Baleforce
Les Bennett
thirded
-
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I liked Erik Lamela before it was cool
- Thread starter SuprSi
- Start date
thirded
Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
Personally I am beginning to wonder whether he is going to be almost as big a waste of money as Soldado.
Gives the ball away more than any other player in our team, takes the wrong option too often and is weak defensively. If the stories about Lennon being disillusioned are true then I can understand why, as surely the only reason why Lamela is in the team ahead of Lennon is the fact that he cost £26 million?
Gives the ball away more than any other player in our team, takes the wrong option too often and is weak defensively. If the stories about Lennon being disillusioned are true then I can understand why, as surely the only reason why Lamela is in the team ahead of Lennon is the fact that he cost £26 million?
Modric THFC
Jimmy McCormick
He takes too many touches and dwells on the ball a bit too much.
ALtottenham_hotspur
Jamie Redknapp
fourthed
Daisuk
Nayim
Didn't get going in the first half (lots of poor touches and decisions), but got a lot better in the second half, I thought. Doesn't look like a 30M man, that's for sure, but he's still young, and you can clearly see glimpses from time to time that there's a huge talent in there. Just needs some confidence and a team that's performing more consistently.
Jurgen the German
Willie Hall
I believe you are right. I think managers in general are under pressure to play players that cost big sums of money. Wenger is very protective of Ozil. You can tell there is a good player in there somewhere, but his end product in the final third is not good enough. Doesn't get into goal scoring positions as much as he should, and when he does, you don't fancy him to score.
The only other reason he is playing is because no one else is good enough to replace him, similar to Soldado.
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Fight will only get you so far. Neither player was really good enough for a team that wants to be where we want to be, it looks atm as though Dawson was poorly replaced - but that doesn't mean the decision to replace him was wrong.
I was one of the very few on here that saw worth in Livermore, but the likes of Mason and Bentaleb look better players really so similarly to Dawson i can see why he was let go.
DHSF
Les Ferdinand
I appreciate this may contradict my earlier comment re Lamela but whilst I dont disagree that 'fight will only get you so far'... Fight and passion etc is what is exactly missing in our team and I dont care how much talent a player has, if they dont show any of those stern qualities then they fail.. at present this team that I am seeing out there is passionless, toothless and just made up of individuals who dont really have any real connection.
Me myself? for the first time in 10 or so years I have absolutely no affinity with this team and barring Lennon and the likes of Bentaleb etc I have no real affinity or couldnt care less about the rest. Its all a bit meh and im not being blinded by this result like others are - yeah I can be positive woo****inghoo.
ps - getting rid of Dawson was totally wrong... a squad cannot solely consist of top quality skillful players (and that is debatable in this current situation) it needs a core of players who will fight, show some passion etc - Dawson was one of those.
spurspinter1
Pat van den Hauwe
Like quite a few on here, it's great to see that he's trying hard, but I'm fairly certain that any us of dingdongheads on GG would try unbelievably hard if called up and put in to the starting XI but it's more of a case of having end product and quality.
Lamela's shown flashes of quality but I remember thinking today that he wasn't really showing the footballing brain for incisive balls (that mainly didn't quite work but you could see the idea) when he was when he first arrived, the kid just loses the ball all the time trying to do flashy.
It sucks to say but like it has been pointed out, it must be the price tag keeping him on the pitch because if he'd have been a 3m gamble I think there'd be even less support for him, I'd love to be proved wrong* and to buy in to Mumorn's superstar theory but if you look out his output as a starter in the premier league we seem to have a trier that loses the ball when trying to be flashy ie Townsend without all of the shots. We can say it's because we've not found his position but I'm sure I've seen him all over the pitch looking average.
*I really mean this
Lamela's shown flashes of quality but I remember thinking today that he wasn't really showing the footballing brain for incisive balls (that mainly didn't quite work but you could see the idea) when he was when he first arrived, the kid just loses the ball all the time trying to do flashy.
It sucks to say but like it has been pointed out, it must be the price tag keeping him on the pitch because if he'd have been a 3m gamble I think there'd be even less support for him, I'd love to be proved wrong* and to buy in to Mumorn's superstar theory but if you look out his output as a starter in the premier league we seem to have a trier that loses the ball when trying to be flashy ie Townsend without all of the shots. We can say it's because we've not found his position but I'm sure I've seen him all over the pitch looking average.
*I really mean this
Of course you need players who have passion and determination etc - but why can't we have players that have those qualities and also be better footballers than Dawson/Livermore? Im sure that's what we thought we had when we signed them - that may not turn out to be the case but it's not an either or sutuation
Jurgen the German
Willie Hall
I think everyone was delighted when we signed him. For me, he's been our most disappointing player this season along with Ade and Soldado. Let me be clear, I am not writing him off and I wouldn't be totally surprised if he became a success for us and scored maybe 15 goals next season, but his price tag and potential are the only things keeping him on the pitch at the moment. He's also lucky that there's no one really good enough to replace him.
Well that's your opinion on why he is in the team, others view it differently and have given plenty of reasons outside of potential/price tag as to why he's being played (not least his direct involvment in many of our goals in the league this season)
No doubt he isn't producing what you'd expect to see from a 30mil player but that shouldn't be a stick to beat him with - he didn't set his price tag afterall and im entirely confident the players he is keeping out of the team would have produced far less than he.
Jurgen the German
Willie Hall
Assisting goals is a good thing no arguement there, but that isn't enough. He needs to be scoring, I think we can all agree on that?
Tbh, I'm not really using his price tag as a stick to beat him with, I fully accept he didn't decide he would be sold for £30m. Even if he cost £3m or £13m, his end product would be not good enough based on his performances this season. All I'm trying to say is, Chadli has 6 goals, Eriksen has 4 and even Kane has 2 league goals. I personally would not be surprised if Poch was playing him PARTLY because of the price tag. We are not really in a position to have players that cost that much just sitting on the bench gathering dust. Hopefully he breaks his duck ASAP, but it really will be intersting to see how much slack he is given if he gets to January for example with 0 goals.
By constantly refering to his price tag and saying that's partly why the manager is playing him and why fans want him in the team i can't help but see it as exactly how i describe it, if im honest - otherwise why bring it up? If he isn't doing enough then you shouldn't need to mention his price tag.
He's shown more than Townsend this season and more than Lennon has in GHod knows how long - he has created 1 more goal than Erksen has scored (5 v 4) whilst Eriksen has not layed on any assists for the team. They both need to be doing better, our midfielders should be both creating AND scoring goals ultimately and between them both are just about doing enough to keep themselves in the team. But both should be pitching in with more.
He's shown more than Townsend this season and more than Lennon has in GHod knows how long - he has created 1 more goal than Erksen has scored (5 v 4) whilst Eriksen has not layed on any assists for the team. They both need to be doing better, our midfielders should be both creating AND scoring goals ultimately and between them both are just about doing enough to keep themselves in the team. But both should be pitching in with more.
metalgear
Luka Modric
He is inching his way in the right direction though. And look at it this way - some of our better players from last season have gone backwards under poch, so you could say he is adapting and playing much better.
Disagree about goal return, Lennon was critical in our play a few years back and his goals to game ratio is atrocious
Disagree about goal return, Lennon was critical in our play a few years back and his goals to game ratio is atrocious
Jurgen the German
Willie Hall
He isn't doing enough whether he cost £30m or half a million, but I do believe some fans are desperate for him to succeed simiar to succeed and cut him more slack, I understand to a agree. Saying he's playing partly because of his price tag really isn't beating him with a stick, I don't see it as that anyway. He's also in the team because he's better than Townsend and Lennon, but he isn't playing like it at the moment and I'm not even a fan of Lennon!
I think assists on their own a kind of overrated stat. I'm not saying they are not important, but just assiting and not scoring isn't enough. Assits rely on a teammate putting chance away, Eriksen would have had more assits if Ade for example had been more clinical. 4 goals is better than 5 assists, that's my view anyway.
Showing more than the recent Aaron Lennon isn't anything to write home about.
Jurgen the German
Willie Hall
Btw Billy, I'm really not comparing Lamela to Townsend and Lennon. Towsend isn't the answer, Lennon hasn't been consisitently effective for years. He looked good today and more of the same in cameo appearances and he will deserve another shot in the starting lineup, maybe.
I'm comparing Lamela in the context of having 4 players competing for 3 slots in attacking midfield; Lamela, Kane, Eriksen and Chadli.
Chadli - Not a world beater, but has been clinical in front of goal, would be harsh if he was dropped.
Kane - Has improved a lot in the last calendar year, deserves the run he is being given now.
Eriksen - Need to see more of him, but looks like our most dangerous player even when he's anonymous can still create a big of magic from nowhere. I just don't see that at the moment from Lamela.
I'm comparing Lamela in the context of having 4 players competing for 3 slots in attacking midfield; Lamela, Kane, Eriksen and Chadli.
Chadli - Not a world beater, but has been clinical in front of goal, would be harsh if he was dropped.
Kane - Has improved a lot in the last calendar year, deserves the run he is being given now.
Eriksen - Need to see more of him, but looks like our most dangerous player even when he's anonymous can still create a big of magic from nowhere. I just don't see that at the moment from Lamela.
I
indianspur
Guest
Oh stop taking the moral high ground. You also have negative opinions. Just let everyone have their say
I
indianspur
Guest
Lots of fight and guts from this lad, I'm liking it. Still I'd like to see him receive the ball in wider positions and see him isolate a full back. He needs the extra space out wide and then he can run inwards if thats what Poch wants. Centrally he tends to lose the ball too often.