Bruno Lage currently comes across as a man who is beginning to feel the heat of Premier League management. Ordinarily, the 46-year-old is not renowned for letting his emotions get the better of him, but his exit from the Elland Road touchline following Wolves’ 2-1 defeat to Leeds on the opening day of the season was an ill-tempered one after he shunned a handshake from his counterpart in the opposite dugout. In Lage’s defence, it should be said that Jesse Marsch does appear to be a fiery character, which suggests that the American will find himself in a few more spats in the technical area before the season is out.
Trouble in Paradise
However, Lage’s response was like watching a real-life version of the straw that broke the camel’s back. It had less to do with the fact that his team had just lost to a Leeds outfit whose odds on the Premier League winner outright market currently rank as high as 999/1, and more to do with the inescapable reality that his team have now gone eight games without a Premier League win.
Jesse Marsch and Bruno Lage clash on the touchline at full-time ? pic.twitter.com/knZVxuI1dd
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) August 6, 2022
In fact, as of mid-August, you have to go back to the 2nd of April to pinpoint the last time Wolves won in the Premier League when they beat Aston Villa at Molineux. Granted, the fact that this winless drought has been spread across two seasons could help soften the scrutiny on the Portuguese tactician but essentially, Lage has entered a phase where very little is guaranteed as far as job security goes. That, unfortunately, is the unforgiving reality of management in England’s top-flight.
With this in mind, how wise was it for Wolves to sanction a move away from the club for Conor Coady? The centre-back has joined Everton on a season-long loan with the possibility of a permanent deal but crucially, this means that there is no recall clause that states the former Wolves club captain can return in January.
Now, with the winds of change just beginning to pick up in the West Midlands, you do wonder if the club have been hasty in backing their faltering manager over their once fiercely loyal captain.
The irony, however, is that the sign of a well-run club with a functioning management system is backing the manager when he makes difficult decisions that may, on the surface, look unexplainable. Ultimately, it was doing away with Nuno Espirito Santo’s 3-4-3 formation and replacing it was Lage’s preference of four defenders that led to Coady’s departure.
Welcome to Everton, Conor Coady! ? pic.twitter.com/GBCmKgtAwr
— Everton (@Everton) August 8, 2022
In this sense, you have to applaud Scott Sellars and Jeff Shi for standing by their manager. In many ways, the only thing worse than the hierarchy backing an unpopular decision is the alternative; strong leadership does not always make people popular.
But for all the uniformity in the board room, there can be little doubt that the results have now put Lage, a man quite clearly under intense pressure, in a vulnerable position.
When all is said and done, who can say what the future will hold for Wolverhampton Wanderers? But if there is a change of manager at some stage, the incoming one won’t be able to call on one of the club’s finest captains since Billy Wright.
