Wolves boss facing selection dilemma with centre-back conundrum

The centre-back, who joined in the summer of 2023, has failed to hold down a consistent starting berth and battled with the physicality of the top flight.

Bueno had issues dealing with Fulham's Rodrigo Muniz on Tuesday, but Pereira believes he is improving against strong opponents.

The head coach said: "He's a little bit more aggressive now because he knows that here the striker goes direct on the body.

"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.

"I worked in different leagues and a striker makes direct movements. To control a direct movement is easier than if the first movement is a fake movement.

"Here what do you see? You see the first movement there but it's not to go there, it's to go in the opposite side.

"They play a lot with the counter-movements and this is very important. The level of the centre-backs must be a level to control these counter-movements.

"Sometimes it's not about if he's strong or not, it's about the energy that you put on the contact. You see on the pitch small players but the energy that they put in the duels and they can win the duels with big guys."

Bueno has kept his place ahead of new signing Nasser Djiga of late, amid the injury to Emmanuel Agbadou.

Djiga had an uncertain debut of the bench against Bournemouth last week and could be set for his full debut in the FA Cup tomorrow.

When asked about Djiga's performance, Pereira said: "A bit nervous, eh? It's normal.

"The first appearance in the Premier League is not easy because he's trying to understand what we want in this moment.

"He's trying to improve some aspects of his game because he came from a different league, and he faces top players.

"Top players, fast, aggressive players. It's normal that he needs some time to adapt and to be ready.

"I like the personality, I like his work and we are trying to put him on the level that we want.

"The first thing is to put the nerves out because the nerves will not help him.

"I used to say, nervous for what? But it's the emotional side and we cannot control the emotional side.

"Like me on the sidelines, sometimes I lose my balance."