Bruno Lage: Sometimes I have to be nasty to my Wolves players
Bruno Lage admits he sometimes has to be ‘nasty’ to get the best out of his Wolves players as he reveals how he helped improve defender Nelson Semedo.
The head coach publicly challenged a number of his players back in October to force their way into their national teams – before Wolves went on an impressive run that put them in contention for Europe.
Lage later revealed that Semedo was one of those players, and the wing-back then put in some of his best displays in a Wolves shirt before his injury in late February.
Semedo is now nearing a return and Lage has revealed how tough he was on the defender and admits sometimes he has to be cruel to be kind.
“In the end we are working with individual players so we need to challenge them,” Lage said.
“Some of them understand better than others. Every time I say to my players, especially when I take my decisions, they need to understand the man in front of them.
“I’m not just the manager, I’m one more man in front of them and that’s the way I like to work. I’m here to win games but in the end I need to help them to be better. Sometimes to be better you need to challenge them.
“Sometimes it depends on the player. Some players you can be nice and cannot put a lot of pressure on them and with some you need to be a little bit nasty and put a lot of pressure on them.
“Now I can tell you, I was so hard on Nelson Semedo in September and October. In training I asked him one time if he was Nelson Semedo from Barcelona, for example.
“They need to challenge themselves and after the good things will come. Some players don’t understand and think ‘maybe the manager doesn’t like me’, but it’s not a question of like or don’t like, it’s the way you can challenge them and put pressure on them.
“That’s why I’m so happy with Ruben because he’s doing a fantastic season and I’m so happy with Nelson because in December and January, before he got injured, I remembered the Nelson I saw when he played for Benfica.”
Lage said before the international break that he hopes to have Semedo and Pedro Neto available for the clash with Villa, while Ki-Jana Hoever is likely to still be out.
