The Emi Buendia Thread | Page 29 | Vital Football

The Emi Buendia Thread

JW1985 said:
Bought a player who has only ever played wide or as a 10 and we're trying to jam him into central midfield. It isn't working and it won't work.

Ask anyone who our most creative players are. They'd probably say Buendia, Bailey, Traore. None will fit into the current system. No good having 2 strikers if you can't supply them.

I could just about accept the 3 at the back formation that I've always hated when Bailey and Traore were out. I'd still have played with a front 3 if I'd been picking the team but I can see why Smith went with it. If we're still lining up like that next weekend I'll be extremely pissed off.
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Exactly this. We've been forced into a formation that excludes our best players through fitness and injury. It's been easy for teams to press Emi out of the game up til now but he's definitely got the talent. A step up in league, a hip injury preventing a proper pre-season, and travelling round the fucking world twice in a month are going to make for ideal conditions to hit the ground running. He'll come good.
 
He’s too lightweight to play in the centre. Up next we have West Ham with Soucek and Rice at the base of their midfield. They'll mark him out of the game. In fact those two will dominate our powderpuff midfield.
 
Melon Donkey said:
Maybe . And in my somewhat scathing post I was not writing him off . I was talking the here and now of this season not what he did at Norwich in the EFL or Premier league. And I say maybe because the system isn't making him slow, sloppy , lightweight and all the basic fundamentals of a top level player which he has lacked so far with us. He was blowing first half last night. He doesn't look fit.. He looks overweight quite frankly.
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Yes he's not fulfilling his end of the bargain either and needs to dramatically improve his strength and conditioning. But it's clear to me that he is given a role where he won't deliver.

It's not rocket science, we have these players like Buendia and Bailey who cost us upwards of £70m and 3-5-2 isn't a system to get the best out of these players. I feel like these players were bought for Smith and the worry is that he has no clue how to make them work. If Smith cannot find solutions I'm sure the owners will find someone who can.
 
3-5-2 is a system for a team with no fit wingers. That's the only basis on which it makes sense. I was interested to see if Emi could play as an "8", but it doesn't look like it, or at least certainly not at his current state of fitness and understanding of the system. We need to free him up as a true 10 or out wide.
 
Perhaps if he'd chosen to follow club instructions and not have a couple of weeks off to watch Messi he'd be in better shape ?
You'd think he'd be busting a gut to impress but maybe he thinks he's already arrived. Early days but shitload of improvement needed along with a lot of others around the club.
 
He looks like a foreign player adjusting to the pace and physicality of the English game, but he's been here for years and shone in the prem before so I just don't get it.
 
He doesn't look fit and he isn't playing in a role that suits him, those are the problems in a nutshell. There's no point signing these players if Smith isn't going to deploy them properly.

Buendia played most of his games as a right sided midfielder at Norwich, he also played quite a few games as a proper number 10. According to him in an interview he believes number 10 off the striker is his best position. He is not being deployed in the position/ role where he has thrived in the past. If Smith's idea is to transform his position/ role on the pitch then it's going to end badly, i.e. a £35m player who will not deliver.
 
Honestly if he's playing like this towards the end of the season then I'd agree but I think it's far too early to write him off, especially given the pigs ear Smith is making when it comes to the tactics.
 
sirdennis said:
Unbelievably poor last night. Probably the worst player on the night , and that took some doing.
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Always will trust your input as you were there in-person. My TV perspective showed him completely dominated by Partey, but our wing-backs and Watkins were spectacularly poor. Buendia did at least appear to be trying whereas those other three seemed content to let the game pass them by.....
 
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