Bruno Lage has won over doubters and rewarded Wolves’ leap of faith

In the midst of questionable match postponements, relegation scraps and Manchester City having basically wrapped up the Premier League title by mid-January, Wolves have been moving up the table quietly and effectively. A 3-1 win over Southampton on Saturday extended their unbeaten run to four games, taking them up to eighth. They are now just six points off fourth-placed West Ham, with two games in hand.

Even though Nuno Espírito Santo had a disappointing final season at Molineux, finishing 13th in the league after three straight defeats at the end of the campaign, the appointment of Bruno Lage as his successor felt underwhelming. Lage had been out of work for a year following his time at Benfica and Wolves fans must have worried about his lack of experience in top-flight management. He has been coaching teams for 25 years but often at youth level or as an assistant manager – as he was for Carlos Carvalhal at Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City.

Yet Wolves took a leap of faith in Lage, in part due to their links with the agent Jorge Mendes, and that risk is being rewarded. Wolves started the season slowly, losing their first three games 1-0 to Leicester, Tottenham and Manchester United. Wolves had more shots than their opponents in all three of those matches, but they could not find the finishing touch and it proved costly.

Scoring goals has been aproblem for the team this season. They do not shoot with great regularity – only Norwich (10.2 per game) have taken fewer shots than Wolves (10.3 per game) in the league; only the relegation-threatened pair Norwich (10) and Burnley (16) have scored fewer goals than Wolves (17); and only Norwich have a worse conversion rate – they are scoring with 4.2% of their shots compared