Santiago Bueno was at the centre of Wolves’ demise on Tuesday night as Vitor Pereira’s men tasted a 2-1 defeat against Fulham.
In the absence of the injured Emmanuel Agbadou, Wolves have utilised Santiago Bueno in the centre of their back three instead of their new signing Nasser Djiga.
The Uruguayan played alongside Matt Doherty and Toti Gomes in the loss to Fulham, and he didn’t cover himself in glory.
Andy Thompson criticised Bueno for his failure to deal with forward Rodrigo Muniz, who bullied the Wolves defender physically.
Although the 26-year-old is technically proficient, Bueno’s physicality is a clear weakness, as pointed out by Gary O’Neil after the defeat to West Ham in December.
Vitor Pereira has also noticed that this area of his game needs improvement, and the Portuguese tactician has already spotted a major improvement.
Vitor Pereira says Santiago Bueno is more aggressive now
Contrary to what fans saw during the defeat against Fulham, Pereira believes that Bueno is now more ‘aggressive’ with his defending and understands how to deal with physical strikers.
“He’s a little bit more aggressive now because he knows that here the striker goes direct on the body,” he said via the E&S.
“Here in this league it’s not a foul, it means that you must go direct in the duel and it’s very important to understand the qualities, the skill of the man.
“To understand what kind of movements he likes to do, his approach in aerial duels, his approach when he receives the ball.
“To understand the rotation, if he likes to go to one side or the other side, if he attacks the space or not, if he does counter-movements or not, if he goes direct, because here you see the best things in the players.”
While Bueno was outmuscled by the Fulham forward line for most of the game, it’s encouraging that work is being done to use his body more effectively, especially against those who are stronger than him.
Nasser Djiga deserves to start against Bournemouth
Wolves signed Djiga for £10 million on transfer deadline day, yet the 22-year-old is still waiting to make his full debut for the club.
Djiga came off the bench against Bournemouth for the final 17 minutes, and although he had a few shaky moments, the Burkina Faso international showed glimpses of his qualities.
Nasser Djiga’s statistics vs Bournemouth
- 17 minutes played
- 2 clearances
- 2 interceptions
- 1 aerial duel won
- 16 touches
- 9/9 (100%) passes completed
Wolves travel to Bournemouth in the FA Cup this weekend, hoping to replicate their heroics at the Vitality Stadium, and Liam Keen thinks Djiga will start.
On the evidence of Bueno’s performance in midweek, supporters would perhaps prefer to see their new signing in action with a place in the quarterfinals at stake.