League match-up with Leicester City, according to Liam Keen, Wolves Correspondent for the Express and Star.

Sam Jones

2021-08-14T09:46:00.000Z

‘Wolves An Unknown Quantity Under Lage’

Wolverhampton Wanderers will be optimistic heading into Saturday’s Premier League match-up with Leicester City, according to Liam Keen, Wolves Correspondent for the Express and Star.

Sam Jones

2021-08-14T09:46:00.000Z

‘Wolves An Unknown Quantity Under Lage’

Wolverhampton Wanderers will be optimistic heading into Saturday’s Premier League match-up with Leicester City, according to Liam Keen, Wolves Correspondent for the Express and Star.

Sam Jones

2021-08-14T09:46:00.000Z

‘Wolves An Unknown Quantity Under Lage’

Wolverhampton Wanderers will be optimistic heading into Saturday’s Premier League match-up with Leicester City, according to Liam Keen, Wolves Correspondent for the Express and Star.

Sam Jones

2021-08-14T09:46:00.000Z

_- The pair meet at King Power Stadium for the 2021/22 opening top-flight encounter 3pm kick-off)__- Leicester City finished fifth in the Premier League last term while Wolverhampton Wanderers were 13th__- New manager Bruno Lage has brought new tactical ideas according to journalist Liam Keen_- The journalist spoke in-depth to LCFC TV ahead of Saturday’s 3pm kick-off

Wolves travel to King Power Stadium for their opening top-flight fixture of the campaign (3pm kick-off) targeting an improvement on the mid-table finish in the 2020/21 standings. The Midlands outfit were 13th, scoring 36 goals, following their impressive seventh-place finish a season prior.

However, Keen expects that the tactical changes Wolves are adopting under Bruno Lage will lead to a much to a greater attacking intent than during fellow Portuguese manager Nuno Espírito Santo’s reign at Molineux.

“Wolves are definitely going to be a bit of an unknown under Bruno Lage,” the journalist revealed while in conversation with LCFC TV this week. “It’s very different from the last regime under Nuno. They are both characters, it’s a very different style of play as well.

“And that’s the big thing for Wolves, he wants the team to be aggressive, quick on the counter, quick in the transition and he wants them to press high with a high defensive line.

“Hopefully, it will see more goals, which they’ve struggled with, but defensively I think a few fans are concerned that signings are needed and also the high line, particularly against Leicester, with [Jamie] Vardy and [Kelechi] Iheanacho in behind, it might be difficult.

“But that’s what Wolves are going to look like, and he still needs a bit of time to get his philosophy across, so it may take a bit of time. You may not see it fully in flow for Leicester but that’s what he wants to do.”

Wolves’ new manager claimed the Primeira Liga title during his time at Benfica, but enters the Premier League as a new face, just as Espírito Santo did when he arrived at the then-Championship club in 2017.

A mixed pre-season, with wins over Real Betis and Coventry City interspersed with defeats to Celta Vigo, Crewe Alexandra and Las Palmas, has left supporters wondering what the season could hold for the three-time champions of England.

Keen continued: “I think it’s a bit of a mixed camp from Wolves fans really. Bruno did win the league in Portugal with Benfica, had 18 months there with them and it was exciting. They went on huge winning runs and also a terrible run which lost him his job in the end.

“It’s very similar in some ways to when Nuno came in. Although he had jobs at other big clubs like Porto and Valencia, he hadn’t won a title. He was coming into Wolves in the Championship equally as unknown as Bruno, I would argue.

“Wolves fans can see there’s a different style, hopefully a more exciting style, because under Nuno, particularly at the back end of last season, it went a bit stale, they were very compact and rather dull.

“They are trying to change that but the big thing for them is that they need signings, and they are working on them. That’s what stopping fans from being excited about the season, they are concerned about the size and depth of the squad with the high-profile injuries they’ve got.”

The Black Country outfit were without striker Raúl Jiménez from late November onwards after a serious head injury and in his absence, the team missed the Mexican forward’s goalscoring ability and all-round play for the remainder of the season.

Rediscovering his partnership with Spain winger Adama Traoré, who scored twice and registered three assists in the Premier League last term, could also play a crucial role in aiding Wolves’ quest to implement a new, more attacking style under Lage.

“Raúl Jiménez has got to be mentioned straight away," Keen added. “He obviously came back from a fractured skull. He’s looked fairly good in pre-season and up until the last pre-season game against Celta Vigo, in the second half, he was superb.

“He links the midfield and the attack together. He brings Rúben Neves into the games because his hold up play and link-up play is so good and he’s able to lay the ball back off to him and that’s when you see him play decisive passes forward.

“Raúl is going to be a big threat in the box and he looks like the same player despite having the injury and having to go in for headers again. That’s the good news on his part, he has looked very sharp.

“I have to mention Adama Traoré as well. Nuno used to describe him as unique and that’s the perfect word for him because there are other players that are fast and strong, but no one in world football does it the way he does.

“The final ball or end product sometimes might need improving a little, but last season he didn’t have Raúl to aim at and that’s where the perfect partnership came to the fore the season before.

“With Raúl back and Adama being the player he is, they are going to be the key men, particularly in the early stages, until they get the likes of Pedro Neto back from injury.”

All times BST.

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