Joe Edwards says the Saddlers must build on last season and finish higher up the League One table.
Walsall finished the 2016/17 campaign in 14th place with 58 points, in what was Edwards’ first year with the club.
And the ex-Yeovil man is hoping we can do better this around.
“There were plenty of high and lows last season,” he said.
“It would have been nice to finish higher and challenge for the play-offs, which at one stage looked possible.
“We didn’t get off to the best of starts but once we found our feet and started to gel as a team, I thought we had a really good go for a while.
“On the whole, it was a learning curve for myself, a lot of the players and the manager.
“It’s something we can definitely build on and this is a big season for us – we want to be higher up the table.
“That’ll be the aim and what we’ll be working very hard to do.”
Before the competitive action gets underway, Edwards and co will be playing a number of pre-season friendlies.
Fellow Midlands sides Aston Villa and West Brom will be visiting the Banks’s in July – and Edwards is looking forward to pitting his wits against teams from a higher division.
“You always want to play the top teams and in pre-season you get different games that you’re not really used to,” said Edwards.
“It’ll be nice to have a few higher-league teams come to our stadium and hopefully we can put on some good performances.
“I know it’s all about fitness but it’s always nice to get a good result over a local rival.”