Bruno Lage questions desire of Wolves players after their defeat to Brighton

Posted Sunday, May 01, 2022 by PA

Wolves boss Bruno Lage questioned his players’ desire after their European hopes were hit again.

Brighton swept to a dominant 3-0 win at Molineux as Wolves’ dreams of returning to the Europa League continued to fade after a third straight defeat.

Alexis Mac Allister’s spot-kick and second-half strikes from Leandro Trossard and Yves Bissouma underlined the visitors’ superiority.

It could have been worse for the hosts had Mac Allister not missed his first penalty after 33 minutes.

Wolves blew the chance to close the three-point gap to West Ham in seventh and face Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool in their last three Premier League games.

“I need to understand who wants to go to war and continue to put the club at a different level because it’s not enough for anyone to relax,” said Lage, after Wolves’ heaviest defeat of the season kept them eighth.

“I need to smell it if the guys want to continue to put the club at a different level.

“We’re in eighth position and we try to do better. To improve we need to have a plan and we need to convince the right players with the right personality to increase the level of the team.

“It’s the need to see they want to play my game, no one is here to play by himself or just for them.

“We didn’t learn anything because we didn’t play the game, we just watched Brighton play. We have a lot of work to continue to do.”

Brighton were in command from the start and Enock Mwepu tested Jose Sa from distance.

Joao Moutinho’s drive deflected wide but Wolves were barely in the game and almost fell behind after 33 minutes when Mac Allister squandered a chance from the spot.

Romain Saiss handled Solly March’s cross, with the penalty awarded after referee Simon Hooper checked his monitor, but Mac Allister smacked the post.

It mattered little in the grand scheme of things as the midfielder did convert from 12 yards three minutes before the break.

This time Danny Welbeck went down under pressure from Willy Boly and Mac Allister buried his second chance.

There was never any sign of a Wolves recovery and Brighton got a deserved second with 20 minutes left when Trossard fired past Sa following Welbeck’s break.

It sparked an exodus from the home fans and those who stayed saw Bissouma add a third from the edge of the box four minutes from time.

Pedro Neto hit the post with the final kick but Wolves have now failed to score in 15 of their 34 top-flight games this term.

Brighton moved to ninth on 44 points – a record total for the club in the Premier League – with boss Graham Potter proud of his men.

“It’s 44 points which is our record and we have nine to play for. I’m really proud of the players, it’s not easy in the Premier League,” he said.

“There are moments where you have to suffer and struggle but we kept together and kept working. Now have to finish off as strong as we can.

“The boys were fantastic. We missed a penalty but it was great character to take the next one and score.

“We were the dominant team, which isn’t easy to do. We’ve had some good away performances, we won at Spurs and Arsenal recently and drew at Anfield and Chelsea. We’re not a bad team but sometimes the points you get don’t reflect that. It’s nice we got the three.”