Wolves new boss recons that Swansea's style of passing football will not work in the Championship.
Do we agree, or is he just an anti-flair poopoohead?
Wolves: Stale Solbakken happy to be direct
Stale Solbakken today warned Wolves fans that the team will have to take the direct route at times in the Championship next season.
The new Molineux chief, who flew back to Norway yesterday before returning for Monday’s start of pre-season training, believes the uncompromising nature of the division means it won’t be possible to play a patient, passing game all the time like Swansea did in 2010-11.
Wolves won the Championship title in 2008-09 playing a high-tempo style of getting the ball wide and providing lots of crosses, and Solbakken declared a flexible approach will be needed to be successful next season.
“I think it’s a good mix in the Championship,” said the boss. “But you also need to be direct sometimes. There are some tough winter periods here also where you can lose some points if you pass it too much, so you have to find the balance.
“It’s not easy to pass a team to death in the cold of January or February maybe. You meet some teams with a different kind of football and you need to stand up to everything.
“We have to have that in mind as well. With 46 games, you need to build a good base so you can take some points on a bad day.”
Solbakken revealed the players will understand exactly what they should be doing. “You must make sure everyone understands the concept, everyone understands what they should do on the pitch – so even if we have some injuries and star players are out, we can still produce points,” he said.
Do we agree, or is he just an anti-flair poopoohead?