truth_hurts
but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
The overrating of Buendia on here is something else. He’s a player who if you took the time to watch him, you’d realise was closer to the likes of Kovacic or even our very own Ceballos in style. Watch how Kovacic was deployed at Inter Milan or Real Madrid and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Yes, he has impressive statistics in terms of chances created but let’s contextualise that. He was playing in a team set up to play on the counter who were more often than not toothless when given the opportunity (nod to his lack of goals).
In inviting pressure and being extremely bad at dealing with it, teams opened up against them and were willing to concede chances to them. High profile cases of this were the hime games against Chelsea and Man City where they managed to capitalise on these opportunities but as morale dropped, so did the goals.
They have wasted a lot of opportunities since then, primarily due to horrendous finishing but a considerable amount of these chances have only been created as a result of teams making the conscious decision to open up against them and Buendia, as well as your Cantwell, etc. have inflated stats as a result. For example - I’d back Ceballos to put up similar numbers of assists or chances created if he played in Norwich’s place.
You’ll also see exactly why he won’t provide what we lack. The reason we aren’t linked with him is because we still appear to be in negotiations with Ceballos who plays that middle man role in a midfield three, as does Partey - who I must stress is not the type of defensive midfielder that many seem to want him to be. He’s also the middle man of a midfield three. Similar to to Essien in a lot of ways but a lot more technical and offering more going forward as a result.
I can’t see how Ceballos and/or Partey as well as Busndia go any way to solving our creativity problems.
Completely agree. Buedia could easily be a big fish at a small pond. The few times that I watched Norwich, the standout players were Cantwell, Lewis, Aaron's or even that tricky left winger they have. I only started to notice Buendia after the stats brigade on here kept mentioning him.
He does seem a very tidy player and I like that he has grit. Does he start in our midfield tomorrow? Yes, but I don't see his signing as one that brings us closer to the likes of United and Chelsea, never mind Sp**s and Wolves.
I'd rather get Coutinho as he puts points on the board with his goals and assists. It seems nuts that the Premier Leagues most expensive export (who is in his prime) is being question as to whether he would be worth trying to bring in on a non-committal loan ahead of a young player who has had a good season in an awful tea. Coutinho' worst season here has matched Buendias best and Coutinhos best is pfa team of the year!