The 6-1 loss to United was the solitary time this season when Ryan has failed to take positives from a performance, but his side have improved since that afternoon.
On Saturday they meet in the Premier League Cup knowing victory would put Wolves in with a chance of reaching the knockout stages alongside seven other clubs.
“There have been real positives to take from each game, apart from probably the Manchester United game where we didn’t do ourselves justice,” he explained.
“As staff and players, we were disappointed with the performance we put in last time. We’ve looked at their recent performances and worked on things so hopefully that will come into play on Saturday.
“They’ve got some great individuals and recruit really well. We have a game plan and it’ll be interesting to see how our lads react mentally from the last time we played them.”
Ryan’s men held their own against Stoke City last weekend, but went down 1-0, as Wolves’ scoring boots from the previous week deserted them.
“We scored five the previous week and didn’t score on Saturday, despite creating seven or eight chances. We’ve worked again in training on our finishing and decision making.
“I’ve been pretty pleased with the performances, although the results haven’t been going our way. Last week was a smash and grab for Stoke, we created numerous chances and it wasn’t our day.”
Off the pitch, Elliot Watt recently signed a new deal and moved up to the Under-23s, highlighting the pathway in place at the club.
“Elliot was our captain at the start of the season and was really good for us, so has gone up to the Under-23s for the past month and is getting challenged every week and that’s our philosophy at this club.
“If players are doing well for the Under-18s, they get pushed up to Scott’s team. It’s good for the lads as they know there’s a pathway here,” he added.
