Buyens

sam3110

All I have seen about the guy for the past 6 weeks or so is that he doesn't want to be here, he doesn't want to play for Luzon, he doesn't care, he is a liability, he is the root of all our problems, he is toxic, he isn't championship standard, I could go on.

And I think I may be crazy because I just don't see it.

He isn't our best player, in terms of skill or application, I'd say Gudmundsson is our most gifted player and Cousins applies himself the best, but he certainly isn't the worst. He breaks things up and moves the ball on, he acts as the third centre back when the full backs push on and covers Bikey/Ben Haim if they maraud forwards, and he is a vital cog in the team in that respect, as none of the other midfielders at the club would be able to do this effectively.

He has off days and loss of concentration at times, and loses the ball in the middle of the pitch, but let's be honest here so does Jackson, and Cousins too (Watford away I lost count the amount of times Cousins was dispossessed in the middle of the pitch)

I think people on here hear about how he fell out with Luzon at Standard and have decided he doesn't want to be here, and his performances since his appointment have helped them draw that conclusion, but I think that has nothing to do with it, we as an entire team have been awful for 3 months now, not just Buyens.

So I ask all those constantly digging him out over every other underperforming player, what is it?

Is it because he is on loan?
Is it because he is from the network?
Is it because he is Belgian?
Is it because he is keeping Cousins out of the centre of midfield?
Is it all of the above, or a combination of?
Is it something else entirely?

I'm intrigued to know, as I feel he shouldn't get any more flak than Wiggins, Bikey, Vetokele, Ben Haim, Jackson, Solly or anyone else that has had a few bad games in our recent run.

Addickted

To be fair, he was rubbish last night - spent most of the time in no mans land watching the game pass him by.

Can't believe we didn't use that third substitution last night, when Norwich were on the ropes and took off Hooper. The game was itching for Lepoint to come on for Buyens.

Davo55

He is lazy, can't tackle, gets knocked off the ball too easy, goes missing when the going gets tough. I couldn't give a toss if he is Belgian or Martian.

seth plum

He takes a good penalty, and a good yellow card.
He was presented to us as an all action box to box midfielder, an Astrit plus if you like, and what we have is a player who makes last seasons unfit Astrit look like a combination of Mark Kinsella and Scott Parker.
Yoni, along with Bulot and Bikey, as others have said, ought to be dropped. Seriously I would much rather see Jack Munns in the team before Buyens and Bulot...or Oliver Muldoon.
Yoni knows his time is soon up, and he has no commitment to the cause that I can perceive.

mid_life_crisis

Addickted said:

To be fair, he was rubbish last night - spent most of the time in no mans land watching the game pass him by.

Can't believe we didn't use that third substitution last night, when Norwich were on the ropes and took off Hooper. The game was itching for Lepoint to come on for Buyens.

Said exaclty that to the bloke next to me - 20 mins to go, Lepoint had to come on for Buyens.
TBF, the other 2 substitutions worked.

cafctom

Think some go overboard on slagging him off simply as he is a loanee from Liege. Jackson, one of our favorites as a fanbase, hasn't come in for anywhere near the same criticism because we 'know' he cares.

FishCostaFortune

I think a combination of the physicality of the championship, and the formation we play and his role within that formation do not suit his natural game. It is clear that he has some decent technical attributes and is comfortable receiving the ball under pressure and can pick a pass out. However he is mainly playing as a sort off CDM, so most of the time when he receives the ball he is really close to our defenders and basically has no outlet to make an effective contribution on the game apart from passing it sideways or back towards a defender.

I know he was marketed as a signing to be a replacement for Poyet, but I personally believe that the defensive part of his game is really poor, hence why he picks up a lot of yellows and probably why we have signed two CDM's on loan. I am not sure what roll he played in Belgium, but if he was deep lying like he is at Charlton, due to the slowness of the Belgium league he probably had more time on and off the ball and hence struggled less.

I personally believe he would be a lot more effective if we actually managed to get him on the ball in the middle of the park, without his back facing goal.

Lurker

I'd rather see a youngster in his place. He was useless last night.

I don't think he's a bad player, which I is why I get the impression that he'd rather not be here.

tangoflash

Uncle Bob told us we'd soon forget all about Poyet now we've got Yoni.

I put more effort into scratching my nut-sack in the morning than he does on the pitch.

Take a look at the Norwich winner last night. Apart from Bikey strolling back, Buyens attempt at shutting out the cross was pathetic. Someone said on the match thread last night that Solly should have closed down the cross, but I totally disagree. The player with the ball had a team-mate to his left, meaning if Solly were to come in tight, he could just lay the ball of to the over-lapping player, with a free run. Solly had to rely on Buyens stepping up and closing him down. Instead he just put his hands behind his back and stuck a leg out as a token gesture.

Dogshit, get rid.............

Scoham

I mentioned him in the post match thread:

Buyens for me is a Championship Racon. When things are going well he looks good, composed, doesn't give the ball away, does his job. However that's not enough in our position and he's never the Premier League player some have claimed he is. He lacks the energy and drive to play box to box, he doesn't have the tackling and aggression to be a ball winner, and while he has a decent range of passing he's not a particularly creative passer, he's not a playmaker. He's not the player you want in there when you want to be first to 50:50s or up the tempo.

To add to that he'd probably look good in a strong Championship team playing a 3 man central midfield. I don't think he should be in the team at the moment when we need to battle through games and play Watt & Igor up front in a 4-4-2. Nothing to do with where he's from, he's one of the better network players but like most probably isn't best suited to English football.

Garrymanilow

I remember Richard Murray waxing lyrical about Buyens, saying that we shouldn't be getting near a player of his calibre and we've only got him because of some kind of indiscretion at Liege. I think that's why people are so upset with him; we heard about how he wouldn't look out of place in the Premier League, and he had a solid start where he looked calm and composed. As soon as he started getting pressured he looked less tidy on the ball, and when our form dipped we needed the battling side of the box-to-box midfielder not the distribution side. What we got was a player bottling tackles and hiding away. If we played aggressive, attacking football we could stick him in front of the back four and screen him with two combative midfielders. Two players like Cousins who do the running and can alternate between linking with the attack and covering back would give him the time and space to pick out passes. Right now he's not even close to the player we need and it shows.

PL54

He was total gash

PragueAddick

Despite what Peeters said, he was described by Standard fans as box to box, and at least from their POV, well suited to the English game. The fact is that he would not have wished to come here. I wonder what would have happened if Riga had been manager and had played him in a box to box role. It may be that he's not suited to the English game attitudinaly. But attitudes are shaped by all kinds of events, on and off the field, whatever people may piously say about professionalism

henrythecat

Garrymanilow said:

I remember Richard Murray waxing lyrical about Buyens, saying that we shouldn't be getting near a player of his calibre and we've only got him because of some kind of indiscretion at Liege. I think that's why people are so upset with him; we heard about how he wouldn't look out of place in the Premier League, and he had a solid start where he looked calm and composed. As soon as he started getting pressured he looked less tidy on the ball, and when our form dipped we needed the battling side of the box-to-box midfielder not the distribution side. What we got was a player bottling tackles and hiding away. If we played aggressive, attacking football we could stick him in front of the back four and screen him with two combative midfielders. Two players like Cousins who do the running and can alternate between linking with the attack and covering back would give him the time and space to pick out passes. Right now he's not even close to the player we need and it shows.

Or leave him out altogether. It will be better for all. All I see with him is an accident waiting to happen, whether a mistimed tackle, or a poorly weighted pass, or just general lack of awareness.

Big William

The only thing he passed last night was the buck. Waste of space IMO.

Scoham has it nailed.

Addicted

He loses interest in a game very quickly, doesn't really venture out of his comfort zone and loses concentration/makes silly errors. As the shield in front of the back 4 that just cant happen.

MickeyBennett

He is a fraud.

MartinCAFC

Up until the run of bad results I had him down as a contender for player of the year as his passing was pretty much always accurate and was always looking to get involved in the game.

The last few months has changed all this but I still think there's a quality Championship player in him. Sadly for us its clear he doesn't want to be here in which case send him back to Leige now.

That said some simply jumped on him from the go for being a network player / Leige reject etc. I can't help but think if he moved on to another Championship team his early season form would return.

AddickinBerlin

instagram.com/p/wzGKeoE3AH/?modal=true

I will fight for it...
I will not give up...
I will reach my goal...
And nothing will stop me!

cafcnick1992

Garrymanilow said:

I remember Richard Murray waxing lyrical about Buyens, saying that we shouldn't be getting near a player of his calibre and we've only got him because of some kind of indiscretion at Liege. I think that's why people are so upset with him; we heard about how he wouldn't look out of place in the Premier League, and he had a solid start where he looked calm and composed. As soon as he started getting pressured he looked less tidy on the ball, and when our form dipped we needed the battling side of the box-to-box midfielder not the distribution side. What we got was a player bottling tackles and hiding away. If we played aggressive, attacking football we could stick him in front of the back four and screen him with two combative midfielders. Two players like Cousins who do the running and can alternate between linking with the attack and covering back would give him the time and space to pick out passes. Right now he's not even close to the player we need and it shows.

Well 5 games in you probably would have agreed

Garrymanilow

cafcnick1992 said:

Garrymanilow said:

I remember Richard Murray waxing lyrical about Buyens, saying that we shouldn't be getting near a player of his calibre and we've only got him because of some kind of indiscretion at Liege. I think that's why people are so upset with him; we heard about how he wouldn't look out of place in the Premier League, and he had a solid start where he looked calm and composed. As soon as he started getting pressured he looked less tidy on the ball, and when our form dipped we needed the battling side of the box-to-box midfielder not the distribution side. What we got was a player bottling tackles and hiding away. If we played aggressive, attacking football we could stick him in front of the back four and screen him with two combative midfielders. Two players like Cousins who do the running and can alternate between linking with the attack and covering back would give him the time and space to pick out passes. Right now he's not even close to the player we need and it shows.

Well 5 games in you probably would have agreed

One of the reasons why I don't judge a player after five games. It tends to make you look a bit silly.

Charltonparklane

Garrymanilow said:

cafcnick1992 said:

Garrymanilow said:

I remember Richard Murray waxing lyrical about Buyens, saying that we shouldn't be getting near a player of his calibre and we've only got him because of some kind of indiscretion at Liege. I think that's why people are so upset with him; we heard about how he wouldn't look out of place in the Premier League, and he had a solid start where he looked calm and composed. As soon as he started getting pressured he looked less tidy on the ball, and when our form dipped we needed the battling side of the box-to-box midfielder not the distribution side. What we got was a player bottling tackles and hiding away. If we played aggressive, attacking football we could stick him in front of the back four and screen him with two combative midfielders. Two players like Cousins who do the running and can alternate between linking with the attack and covering back would give him the time and space to pick out passes. Right now he's not even close to the player we need and it shows.

Well 5 games in you probably would have agreed

One of the reasons why I don't judge a player after five games. It tends to make you look a bit silly.

Some came to that decision with Moussa, George, Fox, I could go on, after 5 games

Bubble

He has an amazing ability to look like he's trying to win the ball without putting in any effort to win the ball, it's the main reason he picks up so many bookings

dickplumb

Why did we buy Lepoint? Would he be a better bet than Buyens? At least he is a fighter and we need to show some desire and fight in everyone of the remaining games.

Athletico Charlton

I have been very critical of him. Nothing to do with where he is from I just don't rate him. Didn't at the start of the season, don't now.

In a 50/50 challenge Darren Ambrose would win the ball from Buyens. He passes backwards and sideways. No drive, no energy, no passion, no commitment. Utter rubbish and hope I never see him in a CAFC shirt again.

I just posted on the Wiggins thread that I think Wiggins has been let down by poor coaching choices this season. Maybe the same for Buyens but, whereas I have seen Wiggins play well in previous seasons I haven't that knowledge of Buyens, so who knows, he may look good in a better team but he certainly is not what we need now.

The way he sneaks off down the tunnel with no acknowledgement to fans also grates.

Comment above about being the Championship Racon is spot on in my eyes.

Addick90

granted of late he has been woeful, however initially in our great run he was one of if not our best players, he did everything with ease, everything went through him, he would win the ball and spread the play, he hasn't got pace but he didn't need it, i remember taking two separate mates to two different games and both picked yoni out as the best player on the pitch for his ability, he was doing something right. However ever since we've been on a bad run he's been near enough our worst player.

JiMMy 85

For whatever reasons I've been somewhat distracted of late, and the Rotherham game passed me by a fair bit. But one thing I'm certain of, I've never witnessed a more disinterested performance than Buyens that day. If my heart was in Charlton at the moment Id have been furious. Instead, I was surprisingly impressed with how a man managed to take part in a professional game of football, yet somehow avoid being part of the game.

Clem_Snide

Its the constant cheap bookings which wind me up the most. I was waiting for him to get sent off last night.

He definitely blows hot and cold and certainly isn't the all action box to box midfielder we were led to believe he was.

vff

Buyens looks like he does not want to be at club or wants to play for Luzon. Can't see him in a Charlton shirt next season. Unfortunately another failed network loan. Does take a decent penalty though.

andynelson

Reading this thread, does this mean that it wasn't all down to Fox and Pope that we were crap earlier on?

DamoNorthStand

Buyens has an off month or two and he gets castrated on here.

Jackson has an off season and still has tonnes of love all over him.

Bit of double standards going on here.