Bruno Lage lamented Wolverhampton Wanderers’ struggles in front of goal after Burnley dealt his team another blow in their pursuit of European football.
Bruno Lage said: “We have watched this game too many times this season. One thing is when we don’t play well and deserve nothing – like against Newcastle and Crystal Palace. But today we deserved more. From the third minute we controlled everything. We were the better team, we created more chances. After, it’s a mistake from our side, they scored and got the three points and we got nothing. The disappointment comes from that, when we see the league table – the way we played and lost points, we deserve to be in a better position. When we see the other teams dropping points, we are missing a big chance to be better.”
Wolves’ misfiring forwards are threatening to undo the work of the team’s brilliant defence. But the team’s lack of goals isn’t new. Lage’s predecessor Nuno Espirito Santo spent the majority of last season trying to fix the same problem. Wolves were the fifth lowest scorers in the Premier League last season, albeit without talisman Raul Jimenez for most of the campaign. The Mexican is Wolves’ top scorer this season with just six goals and his return to fitness hasn’t provided the answer to the shortage of goals.
Bruno Lage said: “The average goals from our team is not high, not just this season but in the past. Last year, who were the main scorers? Raul, Ruben (Neves) with five goals and Pedro (Neto) with five goals. Now we don’t have a player (Neves) who has a good average of goals. I don’t blame anyone, because the first guy to blame is me, but what I can say is I’m working hard to improve that skill in them. We are not scoring goals and the frustration comes from that. When you play in the Premier League you need to score goals and kill the game. Sometimes we are winning 2-0 and don’t score goals, then the opponent scores one goal and we have to hold on. I will try to motivate the players for Brighton and one more time, we have the chance to play European football next season.”
