Wolves crashed to yet another defeat in the Premier League, with Gary O’Neil losing the game that was dubbed ‘El Sackico’ against West Ham United.
The Wolves manager is now on the brink after the latest loss.
Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen were on target for the hosts to give them three points and relieve some of the pressure on Julen Lopetegui.
Wolves did equalise through Matt Doherty. But, as we have seen time and time again this season, Wolves dropped points from a promising position.
There was an element of bad lack about last night’s result, with Wolves on the end of a couple of poor decisions.
Jamie Carragher couldn’t believe a foul wasn’t given on Santiago Bueno in the build-up to West Ham’s second goal. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was also kicked in the box, with no penalty being given.
After the game, Gary O’Neil gave his post-match interview, and gave a rather damning assessment of Bueno.
Gary O’Neil says Santiago Bueno isn’t physical
Crysencio Summerville of West Ham United dribbles the ball against Santiago Bueno of Wolverhampton Wanderers during the Premier League match betwee...
Photo by MB Media/Getty Images
Bueno started in the middle of a back three last night, with Nelson Semedo to his right and Toti Gomes to his left.
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O’Neil decided to drop Craig Dawson to the bench after his poor showing against Everton, against whom he scored two own goals.
So Bueno played in the middle, and it was important for him to be rock-solid if Wolves were going to take anything from the game.
The £8.5 million man struggled in parts, but he was at the centre of a controversial incident when Konstantinos Mavropanos bundled him over in the build-up to the second goal.
O’Neil spoke about Wolves lacking physicality after the game, and actually name-dropped Bueno.
He said on Sky: “It’s not a group that’s built to deal with physical play.
“You know, Santi Bueno, good centre-back, but not a big physical strong one. We lost Yerson, we lost Max – being competitive in those areas is a challenge for us.”
Santi Bueno must become meaner
It was really interesting for O’Neil to say this publicly last night, and it can’t have been particularly nice for the Uruguay international to hear.
Bueno should be someone who is physically dominant. He stands at 6ft 3in tall, and it’s not uncommon for South American defenders to be gritty and aggressive.
But Bueno hasn’t shown those traits since he arrived at Wolves – and it might be in his interests to start becoming meaner.
Steve Davis urged Max Kilman to become more dominant at Wolves, with that being one regular criticism of the former Molineux skipper. Bueno seems to be a similar case, and it would be ideal if he could start becoming a bit of a warrior.
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