Mike Taylor, BBC Radio WM
Lage is keen to address the lack of numbers in his squad – but cannot do so until at least another seven games have gone by.
On Friday, he identified three dangers posed by the current size of his squad over the winter – injuries, Covid and suspensions.
The first was evident already, with Pedro Neto, Jonny and Yerson Mosquera still not ready to return.
And now come the other two, with Podence – hopefully not feeling too many symptoms – presumably out for a short while and Ruben Neves unavailable for Wednesday’s game against Burnley after a fifth caution.
Wolves have already banked enough points and shown enough ability on their good days to guard against any serious threats later in the season, but with so few options to make changes according to form, Lage will need every available player to be close to their peak at all times if they are to live up to their hopes of a high finish.
