Bruno Lage happy to make the big calls on Wolves stars
Bruno Lage is adamant his Wolves players must get used to rotation as he tries to improve the competition among the squad.
The head coach played the same starting XI for four of the first five Premier League games before springing a surprise away at Southampton in September when he dropped Ruben Neves, Adama Traore and Francisco Trincao.
Since then, Lage has not been afraid to make tough decisions and has left out Neves and Raul Jimenez recently to preserve their fitness.
Traore, again, did not play against Everton on Monday and Lage is eager to promote competition in his side.
When asked if the players are okay with not playing every game, he said: “Really, I don’t care if they understand or not. It’s my way to work.
“If you are comfortable, sometimes you go the easy way.
“If you feel at threat from your team-mate, you come every day with a big ambition to be there.
“What I want is for the first XI I choose to have a good performance and the guys that have a chance to come on, they continue to play well.
“If you have a mistake or bad performance, the other guy is working very hard to have his chance.”
Wolves sit seventh in the league and top the form chart after an impressive run of results. But Lage is paying no attention to the table as he focuses on consistency.
“What we did until now belongs in the past,” he added.
“I want us to be solid and have another good performance and get more points. It’s not important to look at the table at the moment.
“What’s most important is the pathway I want to do with the players and the team.
“The good things that are coming, okay, that’s good, but it’s behind us and we look forward.”
Meanwhile, Lage believes Hwang Hee-chan will stay with the club.
The forward has impressed since signing on-loan from RB Leipzig and although Wolves have an option to buy him at the end of the season, the club are hopeful of completing it in January.
“I think so (he will stay),” Lage said. “I don’t know exactly the agreement, but Hwang is happy here and the club is happy with him. I am very happy with him because he brings the dynamic I want for my team.
“I hope that the four wingers can stay with us because I’m very happy with them. Not just Hwang, but Trincao, Daniel and Adama.
“They can give me different things and different solutions for every game.”
