I liked Erik Lamela before it was cool

[Gazzasrightboot]

Yep, I am gobsmacked that there are a few fans who are starting to question the ability of Eriksen, we have so little movement from our attacking players and is one of the reasons why we keep going side to side, hopefully our two new forward recruits will change that and we will see the best of Eriksen and hopefully Lamela as well.

I don't understand it either. No-one has been able to put up any sort of argument to justify that Eriksen needs replacing, let along suggest who would be a viable and decent replacement! But hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion!

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

I hope it's because Poch wants to persevere with him. The other possibility is that we've simply given up on securing Berahino/another player to occupy a wing-forward slot, and thus need Lamela around for numbers, if nothing else.

Me too. It could very well be either. Today has been ridiculous in terms of what has actually happened. I think Martial works in our favour as Man United have to be out of the game and Wilson is the WBA alternative/replacement if they want one.

I just don't understand Man United's negotiation. It must go along the lines of:

"How much do you want for Martial?"
"Umm we don't really want to sell. It would take a stupid offer"
"Come on how much? We really want him."
"OK, well you know we think of him as a French Raheem Sterling."
"Sure. We can meet that valuation. How's £30m now and £20m later sound?"
"He's on his way".

 

[Yoof]

I don't understand it either. No-one has been able to put up any sort of argument to justify that Eriksen needs replacing, let along suggest who would be a viable and decent replacement! But hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion!

I don't think anyone has suggested he needs replacing, I've only suggested he's not a #10 and that he shouldn't be allowed a free pass for life. Do you think he's in good form? Are you happy that the only goal he has in his last 20 games was an unintentional cross from a free kick? Is two assists in an entire season good enough for a so called creative player playing in an advanced position? I don't see why these are unfair questions to ask.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Me too. It could very well be either. Today has been ridiculous in terms of what has actually happened. I think Martial works in our favour as Man United have to be out of the game and Wilson is the WBA alternative/replacement if they want one.

I just don't understand Man United's negotiation. It must go along the lines of:

"How much do you want for Martial?"
"Umm we don't really want to sell. It would take a stupid offer"
"Come on how much? We really want him."
"OK, well you know we think of him as a French Raheem Sterling."
"Sure. We can meet that valuation. How's £30m now and £20m later sound?"
"He's on his way".

And you're still short of the supposed fee by about 8 million quid.

I wouldn't rule out a bid for Berahino, though. They're only 50-odd million deep into a warchest they themselves have claimed runs into the hundreds of millions, and Woodward is literally the anti-Levy when it comes to these things: and not in a good way either.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

I don't think anyone has suggested he needs replacing, I've only suggested he's not a #10 and that he shouldn't be allowed a free pass for life. Do you think he's in good form? Are you happy that the only goal he has in his last 20 games was an unintentional cross from a free kick? Is two assists in an entire season good enough for a so called creative player playing in an advanced position? I don't see why these are unfair questions to ask.

Sorry I must have misunderstood, because I thought I did see some posts where it was suggested that we should replace. In which case, questioning his form is a perfectly fair question to ask.

I don't think he is in good form. For me to suggest otherwise would be ridiculous. I think he is going through a bad patch, and whether that is down to having to fit into Poch's system, or just him being out of form, I do not know. But, I don't think the bad form is as bad as people are making out. He obviously has a much higher level that he can play at and so that's what he should be aiming for.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

And you're still short of the supposed fee by about 8 million quid.

I wouldn't rule out a bid for Berahino, though. They're only 50-odd million deep into a warchest they themselves have claimed runs into the hundreds of millions, and Woodward is literally the anti-Levy when it comes to these things: and not in a good way either.

Well I think they're close to breaking even this transfer window, but there's only so many players you can sign surely!

 

[Cotswold]

Fair play to Poch if true. He is clearly sending message to the club that he won't be left short and if they want to offload players that must be done once he is sure he has their replacements signed.
Hopefully we won't now have to loan him to another PL team.

 

[Jordinho]

I don't understand it either. No-one has been able to put up any sort of argument to justify that Eriksen needs replacing, let along suggest who would be a viable and decent replacement! But hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion!

I don't really have to come up with a replacement just because I don't think Eriksen is justifying being played behind the striker. He just doesn't create and it's not because of a lack of movement. Others manage to set up chances. It's just that the majority of his attempted through balls go straight to an opponent.

For the suggested 40 million it would be a no-brainer to sell him. There's nothing exceptional about him.

 

[SpurMeUp]

I don't think anyone has suggested he needs replacing, I've only suggested he's not a #10 and that he shouldn't be allowed a free pass for life. Do you think he's in good form? Are you happy that the only goal he has in his last 20 games was an unintentional cross from a free kick? Is two assists in an entire season good enough for a so called creative player playing in an advanced position? I don't see why these are unfair questions to ask.

I don't think they are unfair questions. I just doubt your ability to distinguish talent. Eriksen is targeted by opposition teams and closed out of games. With more talented forwards - Son, NJ - to worry teams, I think Eriksen will get more space. He's only 23!! Remember people slating Rose (now 25) wishing him out the team and out of the club?

 

[DubaiSpur]

Well I think they're close to breaking even this transfer window, but there's only so many players you can sign surely!

They were, I think. With the Martial deal now, they're definitely, definitely in the red, regardless of whether they've budgeted for the add-ons already or not. However, the frightening thing is that despite this, they've still probably got in excess of 100 million to spend if they want to. And, looking at their squad..they've only really got 20 or 21 solid first team players to call on, with the rest being made up of seemingly unwanted players like Wilson and Valdes, Varela, Lingard, Powell and McNair. They definitely have space to include Berahino, if they do fancy him.

Fair play to Poch if true. He is clearly sending message to the club that he won't be left short and if they want to offload players that must be done once he is sure he has their replacements signed.
Hopefully we won't now have to loan him to another PL team.

At S'oton, Poch played with Lambert up front, and then an attacking midfield three of (from left to right) Rodriguez - Davis - Lallana. The idea (I think), was that Lambert would bring down direct passes, drop deep and then turn and look to play in either Rodriguez on the left or Davis (who iirc made runs from midfield into the space vacated by Lambert). In this system, the role of Lallana was very interesting - he'd cut into the central area and look to play intricate passes in the second phase of play if the initial Lambert turn-and-pass break failed, playing through balls into space for Rodriguez and Lambert (by then restored to the tip of the attacking four) to run onto.

I've maintained for a while that Lamela could play that Lallana role to perfection if persevered with. I also think that at present, our five options on the wings (Son, N'Jie, Pritchard, Lamela and Townsend) are perfectly suited to revive such a system - we could easily play with one inside forward on one wing (Son on the left, or N'Jie on the right) and a Lallana-esque playmaker on the other wing (Pritchard on the left, or Lamela on the right), and we wouldn't have to play anyone out of position to do so. Hence, given those circumstances, I would like to see him stay and prove himself, or at least be given a season to do so.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Also, just glanced at the first page of this thread....damn, what delirious, happy people we were then. @Superhudd dumped fifteen dancing Indian dwarf-guy gifs in celebration on the first page alone.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

I don't really have to come up with a replacement just because I don't think Eriksen is justifying being played behind the striker. He just doesn't create and it's not because of a lack of movement. Others manage to set up chances. It's just that the majority of his attempted through balls go straight to an opponent.

For the suggested 40 million it would be a no-brainer to sell him. There's nothing exceptional about him.

No of course you don't need to come up with a replacement. I think that this is discussion is kind of going nowhere though, as the £40m was a hypothetical that has not come true. Eriksen is staying and is injured, and I guess we will see just how good he is this season with or without that movement. It's now just a difference of opinions with no real stats/facts that can be used to disprove one another, so it's probably best to just say agree to disagree and I hope Eriksen proves you wrong!

 

[DubaiSpur]

No of course you don't need to come up with a replacement. I think that this is discussion is kind of going nowhere though, as the £40m was a hypothetical that has not come true. Eriksen is staying and is injured, and I guess we will see just how good he is this season with or without that movement. It's now just a difference of opinions with no real stats/facts that can be used to disprove one another, so it's probably best to just say agree to disagree and I hope Eriksen proves you wrong!

And space. That's probably going to be quite important too. When we don't have pace, teams can get right up to our players and leave space in behind when doing so, confident that they won't be exposed by a ball in behind. That will no longer be the case once Son and N'Jie start getting regular minutes - teams will have to drop deeper and leave the likes of Eriksen a bit more space to work in, and it'll be interesting to see if he can use that extra space to fire off a few more screamers or play the intricate passes people seem to want to see more of.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

And space. That's probably going to be quite important too. When we don't have pace, teams can get right up to our players and leave space in behind when doing so, confident that they won't be exposed by a ball in behind. That will no longer be the case once Son and N'Jie start getting regular minutes - teams will have to drop deeper and leave the likes of Eriksen a bit more space to work in, and it'll be interesting to see if he can use that extra space to fire off a few more screamers or play the intricate passes people seem to want to see more of.

I agree. If one thing our high defensive line showed, was that pace would really hurt any errors.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Stats are like memory, but without the bias.

Stats prove that Brendan Rodgers almost won the league. I take it that's an unbiased stat that tells the complete story?

 

[Jurgen the German]

but just as (if not more) selective.

Lies, damned lies and statistics did not just make itself up.

But then we've been here before, plenty of times...

By your argument, let's get rid of all our scouts and just use stats to recruit all our players

Exactly. You could look at Adebayor's stats and deduce that he's a bordeline world class player at his best.

 

[Jurgen the German]

I hope Poch has blocked it, I would be happy to give him one more season before making a decision.

I am easy either way. Have no problem with Poch giving up on Lamela. But I can live with him giving Lamela one final season, providing he has a long spell on the bench and earns his place in the side.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Stats can't be selective, they don't have agency.


If your point there is that some people are a bit thick and can't properly grasp statistics then don't waste your time - you're preaching to the converted.


It's tough being at the front of a learning curve but we'll get there.


What do you think those scouts use to record performances?

Do you think they just go out and watch 100 players and come back to the club suggesting we buy the first 5 that pop into their heads?

Angel Di Maria was 4th in assists in the entire league last season. You would be hard pushed to find anyone believes he had a good season.

Chris Brunt was 3rd in assists, I take it we should go and sign him?

 

[Jurgen the German]

I don't think anyone has suggested he needs replacing, I've only suggested he's not a #10 and that he shouldn't be allowed a free pass for life. Do you think he's in good form? Are you happy that the only goal he has in his last 20 games was an unintentional cross from a free kick? Is two assists in an entire season good enough for a so called creative player playing in an advanced position? I don't see why these are unfair questions to ask.

I think you're being quite selective with your criticism of him. Look at his body of work over the entire season, double figures in league goals, won us more points than any other player besides Harry Kane, won us points in games where we were worse than average against pony teams during periods of the season when we were struggling. Just because his goals have dried up doesn't mean he has being playing terribly. He has still created chances.

I'd like to know what goal you are referring to when you mention an unintentional cross by the way? Surely you can't mean the Sheffield Utd free kick, which he absolutely meant.

 

[Jurgen the German]

I don't really have to come up with a replacement just because I don't think Eriksen is justifying being played behind the striker. He just doesn't create and it's not because of a lack of movement. Others manage to set up chances. It's just that the majority of his attempted through balls go straight to an opponent.

For the suggested 40 million it would be a no-brainer to sell him. There's nothing exceptional about him.

Unfortunately there is nothing exceptional about our squad full stop except Kane, Eriksen and Lloris. He's one of the only match winners we have. If he was better than he wouldn't be at Spurs.

If we could find someone better then great, but with our budget, I don't see it happening anytime soon.