Lee Naylor believes Wolves had one especially ‘brilliant’ performer on Saturday during the 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League.
Gary O’Neil watched his side lose 2-0 against the Gunners, but it was a spirited display from the hosts who had a number of key players missing once again.
There was a first start in attack for Tawanda Chirewa, who supported Hwang Hee-chan. The South Korean was starting for the first time since returning from injury.
People didn’t expect too much from Wolves given the lack of experience in the team.
But Wolves produced a much better performance than anticipated against a side pushing to be crowned Premier League champions next month.
there was a start for Hugo Bueno on the left side, with Rayan Ait-Nouri ruled out through injury – and he was someone Lee Naylor praised after the game…
Lee Naylor insists Hugo Bueno was ‘brilliant’ for Wolves during Arsenal defeat against Bukayo Saka
It has been a bit of a frustrating season for Bueno so far.
The Spaniard burst onto the scene last season and made himself a regular under Julen Lopetegui. But he has been unable to kick on this term, with O’Neil extremely taken by Ait-Nouri.
Bueno hasn’t been able to displace the Algerian, and has therefore been limited to just 22 appearances across all competitions.
But a chance came his way on Saturday, after he did quite well coming on as a substitute against Nottingham Forest, and former Molineux full-back Lee Naylor really rated how he did.
He said on Wolves’ Matchday Live show: “I can’t tell you how hard it is, when you’ve not been playing, to come into a game like this. Because you’ve got one of the world’s best wingers coming at you all the time.
“Don’t get me wrong, there were a few down here in this corner when they got in a couple of times. He just got caught and was a bit off the pace. That’s just expected, because he’s not been playing. He’s not got the match sharpness, his mind is not match-sharp and his legs aren’t either.
“(But) he was brilliant today. His legs were just found wanting from 60 minutes, you could see and he was stretching.”
Andy Thompson added: “He’s a quality player, and he has been for a number of years now, even though he’s still a young age.”
Bueno deserves big credit
Bueno deserves his flowers for the way he played on Saturday. Naylor is right – it cannot have been easy given his lack of minutes lately.
He did very well being thrown in against such a quality team and without any kind of rhythm, and he did fare well against Arsenal’s £195,000-a-week star Bukayo Saka.
He’s in a bit of tricky spot because O’Neil really loves Ait-Nouri. The manager is also partial to playing Matt Doherty on the left side on occasion.
But he may well have just served up a bit of a reminder to O’Neil that he does have a lot to offer.
It would be fantastic to see him finish the season really well. Perhaps opportunities will be a bit more forthcoming with fatigue really starting to set in.
