Dean Saunders wants Wolves to toughen up

Manager Dean Saunders today insisted his side must 'toughen up' on the road and get back to liking the ugly stuff if they are to climb the table.

Saunders takes his side to struggling Sheffield Wednesday for his first away game in charge this Saturday.

The new Molineux boss was encouraged by the battling spirit the players showed in Friday's 1-1 draw against Blackburn.

But Wolves have lost seven of their last nine away matches and he believes they must at least match Friday's effort against Dave Jones' Owls at Hillsborough.

He said: "We need to toughen up all around the pitch and, if we can stay in games a bit more, our quality players will win them for us.

"We have got to make sure we resist the things that can hurt you in this league.

"You have to be able to go away from home and absorb the things they throw at you and keep the ball out of your net."

Saunders added: "I know what it takes to get out of this league – I know the formula and it's different from the Premier League.

"I'm not going to say what it is otherwise everyone will know. But it does revolve around going away from home and not getting turned over and being able to resist pressure.

"You can lose every away game in the Championship if you're not right mentally and you're not determined and you don't want to stop the ball going in your net.

"That's because the pressure will be on you in every single away game, from every club from the bottom up.

"There's not a lot of difference between the teams so you've got to have people who enjoy defending and enjoy doing the things a lot of people don't like to do, otherwise you're too easy to play against."

Wolves have also been told by Dutch club Willem II have told their offer for forward Jeroen Lumu is "far too low."

Lumu, who has been on trial at Wolves, is contracted until June 2015.

Willem II chief Marc van Hintum said: "The offer from Wolverhampton was far too low. A departure is no more on the agenda."

Meanwhile, the March 2 Championship fixture against Watford at Molineux has now been brought forward to Friday night, kicking off at 7.45pm, for live TV coverage.