Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Kenny Jackett believes he will know more about how good his side is when they face English opposition in their last four friendlies of pre-season.
The Sky Bet Championship side faced FC Chambly and Ligue 2 side Paris FC on a tour of France last week, coming out victorious in both.
Yet the Wolves boss believes he will know far more about his squad’s true ability during the final part of their pre-season as they face the likes of Shrewsbury Town, Aston Villa and Doncaster Rovers before the big kick off at Blackburn Rovers on August 8th.
Jackett expects tough tests against stern opposition
Speaking ahead of the first friendly against Football League opposition as they travel the short distance to Burton Albion, Jackett told local media said that the four games will ‘help [me] to assess where we are as a team’, and will be more of a ‘yardstick’ as where his players are as individuals.
The former Millwall man said that whilst he meant ‘no disrespect’ to the foreign opposition, he said that it was difficult to really judge his players because ‘they’re different types of games’ and ‘not necessarily our standard’.
The verteran manager has brought in two top youngsters this summer
The Championship side have added two new faces in Conor Coady and Jed Wallace, from Huddersfield Town and Portsmouth respectively, to the side that finished just outside the play-off spots on goal difference in their first season back in the second tier.
And Jackett believes his squad will benefit from facing opposition from different levels, saying “Our next four games gives us a good test, league opposition, good games and a variety of standards. They’ll all be hard games. For us, shaping the team, the next four games will be very good.”