Four games in and Stale Solbakken is left in little doubt that the biggest obstacle standing in the way of a swift return to the Premier League is the mind-set of his own players.
Wolves have won just once in the league so far this season and the Norwegian puts that, in part, down to a hangover from last season.
“We have to change mentality,” he said.
His decision to dispense with the highly-respected Terry Connor as his assistant is evidence of a boss searching high and low for the answers.
“We don’t do that (change the mentality) by changing one member of staff but we have to change the culture here,” he said before illuminating what most supporters already know – that the Championship of 2008/09 is nothing like that of today. Wolves were already top of the tree on 10 points back then and would not loose until the ninth game at Reading at the end of September.
Solbakken said: “We have to adapt to a new life because you can’t talk about the Championship Wolves won four years ago.
“The Championship is a completely different league now.
“Wolverhampton peaked then and then in their first season in the Premier League, but then they were virtually one kick away from relegation and they went down with a bang the following season. We’re trying to rebuild and to get rid of this hangover and fear out of the way. We’re too concerned with the consequences.”
Wolves brought in seven new faces in the window with only Frank Nouble (West Ham) and youngster Jamie Tank (Walsall) arriving from British clubs in marked contrast to business under Mick McCarthy.
Bjorn Sigurdarson (Lillestrom), Tongo Doumbia and Razak Boukari (Rennes), Slawomir Peszko (Cologne) and Bakary Sako (St. Etienne) arrived from Europe.
“We’ve brought in new people – our match-winners have gone and we’ve got new match-winners, we’ve bought players and sold players, we’ve brought a huge amount of money into the club but there’s a wage bill and there’s a budget,” said Solbakken.
“So we have to take care of that as well, and the guys who have been through the ups and downs have to pick themselves up again, together with the new ones, so every player is important. But we have to achieve the mix quickly now.”
Solbakken is confident he can change the mentality: “The players who have come in have no baggage from last season and I think that can help,” he said. “I also think we have shown in some periods of games that we can be a good team. But we’ve also been too easy to play against. You can see teams have murdered us – we have to make sure that doesn’t happen and be stronger.”
