Kenny Jackett sees tomorrow’s fixture with Rotherham United (3pm) as an opportunity to return to winning ways at Molineux.
Wolves’ last three home games have all ended 0-0 and Head Coach, Jackett knows what his team must do against the in-form Millers.
“We need to recognise the game, it’s a big chance,” he said.
“We’ve lost a couple of games albeit by the odd goal - we don’t want to lose, we’re not happy with it but we’re not far away and we need to make that improvement.
“Whether that’s changing personnel or the system we will see what we need to do.
“We have an opportunity with two home games – split by the Nottingham Forest game – to finish off with the good strong performances we need to.”
The three successive stalemates against Birmingham City, Ipswich Town and Blackburn Rovers have provided little cheer for the Molineux faithful, and, while the clean sheets have been very welcome, Jackett wants his side to do more as they look to build for next season.
Though he admits that the lack of goals has been a concern.
He said: “We want to aspire to be attacking, we want to be able to play good football definitely and entertain the crowd if we can.
“It’s certainly been one of them [a worry], we’ve been mid-table for the majority of the season and not really competed with the top sides.”
Jackett also defended Icelandic striker Bjorn Sigurdarson, who despite not being on the scoresheet since returning to action midway through the season, brings other qualities to the team.
“We’ve had games where he’s held the ball up very well and we’ve got goals from midfield,” he says.
“I do understand that supporters want to see strikers that can score goals, and it is for us to create those chances.
“We need to put in enough decent crosses and balls from midfield, and sometimes just have enough sustained pressure or for those forwards to be able to create something out of nothing, turn a bad ball into a good one and create a good one out of nothing.
“They are the options that we’re looking at and we want our forwards to be scoring one way or another - it’s what we need.”
One man who has been in the goals of late is George Saville, whose goal at Leeds on Tuesday was his fourth goal in his last 10 appearances. And Saville’s performances have certainly caught the eye.
Jackett said: “Adding goals to his game now is good thing, and his goal at Leeds gave us a foothold back in the game.
“It was his fourth goal from midfield which I’m very pleased with, and he has to keep going and keep working hard to impress.
“He’s always had a lot of potential since his early days at Chelsea, we had him on loan at Millwall and he’s developing nicely and has the potential to go further.”
Tomorrow’s visitors Rotherham enter the game full of confidence after embarking on a 10 match unbeaten run since Neil Warnock took charge in February.
Their impressive run has all but guaranteed their Sky Bet Championship status for another season, and Jackett was full of praise for his opposite number Warnock.
He said: “Neil is a very experienced manager and had a big impact at a high number of clubs and managed in all of the divisions, and there’s a lot of experience in there to help a club.
“They’ve done very well and had a very good recent run after being threatened by relegation places for the majority of the season.
“They’ll be looking to get over the line and make sure that they maintain their Championship status.
“They’re a club that we know very well having played them in League One and they’ll be doing everything they can to stay up in this higher league and not get dragged down.
“They’ve had a terrific run and it does look like now that they’ve achieved their goal and stayed out of the relegation places which is testament to Neil Warnock in how he’s turned them round.”
Wolves head into the game without Jeremy Helan who has been recalled by his parent club Sheffield Wednesday.
The Frenchman’s absence could mean a possible start for Connor Hunte or even the returning Jed Wallace who has recovered from the hamstring injury that prompted his early withdrawal from the draw with Burnley last month, a match that Wallace was performing well in after returning from a successful loan spell at Millwall.
On Wallace, Jackett said: “He’s done ten days training now and he made a bright start on the right wing against Burnley but sustained an injury, but he’s fully fit and will be looking for and pushing for a start between now and the end of the season.
“Jed’s worked hard to get back into as many games as possible, and if he can build on a successful loan spell and the performance at Burnley that will give us encouragement for the future.
“He’s certainly got physically stronger as the year has gone on, something that he’s going to need for the Championship because it is a powerful league.
“He’s stepped up gradually from League Two to League One and then now he’ll be looking for his big chance in the Championship.
He is a determined lad and he’ll be working hard to see if he can go one further and be as effective in the Championship as he has been in the lower divisions.”
