My issue with Lamela is that we consistently don't get him the ball quickly enough. There were so many times on Sunday where he was standing in acres of space and screaming for the ball that didn't come quick enough. It happened enough times that everyone at the pub I was watching it at were all talking about it.
By the time, he'd get it, his motion was totally stopped and there were two men in front of him. We need to feed him with passes that he can take in stride so he doesn't have to stop his momentum. Beating a man (often two) from a dead stop is one of the hardest things in football to do, and he is so often forced to do just that, which is when you see the extra step overs. Look at Ronaldo, he'll often break out the stepovers when he is facing two men at a dead stop, and as great as he is, not even he can consistently break through those situations.
We need to get Erik the ball in space and that is simply only going to be done with head-up footballers, who think and pass quickly. It's one of the reasons I'm such a big fan of Bentaleb, who may not be the finished article yet, but is always looking for a quick pass. Dembele isn't that player. Paulinho doesn't look to be that player. It's why I'd imagine we pushed so hard for Schneiderlin and Moutinho in previous years.
We still haven't replaced Modric (obviously a huge ask), but if you watch a Real Madrid game, you can see his massive value. Look at how quickly he gets his head up and finds Ronaldo, Bale, James, etc. We need someone to bypass those midfield lines so our attacking four aren't always going up against 2 stubborn banks of four. We want Lamela (and Chadli, Eriksen, etc) running full steam at full backs who are back-pedaling, and that is the job of the two central midfielders.
