Dean Saunders will give Wolves a chance to shine

The new Molineux boss also urged the club's four senior out-of-contract players to earn new deals as he prepares to make final decisions on several ins and outs on Friday.

Saunders is the fourth manager in 11 months to try to turn round the club's fortunes and admits a losing mentality may have seeped into the players' make-up.

He said: "The team has been struggling for three years. It got into the Premier League and struggled, struggled again and went down.

"Sometimes it can get into your bones and you start expecting to struggle. We came in at half-time on Saturday at Sheffield Wednesday, 0-0, and I said 'brilliant.'

"I was confident and saying we were going to win. But the players are sat there without that confidence. I can definitely put more enthusiasm into the players.

"They can definitely have more belief that we're going to do well. I will try it, and if that doesn't work, then they will leave. But I'm giving them a chance first to see if they want to be here."

Saunders added: "Our attitude has to change – if we have the attitude 'we're a big club and we should be beating everyone', smaller teams will beat us.

"We have got to have more respect for the opposition and earn the right to run over teams."

Ronald Zubar, Christophe Berra, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Stephen Hunt are out of contract this summer.

Saunders has scrapped a deadline for Berra to say if he wants a new contract, while he wants to have a closer look at Hunt, who returned to full training on Monday.

Zubar is wanted by Ipswich and was this week linked with Wigan. Ebanks-Blake may wait until the end of the season before deciding on his future.

Saunders saoid: "They need to prove to me they want to be here. If they do, they have got a chance of getting another contract."

Meanwhile, Razak Boukari is two weeks away from relaunching his Wolves career.

The £3million Togo winger has been out since September with a rare calf complaint that has taken a trip to a specialist in France to diagnose, and restricted him to just two Championship starts.

But Saunders revealed the 24-year-old wide man is making progress and will hopefully soon be out training again.

Saunders said: "Razak is just about to start putting weights on his bad leg. But I think it will be two to three weeks before he's back out trying to do some training."

The news isn't so bright on forgotten defender Steven Mouyokolo, who has been out for 11 months with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

The £2.5million former Hull centre-back turns 26 tomorrow with no end in sight to his injury nightmare, after sustaining the problem while on loan at French club Sochaux last February.

Saunders said: "Mouyokolo is having three injections put in his knee, so he will be out for a while. He's had a nightmare year – he's been so unlucky with injuries."

As regards long-term recruitment, Saunders is keeping tabs on young Carlisle pair Brad Potts and David Symington.

He watched the duo in a 1-0 win against Coventry a week last Sunday and will continue to run the rule over them in the coming months to see if they can continue their impressive form.

The 18-year-olds have attracted Premier League interest in their debut seasons, with Sunderland among the regular watchers.

Versatile midfielder Potts won a call-up to the England under-19s squad this season, and has played 22 games.

Symington has played 24 matches, although he has only started four, coming on as sub against the Sky Blues.

Saunders said: "That was an all day job but it was worth it. Carlisle have a couple of good young players, and so have Coventry and I went to keep an eye on them.

"If a couple of our scouts flag up the same player, I watch him. If the same names keep coming up, we all watch him and make decisions on them."