Emi Buendia

[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.

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 

See this is what selective quoting does to you. His record is good this season, something I've said at least a couple of times now but that you've either missed, ignored or chosen to exclude. That doesn't mean you can ignore everything before that, not limited to Emery trying to sell him last January and again in the summer.

Going forward means after the summer, as I said in an earlier post. We will sign players in his position this summer, that's inevitable, and there's every chance he will start the season behind 1 of them in pecking order, I don't see how you can possibly think that's controversial given the alternatives are selling/dropping Rogers or McGinn or signing players who aren't good enough to get into our team.

[eamonn]

Why can't you ignore everything before this season? It's irrelevant to how he's performing now as he's showing he can be an important player at this level. One of many players that look light years better than under previous Villa coaching regimes.

Going forward, post-summer (missed you saying that earlier), if the budget stretches to someone better coming in to play in his place, sure.

First and foremost for me, we badly need pace from a winger with a scintilla of consistency and physically robust but I don't think that automatically relegates Buendia to the bench as it's a different profile or player. His run of starts going forward may also depend on Rogers staying/McGinn staying wide or coming inside etc.

[paul_e]

Why can't you ignore everything before this season? It's irrelevant to how he's performing now as he's showing he can be an important player at this level. One of many players that look light years better than under previous Villa coaching regimes.

Going forward, post-summer (missed you saying that earlier), if the budget stretches to someone better coming in to play in his place, sure.

First and foremost for me, we badly need pace from a winger with a scintilla of consistency and physically robust but I don't think that automatically relegates Buendia to the bench as it's a different profile or player. His run of starts going forward may also depend on Rogers staying/McGinn staying wide or coming inside etc.

You can't ignore it because it has clearly formed the basis for why people have the opinions they do. "He's had a great season, I didn't think he had this in him" probably sums up how the majority of the fan base feel about him now and a big part of his story is about how he's resurrected his career with us. He was as good as gone this time last year and it's a big credit to him that he has worked his way back and been so important to us and I'm very happy he turned things around.

However, Rogers gets more leeway because his accepted 'normal' is he being fucking brilliant, for Buendia he's not yet at that point for most people and it's still up in the air if this is a 'new normal' or if he's going to drop back like we've seen with Bailey for example.

[Mellin]

It is worth remembering how good he was when Emery first got here and how gutted we all (most of us?) were when he did his ACL. He hasn't exactly come from no where.

He reached a level we haven't seen from him on Thursday. If he carries on like that we have no worries in that position whatsoever.

[Beard82]

I dont want to be too reactive to Thursday performance - but are we all agreed he is th best number 10 Argentina has ever produced?

[Mellin]

Fair, balanced and accurate.

[PeterWithesShin]

We'll know for sure corruption is at play if he doesn't win the Ballon d'Or as he has quite clearly been the best player in Europe this season.

[Halfway to Moseley]

I dont want to be too reactive to Thursday performance - but are we all agreed he is th best number 10 Argentina has ever produced?

Almost certainly. Although to be fair it’s a position they’ve always struggled with in the past. Bit like us and right backs.

[brontebilly]

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

His best performances have come against PL teams though - Forest obviously but Spurs league and cup, Newcastle away he was outstanding too. Was our star man v Bologna I thought and got a cracker on a difficult night v Feyenoord. But there's more to his game than Thursday night football.

As with Eamo, I find the "he's only good off the bench" stuff irritating.

[thick_mike]

I recall that he turned up to pretty much every match on crutches when he was recovering from his ACL. You can’t fault his commitment to the cause. Even when he’s not playing well, he still works his bollocks off.

[martin o`who??]

I dont want to be too reactive to Thursday performance - but are we all agreed he is th best number 10 Argentina has ever produced?

certainly the most honest.

[martin o`who??]

Dunmo why but I've always had a kind of paternal attitude towards the lad and championed him on many occasions. That run on Thursday was just off the charts.

[Mellin]

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

His best performances have come against PL teams though - Forest obviously but Spurs league and cup, Newcastle away he was outstanding too. Was our star man v Bologna I thought and got a cracker on a difficult night v Feyenoord. But there's more to his game than Thursday night football.

As with Eamo, I find the "he's only good off the bench" stuff irritating.

Is that because he impacts games off the bench so often, that it's being used as a negative, because it sticks with people? Stop scoring those last minute winners against Arsenal, Buendia. It's effecting your reputation.

[Dante Lavelli]

In the summer we’d have accepted £10m. His value probably increased during the season to high teens, after Thursday, I reckon he’s worth £20m+

Testament to his hard work, Emery’s coaching and man management.

[eamonn]

That knuckle-ball technique free-kick goal he scored against Bournemouth with was early on in the game (which Morgan credited with teaching him for his own version at Leeds). Our league season finally got going with a Buendia assist and goal early in the second half against Fulham in late-September. A sliding-doors moment where he came on at half-time for Harvey Elliott. One player's career resurrected, the other's brutally put on pause.
Beautiful opening goal at Newcastle in the first half that they never replied to and was effectively the winner. Ditto at Spuds in the cup.

He's more than capable of performing from the start and not just against tiring defenders which the lazy "sub option" suggests. He's also responsible for making things happen so is vulnerable to getting hooked if he's not getting any joy or having one of his little bitch-fits when physically bullied/his passes not coming off - which is fair enough, especially in an era where half the outfield team can now be substituted.

I just think our little prince has twinkle toes, can leap like a salmon with those angled headers and has become an important last-third player for us. I'm so happy it's all come good for him as he's never shirked hard work and determination to recover from what could have been a career-ender at the top level.

Finally, a slightly facetious point (you know me) but when he celebrates, he looks so proud to score for the supporters. No shade at Ollie, but when he scores, it looks like his instinct is to pick out his missus and kids in one of the North Stand windows. His kisses are for them, not for the fans. Emi's love for us feels purer and more passionate. He can decompartmentalise, and leave it til later to ruffle his kids hair and make love to his wife.