Jean-Ricner Bellegarde finds one positive from Wolves’ defeat to RC Lens, ‘although we didn’t win…’

Wolves didn’t get the result they were hoping for on Wednesday, losing 3-1 to RC Lens in a pre-season friendly, but Jean-Ricner Bellegarde saw something encouraging.

While there hasn’t been much to shout about for Wolves fans this pre-season, midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde has been playing well. He has taken over set-pieces with some success while also playing out of position as Vitor Pereira experiments with the line-up.

The Frenchman has stated that he wants to become more of an attacking threat, with Bellegarde stating he wants to fill Matheus Cunha’s role, at least to some extent.

But outside of Bellegarde’s performance, there was little to cheer for over the 90 minutes against Lens. He could find one positive, though.

Wolves players have more physicality according to Jean-Ricner Bellegarde

Bellegarde sat down for an interview for the Wolves official website, and he acknowledged that the result against former club Lens was disappointing. He explained: “We didn’t win, but I need the wins. We need to win the next game and score more goals to increase the confidence.”

He did take one positive from the match, saying: “Although we didn’t win, I feel the players have more power in their legs and are more physical. We need to keep going and keep pushing to be ready for the start of the game against Man City.

The 27-year-old has come along in leaps and bounds since the arrival of Vitor Pereira, showing his worth in last season’s charge out of relegation.

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As the squad changes, having consistency in the middle of the park is vital, and that’s what Bellegarde hopes to provide this season.

Wolves need to correct August record and start the Premier League season strong

For too long, the opening weeks of the season have been tough viewing. Wolves’ August record is particularly shocking, having picked up just one win in the month of August since returning to the top flight in 2018.

This season poses unique challenges with the amount of change to the squad over the summer.

Having lost the two best performing players from last season, it will be a difficult task to do well in the opening games, but if it’s another sloppy opening to a season, there’s no guarantee Pereira can pull off the same trick twice.

And Bellegarde understands this: “I remember last year was a very difficult start to the season, so now we need give our best if we want to start well.”

With just over two weeks to go, it won’t be long before we find out if they are ready for the season ahead.