As Wolves return to Molineux for Lage’s first home Premier League game in charge, the head coach is hoping his players will have taken on board the hard work on the training pitch this week, as well as the confidence from last weekend’s opening game against Leicester City, where Wolves were unfortunate not to have taken all three points having peppered their opposition goal with chances.
On his approach to Sunday’s match
“My way to work is very simple. After the match I analysed it with our analysts, that’s why I bring two, and there are also four already in the club. We analyse everything.
“We analysed the game and after we do one short video for the players, on what they did well and what they need to improve. That’s it. We analysed the game the next day, we saw the good things and the things we need to improve and then we start working on top of that game.
“We weren’t happy about the result, we want to win. We create a lot of chances and we deserved to score. But we are confident with the process, one more week to train and to improve our skills, especially shooting at goal, creating chances and scoring goals.
“That’s the way; to see, analyse, show a video to the players, and after that, we continue to work. That’s why I think we did another good week of training and we are ready to do another good game like we did against Leicester.”
On the possibility of facing Kane
“Every time is a good opportunity for us. I don’t care what happened with the opponent, what I care is about the way we want to play and the best strategy to win.
“Two or three players didn’t play in the first game, but they won against Man City. [Missing Kane] it’s not going to be a problem for them. The way they played against Man City, they won. They beat the last champion without him.
“He’s a top player, he plays for Tottenham, he plays for national team, he did very good at the Euros, so with him they become strong, but without him they have another player to replace him.”
On planning for the visit of Spurs
“The plan will not change [regardless of Kane], especially for them. For us, we need to try to understand what Kane does as a striker and in the moment for what I saw in the last game, what Son can do as a striker.
“Both try to link the game between the lines, both they run in behind the defenders, great skill, and if they play together, they play well, not just for this season but the seasons before.
“We try to prepare everything, every plan, but the team who beat Man City is strong, and with Kane is also strong.”
On the transfer process at Wolves
“We have a lot of young players who can be top players in the future, but they need to continue to work, we have a lot of players with experience, and now, I think we need to find the guys in the middle. Those who can help us in the moment to be more competitive.
“I create the profiles, we have an experienced department to find the players and after we analyse. If I think it’s the right player, we go after him.”
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— Wolves (@Wolves) August 20, 2021
On transfer activity
“Very busy. It is a long week. One more week to work with the players and busy to find the best solutions for us. We are working 24 hours every day and we have more 11 or 12 days to bring the players we want to be more competitive.
“The most important thing is our chairman knows what we need, we know the profile, we know the positions, and we are working hard to bring in the players we want for the squad. Top players to be more competitive. That’s the plan now and we are trying.
“The market now is in a very hard position, too many clubs without money to buy, like me here, I want to protect all my top players, other clubs are protecting the players there, and we already know what we want, and we are working very hard to bring that kind of players to us to help us to be better.”
On keeping hold of his players
“All the top players we have are all linked to other clubs in the world. If you go to see the news from Portugal, all the players from Benfica are linked to Wolves.
“Every player has a price, but what I saw from Ruben [Neves] is that he’s happy to be here, we’re happy with him, what he did in the last game it was very good, and we’re not thinking to see anyone goes.
“For me, it’s not a question, but you never know. If Messi changes from Barcelona to PSG, anyone can go and move to another club.”
