Villa boss Gerrard said his team ‘didn’t turn up’ afterwards, but Lage has explained the plan which swung the game in Wolves’ favour. It involved nullifying Villa talisman Philippe Coutinho, who was substituted late on having failed to trouble Wolves’ well-drilled defence.
Bruno Lage said: “It was hard. Especially after what happened in the last game. When we concede a goal in the last 10 minutes, the emotion comes a little bit. But I think we did well. The most important thing was that we controlled the game very well. We put two men between Coutinho and the ball. They came to press, and every time, we found Joao (Moutinho) or Leander (Dendoncker) free to play. That was the plan, especially in the first half. The opposition manager on the bench didn’t have time to adapt or change. The first plan was that, and then after, it was about finding the best players to create solutions to score goals. We were comfortable to control the game with the ball.”
