Express & Star

Wolves defender Ryan Bennett on Shrewsbury test: "We needed that"

Ryan Bennett believes Wolves will be better off for a tough physical test after their chastening defeat at Shrewsbury.

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Nuno Espirito Santo's team were well beaten by League One opposition who won 2-0 thanks to goals from Alex Rodman and Carlton Morris.

Aside from a Michal Zyro shot that was cleared off the line and a 25-yard Romain Saiss free kick Wolves offered precious little going forward.

But new centre half Bennett believes the physical opposition provided by Shrewsbury was just what Wolves needed as they step up their preparations for the 2017/18 season.

“It’s nice to come out here and have a few challenges," he told the Express & Star. "Some players might not like it but it’s part and parcel of this league and this country.

“We’ve played three foreign teams with a continental passing style, we knew it was going to be more difficult but we needed that.

“We’ll carry on working on that. It’s going to happen during the season so it’s nice to get that test out the way and get into the mindset of ‘we’re going to have to roll our sleeves up’.

“There were a few over-the-top challenges as well which wouldn’t be allowed in the league.

“I think it was a good thing. We’ll be expecting that in the next games, we’ll put our plans into place and hopefully have a really successful season.

"It was a good workout. It’s the first time we’ve been back in England which was nice.

“We’ve done a lot of travelling, we trained together on Saturday morning, so it’s been tough but we’re where we want to be.

“It’s a work in progress, we’re still working every day, patterns of play and things like that.

"People will see that in the next few weeks. We just need to stay positive and get what we can fitness wise and push on again."

Wolves' new 3-4-3 formation got its fourth airing. Bennett believes that with more hard work on the training ground the players will get it down to a tee.

The 27-year-old centre half, who become Wolves' first signing of the summer when he joined on a free transfer after leaving Norwich City, will now hope to build up his fitness in games against Peterborough United (Tuesday) and Leicester City (Saturday) ahead of the big kick off against Middlesbrough on August 5.

He said of Wolves' formation: "I think a lot of teams are going to go this way this year.

"You see the likes of Huddersfield last year and it was so successful for them. You know it works, it's just trusting this manager, his ideas are brilliant, his training is really good.

"We played three at a the back a lot at Norwich when we came up against a two up top.

"It's a nice system when it works, you become a five at the back when you're under pressure so it gives you a solid base.

"It'll take a little bit of time but if we keep working hard in training we'll get there in no time.

"The season is close now, less than a week and we're into the season.

"We've got the two games, hopefully we'll put things we've been working on into those.

"With the players here and the quality we're bringing in, once we get the style of play down and we get rocking and rolling it'll be really good."