Nouha Dicko feels that the more he plays, the more he is getting closer and closer to his Wolves best.
The 24-year-old striker has been in and out of the starting line-up since returning from injury, but acknowledges that was always likely to the case after over a year out with a cruciate knee ligament injury.
His performance against QPR last Thursday was probably his best since his return, and has whetted the appetite for more to come as he aims for the sort of positive impact seen at Wolves prior to his injury.
“I felt good in the QPR game,” he says.
“I have been in and out since I came back and that is normal – it is almost like the last bit of rehab.
“It was important for me to move on to the next stage and feel I am past the rehab and against QPR I felt I contributed to help the team to get the win.
“I needed a game like that when you have to work hard for the team, and keep going even when you are tired, to keep on going.
“I felt a bit like the old Nouha and hopefully, game after game, I will feel even better.
“I felt good and I know what I need to do to get back to my best.
“It is not going to be easy and I have to work hard but it will be worth it.
“I just want a goal now – the goal will come!
“We have some really good players and maybe if I was in a different position at times the goal would have come at QPR.”
From a team perspective the Mali international is well aware Wolves are not in the position anyone either wanted or expected approaching the halfway point of the season.
But he is still confident there is sufficient quality within the squad to go on a decent run and move away from the lower reaches of the Sky Bet Championship table.
“The confidence has been good but not at the highest with the run we were on,” says Dicko.
“We know we have good players and just needed to show the consistency which would get results.
“We are not in the position we want to be and know we have to keep working hard to improve.
“You don’t just have to be good players to get wins – you have to be a team and be confident as a team.
“We showed that at QPR and hopefully we can carry on doing that and get back to where we want to be.
“There is no reason why we can’t go on a run now.
“We have good players and have the potential to do well but we all know the Championship is about consistency.
“We now need to get the wins if we want to reach our goals.
“There is a long way to go and if we show the right mentality we can keep dreaming and show the season is not over - we have to be ambitious.
“We looked good at certain points of the QPR game but I still think we can get to another level in our performance.”
