Wolves legend Andy Thompson said that Santiago Bueno got ‘bullied’ by Coventry City during Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final defeat.
Wanderers missed out on the chance to go to Wembley, losing 3-2 to Mark Robins’ Championship side in a pulsating game for the neutral.
Ellis Simms scored a controversial opener for Coventry, but Wolves hit back with late goals from Rayan Ait-Nouri and Hugo Bueno.
But Coventry found an equaliser through Simms, before Hagi Wright broke Wolves hearts at the death.
Ultimately Wolves just weren’t good enough at both ends of the pitch – and Andy Thompson believes it was a particularly poor day at the office for Santiago Bueno…
Andy Thompson says Coventry City ‘bullied’ Wolves defender Santiago Bueno
Gary O’Neil was missing key players for Saturday’s game and the injury absences really stung for Wolves in the end.
One man who was unavailable was Craig Dawson, who had missed the previous game with Fulham with a groin injury.
The 33-year-old was not passed fit for the game with Coventry and so, Bueno kept his place in the backline.
He’s had some decent performances of late for Wolves, but he struggled at times against Coventry and Thompson believes he actually got bullied in some moments.
He said on Matchday Live Extra: “Bueno got bullied, didn’t he? What he (Simms) did was he attached himself to him. He didn’t go onto Kilman, he put himself on him. He was trying to fight with him all day, but he was fighting a losing battle.
“He was never having it, and Simms totally dominated Santi Bueno throughout the game and that was an outlet for them.”
Bueno still getting a feel for English football
Bueno did not have a comfortable afternoon at Molineux and you can see that he is still adapting to the English game.
We’ve seen his quality in glimpses since his £8.5 million transfer from Girona, but the Uruguay international needs to find that consistency – it’s difficult for him to build momentum being the fourth-choice central defender.
It is likely that we will see a much-improved version of Bueno next season.
You would imagine he will probably be in line for more minutes next term, with Dawson turning 34 in a couple of months.