The Bruno Lage evolution: 5 reasons why Wolves are more efficient under their new manager

Wolves have become the unlikely candidates for a top-four finish after a run of six wins in eight Premier League games.

Bruno Lage’s tenure started with three straight 1-0 defeats, but since then he has turned them into one of the best defensive teams in the country.

We look at five methods Lage has used to put Wolves in such a strong position…

Change in defensive structure

When Bruno Lage was appointed, the assumption was that he would aim to make Wolves more attacking. His Benfica team had scored at a rate of almost three goals per game during his first half-season in charge and only the bottom four had scored fewer goals than Wolves in 2020/21.

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But Lage has done the opposite – Wolves are less prolific in attack but supreme defensively; only Manchester City have conceded fewer goals. Using the same formation as Nuno, Lage has not noticeably increased pressing, instead preferring to make Wolves better at repelling attacks rather than preventing them.

This is largely down to personnel. The rise of Max Kilman as a potentially international class central defender has been one of the stories of this Premier League season, with Willy Boly now surplus to requirements given the form of Kilman and Romain Saiss. Consistency of selection matters too: those two plus Conor Coady have started 22 of Wolves’ 24 league games as a trio.

But Lage has made tweaks with the style. Whereas Coady was the “cover” defender last season, mopping up behind as the other two central defenders pushed a little higher, they now all tend to stay in a flat line more to defend as a unit rather than individuals.

Video analysis

Having worked as an assistant manager or youth coach for more than 20 years before landing the Benfica job, Lage was often responsible for opposition scouting and weakness analysis – studying data to calculate how his teams could improve. He has taken this into the Wolves job, where one of the biggest differences between him and Nuno is how much time is spent with the players analysing individual and collective performance.

As per his request, Wolves turned a room into an analysis suite, where the players often meet twice a day watching videos of previous matches to work on tweaks that he believes will make a massive difference to performance. They might discuss body shape, dummy runs to create space or positioning on the edge of their own box to pick up headed clearances. Coady is one player who has spoken publicly about the extraordinary attention to detail, but all of them appreciate it.

And this is a two-way street. Lage is hardly the only Premier League manager to hold regular video analysis sessions, but at Wolves he has found a small squad but a core group of players who were desperate to take on board the minutiae of Lage’s advice.

The signing of the season

For all the discussion of defensive cohesion, matches are usually decided on a small number of crucial moments and 19 of Wolves’ 24 league games have ended with a margin of one goal or less. In those circumstances, the performance of your goalkeeper can become definitive.

Last season, Rui Patricio ranked 16th amongst regular Premier League goalkeepers for his save percentage. In terms of post-shot expected goals (the number of goals conceded vs the number of goals you would expect to concede given the quality of chances faced), Patricio ranked 39th of the 42 goalkeepers to appear in the Premier League last season. Jose Sa has been a revelation. As detailed in this week’s The Score column, Jose Sa ranks first for save percentage with 85.3 per cent. He ranks second only to David De Gea for post-shot xG saved.

And it’s not just the shot-stopping. Sa’s quick distribution has been key to Wolves counter attacks, while captain Coady has praised his new goalkeeper for his communication with his defence and the manner in which his character rubs off on his teammates. There’s a reason Gary Neville labelled him the signing of the season.

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No more crossing

Last season Wolves ranked sixth in the division for crosses attempted. They had a type: one of Pedro Neto or Adama Traore would attempt to find Raul Jimenez, when available, and Wolves would either hope to create a chance directly or feed off the second ball. Those crosses were often unsuccessful (particularly, infamously, when wit was Traore) but Nuno’s Wolves played the percentages with Jimenez in the team.

That has all changed under Lage, who has abandoned the cross strategy. Wolves rank bottom in the Premier League for crosses into the box. The wide players are told to stay central with the wing-backs offering the width but, even then, they usually play the ball back into midfield rather than attempting a cross. Instead, Wolves’ attacks come through the centre.

Making the most of Ruben Neves

That ‘no cross’ strategy makes Ruben Neves the key individual in Wolves’ attacks and Neves has flourished under Lage’s management. With Jimenez dropping deep and the advanced midfielders staying central, Wolves have a set move for creating attacks. One of Neves or Joao Moutinho will play a pass into feet and quickly receive the ball back. That reception is the cue for one of the attacking players to make a run and it is with that second pass that Wolves look to find a player in space and break through the lines.

With Neves the one most responsible for those passes (last season it was Moutinho who played more passes per 90 minutes of the pair), he has learned to be more progressive. He is attempting fewer shorter passes (those between five and 15 yards in length) than last season but more longer passes (more than 30 yards). He is also moving forward with the ball more often – Neves had only 12 successful dribbles last season but is already at 19 in 2021/22. That all makes him more of an attacking threat, evidenced by his shot-creating actions. Last season he ranked fourth at Wolves by that measure; he’s joint-first this season.

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