Liam Keen comment: Stand-outs from Wolves' training in Portugal pre-season camp

In yesterday's morning training, which lasted just over an hour and a half, the team endured 32 degrees and high humidity with no shade across three big pitches.

The day before they took on an afternoon session that was even hotter and Vitor Pereira is not letting up as the intensity increases.

The Express & Star was given exclusive access to yesterday's full training session as Wolves gear up for more training games and upcoming friendlies back in England.

Styles

Pre-season is a time to work on fitness, but it also the perfect opportunity to tweak tactics and hone a style of play.

A lot of work has been done on getting the players in the best physical condition, but Pereira has also not neglected the more detailed information, as he keeps a tactics board close by when on the training pitch.

Throughout many of the early drills, Pereira's focus for his players was around one or two touches, overlapping wing-backs and picking dangerous passes as he encourages his side to take calculated risks.

There was also a focus on splitting the teams into different XI's, with one eye on a future training game, and working on different styles.

In his exclusive interview with the Express & Star, Fer Lopez explained how Pereira is keen to see his side control possession.

But the head coach is also adaptable and wants his side to be free-scoring and dangerous, hence why he was also working on long passes from defence into attack during this training session.

Wolves also had plenty of joy with that, too, as the forwards held up the ball and brought team-mates into play.

Quality

The squad definitely needs some additions and the club are working on signings, but some of the current stars continue to stand out.

Brazilian midfield duo Andre and Joao Gomes are a class above and prove that every time they touch the ball.

Against Santa Clara in Tuesday's training game they dominated and ran the match and in training they bring the same intensity.

On one occasion Gomes even caught Goncalo Guedes as he lunged for a tackle, but the forward was uninjured and the pair laughed it off.

Among the group of four goalkeepers you find a tight-knit group that have each other's backs and bring character to the group.

In particular, Sam Johnstone made a handful of impressive saves that are worth noting, while youngster Leo Lopes stood out again with an excellent headed goal in one drill, followed by a stunning cross that was also headed into the back of the net.

Extra work

There is a long way to go in pre-season and the players are not peaking yet - and nor should they be - as they slowly build up to the upcoming season.

Pereira's demanding approach occasionally means he will bark some orders on the training pitch if a player is not up to scratch, while he also spent some time with young midfielder Luke Rawlings during yesterday's session to coach him through a drill and encourage him after a mistake.

A really promising sign is seeing certain players taking time to do extra work once a gruelling session in the baking heat has come to an end.

Gomes was first up as he put Dan Bentley in goal and had a staff member fire some balls into him so he could practice some shooting.

Moments later, Tom King was then in net as young forwards Lopes and Tawanda Chirewa also worked on improving their shooting.

At the end, assistant coach Luis Miguel also took Lopes to one side to walk him through some tweaks to his game.

To see a senior midfielder and two young players both taking time to find improvements when it is not obligatory can only be a good thing for their personal development and that of the overall team.