Dan Bentley insists it’s important Wolves change the momentum of the club with a win on day one of the campaign against Port Vale on Friday night.
After a hugely disappointing season last year, the goalkeeper knows the winning feeling has to return to the dressing room, and a victory in the Carabao Cup can start swinging the momentum.
The 33-year-old has featured regularly across pre-season and will hope to retain his shirt against the League Two side, but knows the most important thing is starting 2026/27 on a positive note.
On a first competitive game
“You always look forward to the end of pre-season and the start of the competitive season – that's what you worked on through all of pre-season, to gear up towards the first competitive game. The season officially starts on Friday, and we want to progress in the cup. We'll be taking it very, very seriously and hopefully start the season well.
“No matter if it's cup or league to begin with, it's a competitive game and that's the most important thing. We're taking it just as seriously as we would do if it was a league game, there’s no difference in terms of our approach.
“I remember playing at their place [Vale Park] because their pitch was massive. It’s been a long time since I played against them, but you've got to be ready for any opposition, of course.”
On changing the group’s mentality
“I've been saying to the boys a lot in pre-season, before games and at the training ground, that winning is a habit. We lost too many games last year, and maybe that became a bit of a habit and it becomes a negative feel surrounding the games. But winning is a habit and clean sheets are a habit as well, scoring goals are habit. We can get into those good habits, especially in the Championship with the games coming thick and fast, and build momentum and take that through the season.
“It's vital. Obviously winning habits are vitally important in the building of momentum. We want to win the Port Vale tie, another win including the two in pre-season, and it gets you on the good feeding line before starting the Championship campaign.”
On busy pre-season of game
“Pre-season for me is all about getting yourself to a point where you're firing come the season. There's no point in peaking too soon, or not being ready quick enough. The ideal for me is being ready and building up to this moment and then getting into a rhythm of playing games and being at your best.
“I've had two 45 minutes and three 90s in a row. It's always different, especially as goalkeepers, training to games. Training is a lot of specific technical stuff, but you can't recreate the situations that we have in games. You can do all the training in the world, but it's not possible to go in and recreate the game scenario.”
Our 26/27 season begins on Friday 👊 pic.twitter.com/BA86y60Zwa
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 4, 2026
On taking his chance to impress
“I see every day as an opportunity, without sounding too cliché. Every day's an opportunity to be your best and make your mark and give the best account of yourself. Obviously the opportunity is slightly different in this occasion because the other two senior boys are away, so I got more game time. My aim was to go and impress him and give a good account myself and hopefully, certainly in the last two games, I did that.
“The first couple of games were about seeing the pictures again and getting into a bit of a rhythm, but Doncaster and Racing Santander were more kind of fine tuning, and getting into habits. The last two performances I was happy with and obviously I’m looking to build on those performances this season.”
