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I liked Erik Lamela before it was cool

Credit to Lamela for the way he created the goal for Chadli. It was a inch perfect pass which Chadli made the most to score. With that, Lamela has now established himself as our most creative midfielder with 7 assists in the league this season. His nearest challenger is Chadli with 5 assists.

Having 7 assists is a decent return for a midfielder. In fact, only 4 Spurs midfielders have got more assists than Lamela in the league since 2004 :
1) Eriksen : 8 assists (2014)
2) Bale : 10 assists (2012)
3) Van Der Vaart : 8 assists (2011)
4) Lennon : 9 (2010) and 8 (2007)

Take note that Modric is not amongst them as his best return of assists was 6 in 2009. So, it seems like Lamela has officially become the better midfielder than Modric.

For the record, these are the Spurs players with 7 and more assists in the league since 2004 :
2007
1) Berbatov = 11 assists
2) Lennon = 8 assists

2008
1) Berbatov = 11
2) Huddlestone = 7
3) Keane = 7

2009
1) Keane = 7

2010
1) Lennon = 9

2011
1) Van Der Vaart = 8

2012
1) Adebayor = 11
2) Bale = 10
3) Van Der Vaart = 7

2013
1) Lennon = 7

2014
1) Eriksen = 8

2015
1) Lamela = 7
 
Since I'm not a Lamela fan, thought I'd comment ..

watching him against Hull, it seemed he was being a little less extravagant, less stepovers, more simple drop shoulder, simple feet

seemed more effective

Spot on imo, less trying to be flashy and take on everyone, but much more fluent and effective.

Could be a good sign for the future.
 
I have been critical of Lamela but he is slowly turning me round. However I think Poch needs to find a role for him infield where he seems to be most effective.
 
Lamela's got me confused. After his first (injury-plagued) season I felt that he'd shown enough glimpses of brilliance to become one of our most important players this year. I really felt with a fellow Argentine as manager, he'd start to fulfil his obvious potential by now. And yet, a couple of months ago I had pretty much given up on him. Not that I thought he was first in line to be sold or anything... and if we didn't get a decent offer I'd have been happy for him to stay as back-up and fight for a position next season. But basically I would have been happy to see him sold this summer.

Now though... those glimpses of brilliance are starting to return. He's still not nearly consistent enough, and a few decent games hardly means he'll go on to be a world-beater. But I do think over the past few weeks he has shown enough potential to make me rethink (again!) and I now feel we should hold onto him for another year.

Ultimately though, what I really want is for Pochettino to have the players he thinks will best suit his system. And if that means keeping Lamela... or selling him...? So long as the manager is happy then I will be too.
 
Since I'm not a Lamela fan, thought I'd comment ..

watching him against Hull, it seemed he was being a little less extravagant, less stepovers, more simple drop shoulder, simple feet

seemed more effective

Comes back to what i was saying a few pages back - if he was to cut out the negative parts of his game, which frustrates, the more positive elements which he provides will be more noticeable. Underneath the giving of the ball away and getting caught in possession is a hard working creative midfielder - yesterday was a good example of how cutting out the mistakes will make the good parts of your game standout more.
 
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One of his biggest problems is perception; we are believed to be getting Bale mark II...

It's not his problem but perceptions do stick and influence
 
One of his biggest problems is perception; we are believed to be getting Bale mark II...

It's not his problem but perceptions do stick and influence

Not really mate, his big problem is he has not been anything as effective as he was in Italy, I don't ever hear anyone trying to compare him to Bale.

We paid a lot of money for a game winner, and so far, the vast majority of the time we have got a fairly ineffective hard worker. Recently been better, but that's the issue.
 
No need to tell me he has been crap in too many games. All you need to do is go back to see my posts in this thread.

Up till two weeks ago I would have said: get rid - even at a major loss. Now though I am not so sure....

It's a pity the season is coming to an end for him just as he was showing some consistency.
 
No need to tell me he has been crap in too many games. All you need to do is go back to see my posts in this thread.

Up till two weeks ago I would have said: get rid - even at a major loss. Now though I am not so sure....

It's a pity the season is coming to an end for him just as he was showing some consistency.

This highlights the problem as i see it quite well - the last couple of weeks hasn't seen much of a change in the good parts of his game, he's worked hard defensively and created chances for his team mates and got himself in to good positions by running in behind the defense - which he has done all season. What has changed, since the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game, is that he has stopped trying to take players on as much and is playing simpler safer passes more often, thus cutting out those frustrating moments where he loses the ball. Which means what he does well gets noticed more by supporters.


Not really mate, his big problem is he has not been anything as effective as he was in Italy, I don't ever hear anyone trying to compare him to Bale.

We paid a lot of money for a game winner, and so far, the vast majority of the time we have got a fairly ineffective hard worker. Recently been better, but that's the issue.

We all expected a more finished article than what we got, the point is that just because he isn't the finished article at 22(?) it doesn't mean he can't become a good player for us. He compares favourably to some good players in the league, statistically, in terms of creativity and is our leading assist provider over the season (which compares favourably to some of our better creative players of recent years) that should be cause for optimisim regarding his development imv - and is something not a lot of people take in to consideration when assessing his performance this year (saying he's been brick whilst being our most creative outlet for example just doesn't match up)
 
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This highlights the problem as i see it quite well - the last couple of weeks hasn't seen much of a change in the good parts of his game, he's worked hard defensively and created chances for his team mates and got himself in to good positions by running in behind the defense - which he has done all season. What has changed, since the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game, is that he has stopped trying to take players on as much and is playing simpler safer passes more often, thus cutting out those frustrating moments where he loses the ball. Which means what he does well gets noticed more by supporters.

You may be right... maybe someone at the club sat with him for a replay of the horrendous first half and basically said... shape up or ship out??!

Looking at himself play so badly in the first half may well have shocked him into his senses!!
 
You may be right... maybe someone at the club sat with him for a replay of the horrendous first half and basically said... shape up or ship out??!

Looking at himself play so badly in the first half may well have shocked him into his senses!!

Hopefully its coaching pointing it out, trying to create a "keep it simple then build from there" approach.

The one thing I do give Lamela credit for is, he doesn't hide, its obvious he wants to prove his worth here .. would be very easy to give up, slink back to Italy and try again.
 
He has been 6/7 out of 10 the last month with maybe a 7.5 against City. He has a chance to finish the season well but there is no getting away from the fact that this season he was poor. You can give stats on his assists but frankly I find it embarrassing that you can compare him to players who were exceptional in our colours - its a good sign there is some sort of output there but 75% of the time he has been one of the worst players on the pitch this season.

His better performances are more encouraging but I think unless we drop Erisken at 10, Lamela will never thrive in this league and will frustrate more often than not. Wouldn't be sad to see him ago at all but might be worth one more season considering we have 6-7 players we need to get off our books first.
 
technically lamela is superb for hes age.
always plays with hes head up and always looking for the pass
that pass yesterday was weighted perfectly. could you imagine dembele lennon towsend capoue being able to do that

its lennon walker and towsend who just put there head down and run.
they are like athletics
 
technically lamela is superb for hes age.
always plays with hes head up and always looking for the pass
that pass yesterday was weighted perfectly. could you imagine dembele lennon towsend capoue being able to do that

its lennon walker and towsend who just put there head down and run.
they are like athletics


Yep, lets cream our knickers again because of one pass.
 
Fact of the matter is he has not been good enough for our team and Downing would probably be more of a threat for us on a consistent basis.
 
Fact of the matter is he has not been good enough for our team and Downing would probably be more of a threat for us on a consistent basis.

You're confusing fact with opinion - facts have him as our most effective creative outlet and very much our best option for RWF this season.
 
what is good enough? - some argue chadli isnt good enough for our team yet has outperformed both Eriksen AND Lamela.. like billyiddo says, he has got more assists than anyone in our team and is joint 5th in the league, so he's clearly good enough for a team bound to finish in 6th/7th place in one of the most competitive leagues in world football.
 
Even though i expected more this season hes done enough for me to want us to keep him for atleast 1 more year.We need to buy someone over the summer though as competition, not enough goals coming from that right sided spot.
 
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