There is plenty to like about Bruno Lage’s first half-season in charge at Wolves.
Unknown to the Premier League he may have been, but the Portuguese has made the transition from Nuno Espirito Santo look easy.
Almost like slipping into a comfy pair of slippers, the 45-year-old has tweaked but not overhauled the structures put in place by his compatriot.
With one glaring difference.
While Wolves are sitting comfortably outside the leading pack and ahead of immediate danger, there can be no doubt that unlocking just one door could make a huge difference to the remainder of the campaign at Molineux.
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Wolves remain tight at the back and a threat on the counter-attack.
If only Lage could help leading scorer Raul Jimenez re-discover the kind of form that the Mexican displayed for Nuno, any lingering doubts that the club could enjoy a healthy campaign would simply disappear.
Perhaps it is expecting too much from a player who has suffered a head injury that was not just career-threatening but one that also carried far more serious consequences in November 2020 when he clashed with Arsenal ’s David Luiz at the Emirates.
After a lengthy rehabilitation, Raul has returned – and each of the three goals he has scored have had a direct influence on matches turning in his club’s favour.
Twice he has found the net in single-goal victories over Southampton and West Ham. And on the other occasion – against Everton – it turned out to be the winner.
However, by this stage in his previous two completed seasons – and including the one curtailed at the Emirates – he had scored over twice as many.
That upturn would be of a huge benefit to Lage who won plenty of early-season praise for the number of chances his new model side created.
Their problem back then – and it is one that remains – is that Lage’s side is not over-flowing with goals or goalscorers.
Hwang Hee-Chan leads the club charts with four and is then followed by defender Romain Saiss with three and Daniel Podence with a couple to his name. A cluster of players have netted just once.
In fact, since beating the Toffees at the start of November, Wolves have played eight times, scoring just twice.
That was sufficient to bring victories over West Ham and Brighton and while those fixtures include games against title-chasers Liverpool and Manchester City, the lack of a cutting edge is undoing plenty of good work in a rearguard that is once more being marshalled superbly by skipper Conor Coady and ably assisted by Saiss.
The fact was underlined by the arrival of a Chelsea side that was unusually vulnerable amid a COVID outbreak last week with Blues’ boss Thomas Tuchel making a point by failing to name a full complement of players for the substitutes’ bench.
Lage would have been helped too had he managed to harness Adama Traore’s obvious asset to greater effect.
The Spain international frightened the life out of Liverpool at Molineux three weeks ago. He was the outstanding attacking threat as Wolves came within a whisker of grabbing a point.
Traore played a major part in Jimenez’s success in the Black Country.
With Ruben Neves still a significant player at the heart of Lage’s midfield and Coady a steadying influence at the back, the building blocks are there.
However, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that Wolves’ success in the second-half of their campaign depends on Lage finding a way to unleash the attacking potential at his disposal.
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December 26, 2021 at 03:31PM
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Bruno Lage left with two-point plan to complete rapid Wolves evolution - Swift Digital news agency
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