In an interview with Lusa news agency during Wolves' pre-season training camp, Pereira emphasised the importance of the club's Portuguese players in helping the club complete a dramatic turnaround.
"When we arrived, we fundamentally felt that the team was a little suspicious of itself. The players were suspicious of themselves, suspicious of each other, the results weren't happening and the team was actually below the waterline, in a difficult position," said the Portuguese coach.
Pereira explained that, before accepting the job, an analysis was made of the talent available and that the coaching team realised "that it was a team with individual quality and that it fundamentally needed to improve some tactical aspects".
"It fundamentally needed confidence to play with the potential it had," he said, stressing that "the first steps" involved "transmitting confidence", having "clear tactical ideas", as well as "improving the organisation" of both set-pieces and defending.
The manager praised the "great openness" that the players showed towards his ideas and the contribution of the Portuguese footballers already in the squad.
"The Portuguese help a lot in communicating and passing on the message, the idea. Nélson (Semedo) was a very important player. I mention him because he was the team captain and he helped a lot. So did the others. And we managed to get the idea across," he added.
After good results in his first three games (wins against Leicester and Manchester United and a draw with Tottenham), the team had "four games of an enormous degree of difficulty for which they were not yet prepared," he emphasised.
Then came "four consecutive defeats (...), in which the team could have wobbled, but it didn't", he praised, paving the way for a string of victories that allowed them to break away from the relegation battle.
"And then we also achieved (...), for me, a very important victory, which was connecting people, connecting everyone within the club, connecting the club with the fans, connecting the fans with the club, and that, in a small club, in the Premier League, in a small town," said the coach, who guided Wolves to a 16th-placed finish.
'A relationship that I hope will continue'
Pereira took over as manager in December 2024 and, over the months he has spent in the city, he has forged a close relationship with the local fans, not least because Wolverhampton is "a small city" and everyone goes to "the same places, for dinner, for lunch, for a beer, to socialise, to watch a football match".
The manager recognised that relegation would be a "disaster" and that there is a mutual "bond of gratitude" for the work done to keep the team in the Premier League.
"We've created a relationship, a relationship that I hope will continue and I hope the club understands that we have to fulfil the expectations of the masses (...), because they're starting to create expectations now, naturally, and we need reinforcements, we need to be competitive," he warned.
Pereira said that Wolves can't "repeat last year's mistake" and "get into the league badly", because if the team "falls into the relegation places", then "getting out of those places is a problem".
"(...) My ambition is to be in the middle of the table and not always worry about the bottom places. It's to look upwards. But right now, we've lost (striker Matheus) Cunha, we've lost (left-back Rayan) Aït-Nouri, one to Manchester United and one to Manchester City, two very important players for us," he admitted.
Pereira said that his main concern, and that of the fans, is to "strengthen the team" because expectations have been raised, and he hopes that new reinforcements will arrive soon, namely two wing-backs to replace Ait-Nouri and Semedo, a striker to replace Matheus Cunha and "a quality midfielder".
"I want to prepare a team to start the league competitively, but at the moment it hasn't been possible. I hope there will be some news in the next few days about bringing in people to increase the quality of the squad," he said.