Emi Buendia

[ChicagoLion]

He was immense yesterday but he has been rank awful recently.
But what a performance.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

He was immense yesterday but he has been rank awful recently.
But what a performance.

Pretty much sums up the team rather than just Buendia.

[PaulWinch again]

I’ve been critical of his recent performances - but he was magnificent last night. It was quality and effort, and in the round he’s had a terrific season.

[Beard82]

Hugely likeable - and last night showed he can do it on the biggest stage.

[paul_e]

Really. Eamonn's point being whilst he's in no way guaranteed a a regular starter, he's too good to be just a bench warmer. Should we ever discover the Holy Grail of a right winger/right sided 10, Emi can be used in rotation, providing he maintains the form.

You could probably add him to back up Rogers too, assuming 1) Rogers will still be here, 2) he won't again play every minute of every game and 3) we don't have the money to further re-enforce the squad in every position. And all that is assuming we have no injuries in those positions.

Oh and I wouldn't bother too much on 'everyone who has commented on what we need in the summer' after reading the ridiculous comments writing off of Bogarde this week. But as a keen follower of our youth teams, you knew that already. My concern is not who needs replacing but do we have the right people in place to find the replacements. But that's another story.

As with the Watkins situation, we have a whole summer to discuss these issues. Right now I'm still enjoying the best performance of the season and especially from players we thought weren't up to it.

I didn't read that as Eamonn's point in the slightest. I read it as "Buendia can be a bit shit at times but so is Rogers who seems to get a free pass". I think that's a ridiculous comparison given their respective records for us that's all.

That said I think your idea of how you see Buendia fitting in going forward and mine are about the same, when I say bench/backup I'm mostly saying someone who won't start in the important games in everyone is fit, doesn't mean he won't get plenty of gametime though.

[astonvilla82]

Just watching the Watkins goal, where Buendia looks up across a few times to see where Watkins is, fantastic play from him

[PeterWithesShin]

And watch Ollie for that goal. He causes the initial panic by the penalty spot, a few seconds later he's out wide and passes to Bendy. A few seconds later he's in front of goal. And from the pass to Bendy to the finish his eyes are constantly on Emi.

[paul_e]

And watch Ollie for that goal. He causes the initial panic by the penalty spot, a few seconds later he's out wide and passes to Bendy. A few seconds later he's in front of goal. And from the pass to Bendy to the finish his eyes are constantly on Emi.

At his best Ollie's movement in the box is as good as anyone in the league, it's why he has got away with an iffy touch and inconsistent finishing over the years because he has an ability to create and use space brilliantly, the goal was a really good example of it. The delay on the pass from Buendia was the key though. My biggest criticism of Emi is that he sometimes lacks composure but last night he absolutely flipped that on it's head and took his time to make the right pass time and time again and it made him look superb. He has got the ability he just needs to cool down a little at times and stop trying to play with the ball at the same frenetic pace he plays off the ball. If he could have learned that 4-5 years ago I suspect he'd have 70-80 Argentina caps and we'd have trebled our money on him.

[astonvilla82]

And watch Ollie for that goal. He causes the initial panic by the penalty spot, a few seconds later he's out wide and passes to Bendy. A few seconds later he's in front of goal. And from the pass to Bendy to the finish his eyes are constantly on Emi.

At his best Ollie's movement in the box is as good as anyone in the league, it's why he has got away with an iffy touch and inconsistent finishing over the years because he has an ability to create and use space brilliantly, the goal was a really good example of it. The delay on the pass from Buendia was the key though. My biggest criticism of Emi is that he sometimes lacks composure but last night he absolutely flipped that on it's head and took his time to make the right pass time and time again and it made him look superb. He has got the ability he just needs to cool down a little at times and stop trying to play with the ball at the same frenetic pace he plays off the ball. If he could have learned that 4-5 years ago I suspect he'd have 70-80 Argentina caps and we'd have trebled our money on him.

My initial thoughts when he had the ball was what the f you doing

[eamonn]

Really. Eamonn's point being whilst he's in no way guaranteed a a regular starter, he's too good to be just a bench warmer. Should we ever discover the Holy Grail of a right winger/right sided 10, Emi can be used in rotation, providing he maintains the form.

I didn't read that as Eamonn's point in the slightest. I read it as "Buendia can be a bit shit at times but so is Rogers who seems to get a free pass". I think that's a ridiculous comparison given their respective records for us that's all.

Buendia' record stacks-up pretty well this season. He wasn't here last year, he was injured the year before so I think it's pretty moot to judge him on anything but since he came out of the cold and got our season going in the second half against Fulham in the autumn.

I'm not saying he's as good/better than Morgan. I'm saying the "When he's bad, he's awful" is a bit pot kettle black when Rogers fares terrible in stats for giving the ball away and he doesn't track back as hard as Buendia.
I acknowledge that has to be qualified with the fact that two or three opppsing players are often on Rogers trying to scythe him down. At the same time, he has to be better at knowing when to release the ball.

That said I think your idea of how you see Buendia fitting in going forward and mine are about the same, when I say bench/backup I'm mostly saying someone who won't start in the important games in everyone is fit, doesn't mean he won't get plenty of gametime though.

And last night was as important a game as they come. So if everyone was fit and you wouldn't start him, well, I'm glad some of us - and Unai, have a bit more faith 

[tomd2103]

I’ve been critical of his recent performances - but he was magnificent last night. It was quality and effort,

Agree and I have been equally critical, but I thought he was excellent last night.

[Percy McCarthy]

And watch Ollie for that goal. He causes the initial panic by the penalty spot, a few seconds later he's out wide and passes to Bendy. A few seconds later he's in front of goal. And from the pass to Bendy to the finish his eyes are constantly on Emi.

Yes, and we shouldn’t underestimate the finish. He had to roof it, if he’d have tapped it towards goal without lifting it the defender would probably have got the block in.

[SamTheMouse]

He always seems to perform better in European games, or maybe it's just me.

[tom jennings III]

The twinkle-toes feet and hesitation before the final killer pass quite rightly get all the plaudits but for the purists the little dummy to pass out wide to Digne before the magic started was just pure class. Chefs kiss.

[Clampy]

Said a few days back that he hasn't been up to it of late but he was bloody great on Thursday.