Trincao and Fabio Silva prove that Bruno Lage's furious rant has paid off for Wolves
Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Bruno Lage had some choice words for the club's youngsters this time last month
Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail
One month ago, as Wolverhampton Wanderers’ season threatened to peter out, Bruno Lage decided to take one enormous risk.
Wolves had just produced arguably their worst performance under Lage to lose 2-0 to Crystal Palace at Molineux. In the space of nine days, Wolves had lost three straight Premier League matches and their European dream was hanging by a thread.
Lage was angry the previous week after watching his team pass up a golden opportunity away to rivals West Ham. He launched a stern defence of his players in his post-game press conference, insisting they produced a ‘good performance’, to leave himself open to criticism from supporters who must have been watching a different game.
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Lage wasn’t willing to make the same mistake twice after a shambolic first half display against Palace. Ki-Jana Hoever took the brunt of Lage’s anger during a fiery 20-minute press conference, but the message was clear to all of the youngsters within the squad.
“I have too many kids in my team that sometimes don’t work the way they should work,” said Lage. “They need to understand that I don’t waste time with guys who don’t work hard every day to improve. I can see guys who are 35-years-old and they don’t play, like Joao (Moutinho) didn’t (at West Ham), and they are trying to win balls in the air, ‘Hey, look at me, I’m here’.”
The following week Lage correctly pointed out that he isn’t the first manager to publicly blast a player and that he won’t be the last. But this Wolves squad have become so accustomed to problems being kept in-house that Lage’s outburst must have taken everyone by surprise.
It was a wake-up call that Lage thought his team needed - but it could quite easily have backfired. However, four games on from Lage’s post-Palace rant, the players have responded perfectly to rack up nine more points. Had it not been for Kevin Friend’s woeful decision to send Raul Jimenez off against Leeds United last month, Wolves would have three more and be sitting pretty in sixth place with seven games remaining.
Wolves have improved collectively and, while Hoever’s long-term future is unclear, some of the other youngsters Lage may or may not have been referring to have grasped their opportunities. Francisco Trincao has been maligned for much of this season, but his last two performances have been superb.
The same can be said for Fabio Silva, who has now regained Lage’s trust after infuriating the Wolves head coach with his performance against Tottenham Hotspur in September. Lage believes Silva’s showing against Aston Villa was his best of the season and another start is on the horizon at Newcastle United.
“Sometimes it’s good for the young players to listen to the truth. Sometimes it helps them to wake up. These days the mentality is very different,” said Lage, when reflecting recently on that infamous press conference in March.
“It’s good for me to understand when I talk with (Conor) Coady, (Romain) Saiss, Moutinho and (Willy) Boly, they are different, when I talk with Ruben (Neves), Leander (Dendoncker) - guys of 25, 26 - and the kids of 18, 19 and 20.
“I put a lot of pressure on my players. I really don’t care if they feel comfortable with what I’m saying to them, what I want is to take the best from them in every moment. I don’t put everyone down. When I put them down, I will be the first guy to put my hand up and put them in a game.”
The recent improvement of Trincao and Silva, coupled with the club’s excellent form, shows Lage’s gamble has paid off. If Wolves do finish inside the European places, Lage’s comments on March 5 should be viewed as a turning point in their season.