DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Is he really though? I think people want him to be a an Ozil/Silva type but I haven't seen much evidence of this supposed craft/guile/vision. His best form has been as a wide midfielder where he can drift undetected and this allows him to get amongst the goals, when he's played in the pocket it's all too congested for him and he's easily nullified as he just isn't sharp/quick/agile enough to really escape defenders. He's been getting a free pass for a while now, he has one goal in his last 20 games and that was a cross, he doesn't effect the game nearly enough to make up for the lack of output and I disagree that we missed him yesterday, we were no worse than the majority of games Eriksen has taken part in over the past six months.
No, he really is that good when it comes to slide-rule passes: it's a bit late where I am, or I would have tried to rustle up some gifs/ analyses to support my claim, but trust me, I'm not exaggerating. I've watched him slide balls in behind the defense, only for Kane to get there a second too late as the GK sweeps it up: I've also seen him play short slide-rule passes in behind an onrushing full-back on the wings for Chadli/Lamela to chase, only for them to try to cut inside onto their stronger foot and then squander the chance as the defenders get back into position. About once per game (by my count), he also tends to drop deeper next to the deepest-lying midfielder and play a lofted pass into the feet of the aforementioned wing duo: again, they don't have the pace to take men on and thus end up cutting inside and (more often than not) squandering the opportunity. In triangular play, he's brilliant: he gives and goes in tight spaces effortlessly well, and indeed I think he needs to, given his physical limitations. And I do think that he genuinely tries to make the ball do the running for him when trying to play through balls from just behind the pocket in front of the opposition box: unfortunately, there often aren't many runners, which forces him to take into the pocket where, as you mentioned, he's easily nullified more often than not.
I'm not particularly biased when it comes to Eriksen: indeed, the only Spurs AMs I've really been gaga for have been VDV throughout his Spurs career and Bale in 2012-2013. I don't particularly 'like' Eriksen in the same way that I liked those players: unlike VDV, he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve and represent the very soul of what Tottenham's about(and, to his credit, he's never really pretended to try), and unlike Bale with his screamers and one-man rescue acts, he doesn't really leave stardust all over the place when he plays, being more of the cold, clinical, efficient type, IMO.
But I do recognize that the lad's magnificently talented, and that he's being let down by the players around him. And I think we'll see that in time, either with us (when he gets team-mates that play to his strengths), or with someone else (likewise).