Jed Wallace believes that difficult times at Wolves last season – in particular the long term injuries sustained by Michal Zyro and Jordan Graham – brought the players closer together.
A string of unavoidable injuries last season affected Wolves’ chances of improving from the previous seventh placed finish in the Sky Bet Championship, and Wallace admits 14th in the division was well below expectations.
But he believes Wolves were not too far away in the vast majority of matches, and that there is a collective determination to improve.
“We had a difficult season last year with injuries and various things happening with the club but the group is feeling really focused and there is a lot of togetherness here,” he says.
“You felt that when things happened with Zyro and Jordan and their injuries and it brought us closer together as a group.
“We had to gather around those boys at that time and I am sure that brought the group closer together and that will show on the pitch this season. “We spoke a lot at the end of last season about how things had gone.
“I think there was a lot of negativity around the way we were playing last season and sometimes that is understandable because you have got to make chances and win football matches.
“The flip side is we didn’t really get well beaten last year – we were pretty much ‘in’ all of the games.
“With such a young and inexperienced group, a lot of the boys have now played a lot more football than this time last year.
“We are only going to learn from that experience and we weren’t far away from the top ten last season in a very competitive division.
“We fine tune a few things and a couple of new faces coming in and we will be ready for the new season.
“The only game I really remember from my time at the club when we were well beaten was Sheffield Wednesday where we got battered 4-1.
“And maybe Derby away.
“But there were no other games where I look at it and thought we were miles away.
“Especially towards the end of the season there were times when we just couldn’t get that goal – we’d hit the bar or the post- and it is just about tweaking things.
“If we can just get our home form going in front of our own fans, and we entertain as well, all the experience we have gained will show.
Wallace says there is plenty of optimism and positivity around the squad after returning for pre-season.
He added: “This time of the season is a good time – everyone thinks they can get promoted, and we are no different.
“The boys certainly won’t be putting all that hard graft in to have an average season like we did last season.
“We will be looking to improve massively on last season, both individually and as a group.”
