Wolves goalkeeper Dan Bentley believes the mentality shift which occurred in the squad last season – leading to a historic Premier League run – will continue into the new campaign.
Although he spent the majority of last term behind Jose Sa and Sam Johnstone in the Old Gold pecking order, Bentley is a big part of the squad behind the scenes at Compton Park thanks to his leadership skills and years of experience in the professional game.
Stepping up with just 20 minutes notice to make his first Premier League outing of the season away at Manchester United, and helping Wolves to a clean sheet in that six-in-a-row winning run, shows the mindset that the keeper has, but he also insists it’s a mentality which is replicated across the whole of Vitor Pereira’s squad.
On turning last season around
“We came into last season with high hopes and high expectations based off a lot of our performances and the expectation we created ourselves from the previous year, having started the season really well and got ourselves into really good position in the cup, and we were on a ride on the crest of a wave, and after a good pre-season in terms of results, we failed to continue in the same vein coming into last season.
“It’s never nice when a manager changes, it’s never nice when people lose their jobs especially people you get on with, and you lose familiarity of what you know, but the new manager and his staff came in and took us from a negative situation which we ended up in. We ended up in a position where we were safe with games to spare.
“It’s never nice to have that pressure of looking over your shoulder, and this season we want to be a progressive group where we are looking forward and aiming up the table rather than looking over our shoulders. But sometimes that change in mentality was the catalyst of the change in form.
“Sometimes change needs to happen for a realisation of the pressures we were in, and the relegation scrap we were in at that moment in time. We got ourselves out of it and now we’re in a position where going into this season we can certainly continue to progress and look forward rather than backwards.”
On mentality changes in the group
“It’s imperative. If that doesn’t happen, you end up with situations where there’s fractions in the group. Form gets worse, you struggle to address situations that are that become limitations of the group and things that hinder the group rather than things that can spur you on – in terms of when you’ve got a good cohesive team with good team spirit and good people – become more prominent.
“But we’re self-managing in terms of our standards on and off the pitch, we give ourselves the best opportunity to go and perform on the pitch and we all hold each other to account, which is a huge thing. I keep saying that the shift in mentality is something that we drove from the inside as much as the manager drove as well, and the standards that he demanded, it was something that happened in tandem.
“We realised where we were in the table, we realised how grave the situation was and we had to address it and change it ourselves. We were the only people that could do that. With the support of the staff, we managed to do so, and having such a good group of lads and a good cohesive team spirit and people that trust each other and hold each other to account was a big part of that.”
On his personal highlight from 2024/25
“I’m sure there’s not too many keepers that have kept a clean sheet at Old Trafford, so it’s something that I’m really proud of, especially with the circumstances surrounding the situation I was in – only having 20 minutes notice of going into the game with very little preparation.
“It’s subsequent of the work I do on daily basis, but it was a real personal highlight. I went from being a number three and probably thinking I’m not going to appear in the Premier League this year to keeping a clean sheet at Old Trafford, playing against Palace as well. But I’m always ready from opportunity and always grateful to be to be playing at the top.”
A late call-up for Dan Bentley and a clean sheet!
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 20, 2025
👏 pic.twitter.com/B06fWlaWAB
On aiming for better this season
“We need to start with a good mentality. Last season we went on a seven game unbeaten run, including six wins in a row, which I’m sure if you’d have said that to a couple of lads six months ago, they would have probably laughed at you, because that’s something even the top teams won’t do very often.
“For us to do that, and I know we made history by doing it – we were the first Wolves team to ever do it in the Premier League – it was something that we were really proud of. We know why that happened, in terms of how the mentality was, we made clear reference to how we all felt in that moment, and obviously, the Premier League is not easy.
“You can’t just turn that on and off, so if it becomes a culture and a philosophy and an ethos within the group and the wider club, from top to bottom, there’s every chance that we go into a new season looking forward rather than backwards.”
