Johnny Phillips: Much rides on Fosun’s new man ending Wolves malaise

Ambitious plans to float on the stock exchange demand that Wolves retain their Premier League status.

The ownership cannot afford the malaise of recent months to linger on during the new head coach’s start here. Barring a similar repeat of the 11th hour U-turn in the summer of 2016 which disrupted Fosun’s initial planning, Julen Lopetegui will take the reins at Molineux in the coming days.

He will have a strong squad to work with. One that can certainly be better deployed following the underwhelming and unfulfilled era of Bruno Lage which, unless this team gains notoriety through relegation, will quickly become little more than a footnote in history.

Lage’s dismissal was not simply down to the usual stories of player unrest and a lost dressing room, which are served up each time a head coach is sacked.

A damning indictment is probably the sense of “business as usual” that pervades the training ground under stop-gaps Steve Davis and James Collins.

Senior players, such as Joao Moutinho, are not stepping up to offer leadership or fill the coaching void, instead happy to wait for a new man with a better plan. Lage’s departure felt inevitable as the players went through the motions.

One major criticism, relayed by Jonny to the head coach on the training pitch last season which caused a not inconsiderable incident, was that sessions were boring.

Lage could be a wordy individual and self-editing was not his strong point. Players prefer concise messaging.

But there were coaching successes too. Lage was responsible for Max Kilman’s growth as a first team player as well as rejuvenating Moutinho and Ruben Neves in midfield. The pair stepped up impressively after a poor 2020/21 season.

Conor Coady’s exit was handled badly. He was alienated by the head coach during pre-season and cut a disengaged figure in Spain.

Whether or not the club would have accepted the paltry bid from Turkish side Trabzonspor – who tried to prise him away on the cheap before he was eventually loaned to Everton – is another issue. Communication with Lage broke down to such an extent that the player never had a straight conversation about his (lack of) future here. It has not reflected well on Lage that Everton’s revival has Coady at its heart.

The final straw was the spectacle of Neves at the heart of a three-man defence last Saturday.

Jeff Shi had little hesitation stepping in at the conclusion of the West Ham United defeat. There was no temptation to wait until the natural break for the World Cup next month. The chairman was particularly irked with the message Neves’s sweeper role sent to Toti Gomes and Yerson Mosquera waiting in the wings.

The sight of Pedro Neto hobbling around on the pitch trying to run off an ankle issue at the London Stadium was another sign of poor decision-making in the technical area. We will not see him again for several months.

The new head coach needs to bring a stronger backroom team with him. The togetherness and decisiveness which pervaded Nuno Espirito Santo’s reign was never recreated under Lage, whose support staff did not have the acumen or strength of personality for some decision-making processes.

Nuno had a phenomenal backroom staff and was certainly on the same wavelength as fitness coaches Antonio Dias and Joao Lapa, along with Dr Matt Perry, which ensured he could keep a small squad healthy until the pandemic-affected European campaign and behind-closed-doors Premier League season were rolled into one, with no proper summer break.

Sasa Kalajdzic’s injury was avoidable on several levels. Lage was desperate for a striker to lead the attack and gave a start to a player he knew was not match-ready. Kalajdzic’s appearance was a gamble that would not have happened under Nuno and his coaching staff. “The most important thing is that we learn from that,” Lage said ruefully when we spoke at Compton Park last month.

That was a reference to both the flawed process of selecting him and the late transfer business which left the head coach with no pre-season to prepare his new signings.

For all that substantial money was eventually spent, Lage was not helped when his entire pre-season involved key roles for a player like Morgan Gibbs-White who was always going to depart.

It is not the first time that a failure to conduct early transfer business has proved costly. Lage is not solely to blame for the poor start this season. He believes his recruitment requirements could have been better served throughout his time here.

Off the pitch Lage made friends among the club’s staff, attending monthly get-togethers and genuinely attempting to engage in a way his predecessor did not.

Lage’s Instagram post on Thursday thanking the owners, players and fans had a touch of dignity even if it was laced with a characteristic excuse for recent poor performances, which became a tediously familiar refrain latterly.

Making a change of head coach in October is always a risk but if ever there was a season to do it then it is this one.

The World Cup hiatus is effectively a pre-season for the new man, even though some squad members will be absent. He will have to find a way of earning points in the mean time, but there is a natural opportunity to reset in November.

It will be a chance to work on a plan because if Wolves do not improve then the topic of relegation will rear its head soon enough.

There is a capable squad here, despite the travails in front of goal. The answers lie within.

Diego Costa has produced a spark on and off the pitch that has improved the mood.

With the right management it is hoped he can enjoy an Indian Summer in the continued absence of Raul Jimenez, whose long-term prospects are not clear.

We are yet to see the Matheus Nunes who Pep Guardiola spoke so glowingly of and Goncalo Guedes also needs to offer more.

All of this will excite the incoming head coach, who has a great opportunity to reinvigorate an under-performing group. Lage never actually stamped an identity on this team despite all the promises of front-foot football.

What was Lage’s Wolves? We never actually discovered the answer.