Last season, Norwich City finished their first season under Daniel Farke at 14th position, a comfortable mid-table place. James Maddison was the standout player for the side as he scored fourteen goals and made eight assists in the Championship. It doesn’t come as a surprise when Premier League clubs started lurking around for his signature. Eventually, he secured a move to Leicester City and continued to shine under the management of Claude Puel and Brendan Rodgers.
The same period also saw Cultural Leonesa’s return to the Segunda División after 43 years. Their search for players who are capable of playing in the division led them to Emi Buendía, the Getafé prospect. The Argentinian immediately became a key player for them and he ended the loan spell with seven goals and eleven assists. Although he couldn’t help Leonesa survive relegation, his performance caught the eyes of many Championship clubs, including Norwich.
Daniel Farke wanted him to fill in Maddison’s position as a playmaker and he did just that. 12 assists and eight goals in his first season in the Championship has proved his quality for the Norfolk-based side. This tactical analysis will look closely at how Buendía became the orchestrator for Norwich in their 2018/19 Championship-winning season.
Overview
Emiliano Buendía, usually known as Emi, started his career at his native club, Cadetes de San Martín. In 2009, Real Madrid captured his signature following a recommendation from Juan Esnáider, a former player of both clubs. But his time with the Los Blancos soon ended as he found himself surplus to requirements. Getafé quickly snapped him up for their academy a year later and he stayed with the club until last summer. Stuart Webber identified him as a replacement for not only Maddison but also for the club legend, Wes Hoolahan.
Looking through his stats this season, it’s fair to say that he has accomplished what was expected from him. He is the joint-second most assists player with 12 assists, only behind Brentford’s Saïd Benrahma. The Argentinian attacking midfielder also recorded 18 key passes, second highest among the Norwich squad. On an average of every 125 minutes, he would involve in one Norwich’s goal. Adding to that, he had scored eight goals which included a brace against Hull. It’s not the most impressive number but that contributed to a very strong season.
A minor setback for him is his discipline. This season, he picked up seven yellow cards in every competition and one red card from the Queens Park Rangers match. It shows that he is not easy to be bullied by defenders and he could be aggressive when needed. Keeping one’s head cool in situations is not simple, though. But if he could avoid the unnecessary fouls, he would be able to contribute to the team’s play even more.
Intelligent movement and positional awareness
As a right attacking midfielder in Farke’s 4-2-3-1 system, Buendía tends to operate in the half-spaces. He often leaves the wide space for his partner, Max Aarons, to occupy whenever the right-back is overlapping. Both had formed a very strong connection between each other and it allows them to operate more efficiently.
On some occasions, the Argentinian midfielder even creates spaces for Aarons to overlap. The shot below demonstrates exactly what I’ve just mentioned. From his position, Buendía dropped deep and turned himself into a passing option for Christoph Zimmermann. At the same time, he dragged along the Queens Park Rangers’ central midfielder, creating a space behind him for Aarons. This kind of situation is something that happens very frequently in Norwichs matches this season.
