Express & Star

Bruno Lage pleased with Wolves' attacking intent in win over Everton

Bruno Lage was pleased with his side’s use of the ball in the win over Everton, but felt they failed to adapt to tactical changes in the second half.

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First half goals from Max Kilman and Raul Jimenez handed Wolves a deserved lead at half-time, after the hosts dominated the ball and pushed Everton deep into their half.

Wolves showed impressive attacking intent through their front three and wing-backs and Lage was pleased with how they moved the ball quickly to create openings.

“The message during the week was very clear, to come and win the game,” he said.

“We know Everton are a strong opponent. After what we didn’t do with the ball against Leeds, today we came again.

“It was a good performance. We managed the ball well.

“This team has the quality and understands that we need to try and have more time on the ball than the opponent. We shouldn’t be afraid of anything.

“With the ball we did that in the first half. We controlled everything and created a lot of chances. We deserved a better result in the first half.

“For me as a manager, when I’m looking at the game, (I want to) like what I watch. I want to play most of the time like that.”

Rafa Benitez made a tactical switch at half-time that allowed Everton to press higher up the field and stop Wolves from holding onto possession.

And Lage felt his team did not adapt their play to match it.

He added: “They changed the system and tried to put more in midfield. They started in 4-4-2 and changed to 4-3-3.

“I talked with the players at half-time. It was simple to find Raul, Hwang and Trincao between the lines but they changed and put more men between the lines and we needed to find more space.

“The space was when we build from the back and to for Raul, and also by finding Semedo and Rayan.

“We didn’t attempt and tried to find the same spaces. We lost the ball and the game was more divided.

“We’re also playing a strong team. They were losing 2-0 but they have pride and an experienced coach and they wanted to create problems for us.

“We still created chances to score more goals.”