Wolves boss Bruno Lage: Pressure on youngsters is paying off

The 20-year-old defender struggled in the first 25 minutes of the poor loss to Crystal Palace last month before being forced off with a hamstring injury.

In his post-match press conference Lage called out a number of Wolves youngsters, but only named Hoever, as he accused the Dutchman of being unprofessional, having a poor attitude and blamed his injury on a lack of preparation.

Hoever is yet to return from that injury but a number of young players – including Francisco Trincao and Fabio Silva – have improved in recent weeks and Lage believes his comments paid off.

He said: “Sometimes it’s good that the young players listen to the truth. The truth is there for them to wake up, because these days the mentality is very different to the other guys.

“I need to understand when I talk to Coady, Saiss, Moutinho and Boly they are different guys, and when I talk to Ruben, Leander who are 25 or 26 and then the kids that are 18, 19 or 20.

“I make a lot of pressure for my players and I really don’t care if they feel comfortable, what I want is to take the best from them at every moment.

“If I put someone down, after I will be the first guy to put my hand up and put him in the game.”

Wolves are still in the race for European qualification with just seven Premier League games remaining.

Only Liverpool have taken more points this calendar year but Lage has warned that the final weeks of the season will be the toughest yet as most teams has something to fight for.

“There are seven games to go from April to the middle of May and everyone is counting points,” Lage added.

“The big teams are counting points to win the league, the other teams are counting points to go to the Champions League, some teams are counting points for the Europa League, some are counting points to continue in the Premier League.

“It will be very hard. In the first half of the season you have time and points in front of you to reach your goals, but after that no.

“From now on we have 21 points to win and to finish in that position.

“It’s so hard to talk about it and that’s why it’s so important to play the way we play, improve the little things and continue to improve – especially in situations against the goalkeeper where we should score more goals. I am proud and very happy. Since day one I am very happy with my players. They are the guys that make the difference.

“I have my personality and way to work but if they don’t follow me, it’s harder for me. My pride and happiness comes from that.

“Since day one these guys have a great motivation and ambition to improve and work hard. That makes me very proud.”