Wolves sack head coach Bruno Lage after sorry start

Lage,
who
led
Benfica
to
the
Portuguese
top-flight
title
in
2019,
replaced
Nuno
Espirito
Santo
at
Molineux
in
June
2021.

While
Lage
initially
enjoyed
good
results,
leading
Wolves
into
contention
for
European
qualification
last
season,
they
trailed
off
badly
to
finish
the
2021-22
campaign
in
10th
position.

Despite
the
likes
of
Matheus
Nunes,
Goncalo
Guedes
and
Nathan
Collins
arriving
during
a
busy
transfer
window,
Lage
has
failed
to
reverse
their
slide
this
season,
overseeing
a
return
of
just
six
points
from
their
first
eight
Premier
League
matches.

They
sit
18th
in
the
table,
with
only
Nottingham
Forest
and
Leicester
City
worse
off.

Following
Saturday’s
2-0
defeat
at
West
Ham,
Wolves
are
winless
in
eight
Premier
League
away
games
(D2
L6),
their
worst
such
run
since
a
sequence
of
10
road
matches
without
victory
between
August
2011
and
January
2012.

Meanwhile,
Wolves’ tally
of
three
goals
this
season
is
the
lowest
tally
in
the
Premier
League,
and
the
club’s
joint-worst
return
at
this
stage
of
a
top-flight
season,
also
having
managed
three
in
2003-04
when
they
were
relegated.

Wolves
chairman
Jeff
Shi
described
Lage
as
“an
excellent
coach,
a
hardworking
and
dedicated
manager,
and
a
warm,
wise
and
honest
man”,
and
said
the
“difficult”
decision
to
dismiss
him
was
made
“with
much
sadness”.

“I
honestly
have
no
doubts
about
Bruno’s
ability,
and
I’m
sure
he
will
succeed
elsewhere,” Shi
said.
“However,
the
team’s
form
and
performances
over
the
last
few
months
mean
that
we
have
no
choice
but
to
act.”

Wolves
travel
to
Stamford
Bridge
to
face
Chelsea
in
their
next
Premier
League
outing
on
Saturday,
with
coaches
Steve
Davis
and
James
Collins
placed
in
temporary
charge.