Bruno Lage manager
Raul Jimenez is well aware that he must start finishing the chances Wolverhampton Wanderers are creating. Jimenez has made a successful return to action after fracturing his skull last November, but the goals are yet to flow in the Premier League for the Mexican. New head coach Bruno Lage has started Jimenez in all five of the club’s league games to date. Despite the 30-year-old’s impressive link up play and chance creation, he’s missed some golden opportunities to open his account – including two headed chances in Wolves’ last two matches. With the team failing to find the net on four occasions, Lage has admitted for the first time that the pressure is on his number nine.
Bruno Lage said: “Every day he’s working hard in training to try and score goals. He knows he has that pressure on his shoulders, but for now the analysis I did with him, the way he’s creating chances, he needs to continue to work. He knows he needs to score goals, our fans are waiting for him to score goals, he scored goals in pre-season, and they are coming. We scored two in the last game and the pressure is not just on him, the pressure is for all the players in the team to play the way we are playing.”
Daniel Podence is one of the Wolves attackers who could ease the burden on Jimenez. The diminutive forward netted his second goal of the season during the midweek Carabao Cup exit to Tottenham Hotspur. He’s yet to start a Premier League game under Lage and there are calls for him to feature in the line-up at Southampton on Sunday. His goal scoring heroics in the cup won’t guarantee his selection ahead of Francisco Trincao or Adama Traore though. On Podence,
Bruno Lage said: “In the game they did what they do in training, so it was not a surprise for me that Daniel did what he did in the game, because he’s doing well in training. Today he trained and did well again. It’s a long season and I try to choose the best decisions for the games, but sometimes one player coming inside and scoring one goal doesn’t mean he needs to play from the start, he can also do the same thing, to come on and bring the game to us. It’s also about the best strategy to play against the other team, so our job is about decisions, and make the best decisions from what I’m watching every game and every training session. We have four wingers at the moment because we don’t have Pedro and they give us different solutions. The thing is to choose the best two for each moment. I managed against Daniel when he was ten years old, so I knew him since then, and played a lot of times against him. I know what he did at Sporting, Olympiacos and here, so I know him well and the things he can do for us and to help us in our game.”
