Wolves team news vs Sporting: Bruno Lage makes Conor Coady decision as Jose Sa returns
Latest Wolves news from BirminghamLive includes team news for the friendly versus Sporting at the Estadio Algarve
Bruno Lage has paired Nathan Collins and Max Kilman together in a back four for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ pre-season clash with Sporting.
Lage is using the Sporting fixture at the Estadio Algarve as a dress rehearsal for next weekend’s Premier League opener against Leeds United. And the Wolves head coach has stuck with his four-man defence to make just two changes from the starting line-up which defeated Besiktas last weekend.
Wolves have won all four pre-season fixtures in which Lage has deployed a four-man defence, and he seems to have settled on new signing Collins and Kilman as his preferred central defensive duo. That means no place in the XI for Wolves captain Conor Coady, who is named among the substitutes.
READ: Sporting vs Wolves live match updates and stream details from Estadio Algarve
READ: Wolves winger Pedro Neto has made a promise which should worry Leeds United
Jose Sa returns to start his first game of pre-season following a knee injury. Wolves’ number one replaces youngster Jackson Smith in goal.
The second change from the team which defeated Besiktas sees Leander Dendoncker replace the injured Raul Jimenez. Mexican striker Jimenez will be out of action for a ‘number of weeks’ due to minor knee and groin injuries.
Dendoncker joins Ruben Neves - who captains the team in Coady's absence - and Joao Moutinho in midfield in Wolves’ new 4-3-3 formation. Morgan Gibbs-White, Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto start in attack.
Wolves (4-3-3): Sa; Jonny, Collins, Kilman, Ait-Nouri; Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho; Gibbs-White, Podence, Neto
Subs: Smith, Mosquera, Boly, Coady, Toti, Bueno, Ronan, Cundle, Hodge, Griffiths, Campbell, Hwang
READ MORE FROM PRE-SEASON: