The case for Buendia leaving causing our downfall has one flaw - Emi was with us all through the PL campaign when we didn't survive. He had good stats but few goals or assists that year. With a more successful Villa this season his WhoScored rating is only 6.68, below both Normann and Hanley in spite of Villa having an easier schedule to date. I think we should wait until the halfway point in the season before trying to draw conclusions. The key for me is our next 5 games. If we're still struggling where we are after those, then we really are in trouble.
I'm not sure i see that as a flaw in the theory, our results with him in that last PL were better than this season so far and we certainly carried more threat.
Bah!
