Inside Julen Lopetegui revolution: Polar opposite to Bruno Lage changing Wolves landscape

Latest Wolves news from BirminghamLive includes the inside story of the team's dramatic improvement under Julen Lopetegui

The statistics make for staggering reading. In seven Premier League games, Julen Lopetegui has transformed Wolverhampton Wanderers’ fortunes.

With just 10 points on the board from 15 matches, Wolves were down and out at Christmas. They were the lowest scorers in the division and a defensive shambles from mid-September onwards.

The belated appointment of Lopetegui in November has turned Wolves from relegation possibilities to survival probabilities. Wolves have won four of their seven league fixtures under the Spaniard, only losing to Manchester United and Manchester City. In those matches Wolves have already accumulated more points and scored more goals than they managed in 15 games under Bruno Lage and Steve Davis.

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What’s changed? If you asked Lopetegui that question he would undoubtedly respond by praising his players. He isn’t one to take the credit for collective success, instead he will point you in the direction of the people he regularly refers to as ‘main actors’.

The answer to that question was visible on the field last weekend when Wolves, reduced to 10 men in the first half following the dismissal of Mario Lemina, completed a stunning turnaround to defeat relegation rivals Southampton 2-1. The key to that victory was a strength and determination within the group, coupled with their belief in Lopetegui’s tactical tweaks at half-time.

“I know about their character,” Lopetegui said after that game. “It is a good thing they believe they can overcome difficulties like they have today, as a team. Maybe we can lose this match, but the heart and spirit they have shown in the second half makes me happy.”

That type of performance wasn’t possible during the first part of the season. Wolves’ players wouldn’t have produced for Lage or Davis in the face of adversity.

Lopetegui has prioritised building cohesion and team spirit inside Wolves’ Compton Park training base. There have been team building days, some of which have included the players’ families, and meals - paid for by Lopetegui as a reward for each clean sheet. “The best investment I have ever made,” he says.

Lopetegui is excelling where Lage fell short. The former Wolves boss was no doubt a brilliant coach, but there were question marks over his man-management skills. And his occasional media outbursts weren’t well received by a squad which prefers to keep its dirty laundry away from the public glare.

When Wolves win, the players will be given the credit by Lopetegui. When Wolves lose, as they last did in the Premier League to Manchester City, Lopetegui will shield his players by taking the blame.

Upon substituting three players at half-time in Wolves’ defeat to City, Lopetegui said: “Maybe because when you, as a coach, make three changes it’s your fault in the line-up or your fault in the game plan. This is not about the players that I have changed, it’s about me.”

Lopetegui hasn’t made many bad decisions up to this point. The way he has used substitutes to affect games has been particularly eye-catching.

A substitute, Rayan Ait-Nouri, scored the goal which sealed Wolves’ first Premier League win under Lopetegui against Everton on Boxing Day. Lopetegui has highlighted the importance of his squad and has used the five permitted substitutes in all of his Premier League games to date.

He hasn’t hesitated to bring players on early to influence matches either. But, crucially, these substitutes have directly contributed - by way of goal or assist - to four goals in Wolves’ seven league games under Lopetegui. Both of Wolves’ goals at Southampton were a direct result of Lopetegui’s substitutions.

“He brought confidence for the team, and spirit,” says midfielder Joao Moutinho, who was withdrawn at half-time at St Mary’s. “All the players are here to help the team, not only the starters, and this is important.

“And for the game he brings intensity, he brings quality, he brings calm to play our football because we know we have quality and we have very good players who want to have the ball.

“I don't know if they are real statistics but I saw we had 60 percent of possession against 11 players and we had 10 for a long time. And that's what he brings.

“It wasn’t only the manager (Bruno Lage) who didn’t do the things well and put us in the bad position, but of course he (Lopetegui) brings a lot of good things for us and we continue to improve, to win more games, because we know the position we are is not our position. We already showed that in other years and we will try to show it again.”

Wolves are now 15th in the Premier League table, 13 points better off than they were seven games ago and only five short of 11th-placed Aston Villa. There isn’t a single thing behind Wolves’ improvement - Julen Lopetegui has changed everything.

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