Nouha Dicko optimistic of a successful Wolves season

A good end to pre-season and successive 1-0 wins to kick off the campaign have added to the growing belief that Wolves can make an impact in the Championship.

Dicko has got his season off to a good start too, notching the winner in Tuesday's Carabao Cup win over Yeovil.

That'll be a relief to a player who took 20 games to score his first goal last year after returning from that cruciate knee ligament injury.

"I scored so it was a good night for me and Wolves," he said. "It’s always good and nice to start the season with a goal.

"It’s always a nice feeling to score, even if it’s a friendly game or training. The most important thing was to win and get through to the next round."

Like almost everyone at the club, both new and old, Dicko is having to adapt his game to Nuno's probing passing style.

The 25-year-old is enjoying his different role and the responsibility of having to change and improve.

"We enjoy this style of play," he added. "It’s a big change from last season and I think there are the players here who can do this.

"We all like it. We have to be patient, we have the ball, it’s about the team, we’re playing as a group.

"(For me) the style depends on the way we play. Against Yeovil we started as a 3-5-2 so it was more about me giving a bit of width but being in the box as well and linking up with the wing backs.

"That's good, it's a nice change from last season when we were playing channel balls etc so it wasn't easy.

"When we play 3-4-3 it's about the striker being central and a link between the midfielders and the forwards.

"That's good too. It's really important for strikers to have these different options, to improve as players.

"The way we play, we're really patient. We have space to drop a little bit, to link up, to get a feeling of the ball, to get into the games.

"It's all about being patient and staying focused.

"That's how you can stay focused (as a striker), by not being frustrated just staying up there and sometimes the balls are not coming

"It's a nice change. Hopefully it brings a lot of opportunities and goals for the strikers."

Dicko played a full 90 minutes against Yeovil, which he felt he needed after missing the pre-season games against Peterborough and Leicester and coming off the bench against Middlesbrough.

"It was good to play 90 minutes," he added. "Fitness-wise I needed this as I missed two games of pre-season.

"When I came on against Middlesbrough I felt like I needed to keep going as maybe I had this last bit to get.

"It was a game where the last 25 minutes wasn't easy for us, so when you come on people expect you to be really fresh but sometimes it's totally different.

"It's really important to have a good start and we'll see in the next game against Derby how things are."

Saturday's visit to the iPro will represent another good barometer of where Wolves are at right now.

With several players still out injured Dicko feels Wolves can only improve. Helder Costa, Ben Marshall, Phil Ofosu-Ayeh and Kortney Hause are sidelined, while Ivan Cavaleiro will return tomorrow after suspension.

"If we can keep going with this vision and this style of play and create more opportunities it's going to be a good season," he said.

"We have the players. Ivan is coming, we're all waiting for Helder , we have Phil Ofosu-Ayeh as well, Jordan (Graham) is back, (Michal) Zyro is there, so we have a lot of options.

"I think that's really good for the club.

"Tuesday wasn’t an easy game and we have to improve.

"As the manager said it’s about winning but sometimes you win and you know you can do better.

"The Championship is a tough and long season, but if we keep winning we'll have the confidence to keep going.

"The gaffer is trying to make us understand his vision. He doesn't just impose his ideas, he's listening with us and trying to make us understand.

"With small things we are improving each day.

"At the training ground he's trying to make us feel we can improve as players. And that's the most important thing for football players – to think we can improve under a manager.

"We're here to keep growing and improving. Hopefully we'll all grow with him."