I liked Erik Lamela before it was cool

[Finney Is Back]

hmmm did not do enough for me...

lovely taken goal....better in the second half...but the same old bad habits were on show again.

I have kept faith with him but I can honestly say that 1st half especially was not good enough for a player of his ability and it does not help him to stake a claim in the first team.

Start him in the league cup against Ar5ena1......a better atmosphere and another chance for him to show us he should be a contender for our first 11.

I am usually one of Lamela's biggest detractors but I thought that overall he had a good game last night. Yes sometimes he is annoying, infuriating even.... probably because he has the worst first touch in the whole team (which is unexpected from an Argentinian.)

However what Lamela does have is vision and movement. The number of good positions that he got into last night was excellent. Yes he then wastes half of those good positions due to having such a poor touch, but I would rather a player who gets into 10 good positions in a match and makes something of 4 or 5 of those than a player who makes something happen three quarters of the time but only gets into a couple of good positions in a game.

For me it is a little like when Aaron Lennon was at his peak, he would waste half of the good positions that he got into by delivering a poor cross/pass, but would get into 2 or 3 times as many good positions as any other player.

It was a similar story for Andy Cole, everyone moaned about how many chances he missed ("he needs 8 chances to score 1 goal") while not considering the fact that he would get himself into goalscoring positions much more often than other players.

I think sometimes with these sorts of players you need to ignore the negatives and focus on whether they make more positive contributions than an alternative player. This is something that I will try to do from now on with Lamela.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I didn't think he was any worse than the rest, it's just that every little mistake is highlighted like it's the end of the world. Carroll played a horrible pass in the first half to set up a counter for them. Townsend was so so. I'm definitely not seeing the Alli hype other than some trickery that ultimately didn't lead to anything. Thought Njie was horrible. Can't remember anything positive he did. Depending on your bias you tend to notice different things about different players.

Indeed. In fact something worth doing is to compare Lamela with Townsend last night. How many times did Lamela get into a fantastic position compared to Townsend? While Townsend didn't really make any 'mistakes' he also didn't actually impact the game. As I said in my previous post, I think we are going to have to put up with Lamela's awful touch and concentrate on the positions he gets in and the things he makes happen.

 

[StephenH]

He's been put on this earth to torture me!

 

[DTA]

Indeed. In fact something worth doing is to compare Lamela with Townsend last night. How many times did Lamela get into a fantastic position compared to Townsend? While Townsend didn't really make any 'mistakes' he also didn't actually impact the game. As I said in my previous post, I think we are going to have to put up with Lamela's awful touch and concentrate on the positions he gets in and the things he makes happen.

Didn't tousend get the assist for Sons first?

 

[ringo]

There's no reason why Lamela cannot work on his touch - although it tends to be something that you develop and work on (or should) very early as player.
But that would mean Lamela admitting he has some shortcomings in that department "My name is Erik and I've got a shocking first touch at times."

Correcting the problem is compounded by the fact that his shocking touch is erratic. I think it is when he is on the move and his brain is thinking several passes ahead, and processing other information about his surroundings, that his concentration wanes and he miscontrols. While when he is comparatively static he is not so bad. But then there was one crossfield ball he received in stationary position on the left, where most players would bring the ball down without any problem, and he managed to bounce it in front of him, was immediately in trouble and lost the ball.

Overall, though, I think Lamela would benefit from slowing down a bit and really working on his focus throughout the game.

 

[Millsy_Yiddo]

But he doesnt really do the hard things well either. Apart from the Rabona wonder-goal, it difficult to remember any other meaningful contribution.

Your comment above would apply better to Tarrabt when at Spurs - he could beat about 3 men in the space of a phone box but would then screw up a simple through ball. Lamela doesnt even do the first bit

Almost all of his assists have come from pieces of play that would be classed as 'hard', from his first one where he turned and beat 3 men then clipped a lovely ball to the back post against QPR, through his looking the other way through ball to Kane to his most recent.

His goals haven't exactly been 'easy' either. Obviously the Rabona, the Bale-esque one against Burnley(?) the other Inter Milan hat trickBale-esque one (can't remember who it was against), last nights finish.

Tarabbt isn't in the same league as Lamela, although he was frustrating too.

 

[Millsy_Yiddo]

There's no reason why Lamela cannot work on his touch - although it tends to be something that you develop and work on (or should) very early as player.
But that would mean Lamela admitting he has some shortcomings in that department "My name is Erik and I've got a shocking first touch at times."

Correcting the problem is compounded by the fact that his shocking touch is erratic. I think it is when he is on the move and his brain is thinking several passes ahead, and processing other information about his surroundings, that his concentration wanes and he miscontrols. While when he is comparatively static he is not so bad. But then there was one crossfield ball he received in stationary position on the left, where most players would bring the ball down without any problem, and he managed to bounce it in front of him, was immediately in trouble and lost the ball.

Overall, though, I think Lamela would benefit from slowing down a bit and really working on his focus throughout the game.

I started to type then re-read your post and realised you'd already covered what I was going to write. It's 100% this. He's thinking about what he's doing next before he actually has the ball under. It's not that his first touch is bad, it's erratic (yes, yes I know this kind of means it's bad. But you know what I mean).

 

[Finney Is Back]

Didn't tousend get the assist for Sons first?

He did, but it was just the delivery of a corner which doesn't really count in my view (I think many of Lamela's 'assists' from last season were also from delivering a corner).

 

[Finney Is Back]

There's no reason why Lamela cannot work on his touch - although it tends to be something that you develop and work on (or should) very early as player.
But that would mean Lamela admitting he has some shortcomings in that department "My name is Erik and I've got a shocking first touch at times."

Correcting the problem is compounded by the fact that his shocking touch is erratic. I think it is when he is on the move and his brain is thinking several passes ahead, and processing other information about his surroundings, that his concentration wanes and he miscontrols. While when he is comparatively static he is not so bad. But then there was one crossfield ball he received in stationary position on the left, where most players would bring the ball down without any problem, and he managed to bounce it in front of him, was immediately in trouble and lost the ball.

Overall, though, I think Lamela would benefit from slowing down a bit and really working on his focus throughout the game.

It is much easier to control a ball while standing still than to do so on the run. One of my consistent criticisms of Lamela has been that he often stops to receive the ball which allows the opposition to regroup. There shouldn't be a professional footballer in any of the 4 divisions in England who cannot control just about any ball when stood still.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I started to type then re-read your post and realised you'd already covered what I was going to write. It's 100% this. He's thinking about what he's doing next before he actually has the ball under. It's not that his first touch is bad, it's erratic (yes, yes I know this kind of means it's bad. But you know what I mean).

I think that is just making an excuse.... I think he just has a poor first touch. I think part of that is probably because he is so one-footed. It must be much more difficult to gain your balance when you are always trying to use only your left foot. It perhaps also explains why his touch when on the move is really bad as it's almost impossible to make that adjustment in this case.

 

[Roy1983]

He did, but it was just the delivery of a corner which doesn't really count in my view (I think many of Lamela's 'assists' from last season were also from delivering a corner).

A header/tap in direct from a corner is an assist.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

I don't care about the great positions he gets in or his poor first touch, it's his unerring ability to give the ball away in dangerous situations for us that I see his prime problem, when you combine that with Danny Rose trying to gift them a goal it made last nights game very nervy for me.

 

[Cochise]

It's an assist, but there aren't too many pub sides who would've let the ball get to Son.

 

[scaramanga]

There shouldn't be a professional footballer in any of the 4 divisions in England who cannot control just about any ball when stood still.

 

[Millsy_Yiddo]

I think that is just making an excuse.... I think he just has a poor first touch. I think part of that is probably because he is so one-footed. It must be much more difficult to gain your balance when you are always trying to use only your left foot. It perhaps also explains why his touch when on the move is really bad as it's almost impossible to make that adjustment in this case.

The majority of the time he takes a bad touch when he has his head up, not looking at the ball. That to me suggests it's a case of 'what am I going to do next' before really getting the ball down. He is very one footed, but so are plenty of premiership players and they don't seem to have the same issue.

 

[billyiddo]

He did, but it was just the delivery of a corner which doesn't really count in my view (I think many of Lamela's 'assists' from last season were also from delivering a corner).

2 were from corners iirc

 

[LCLC]

If lamela starts on sunday I still think there is a significant chance he will be hauled off early. He can't be trusted to control any ball well, he gives the ball away in awful positons far too much and he is very up and down in everythingn he does.

If he did half the stuff he did last night against a premier league team they would have broken on us and most mistskes would really have been highlighted. That team showed no ambition and were not very good - he shouldn't be losing the ball under no pressure, passing it into the oppositions feet time and time again as we will get murdered if he does so. The difference between first 70mins and Stoke is that the team did nothing with it when he lost the ball!

Against a team with no space, andros is no good either for different reasons.

Lamela's best hope with us is to play through the middle as 10 and somehow get his confidence/technique together for this touch and to develop a vision that will allow him to move it quicker and at the right time. He can make a good through ball, he is brave and can show glimpses of quality.

I had an argument with a friend who's opinion on football I rate v highly (played high level pro, now works within fitness side with clubs and watches nearly every type game he can) about him early this year (maybe xmas time) and i defended him saying that his work rate is good and his obvious skill level will transfer to match situations and he will be a great player. His only response was 'he's fudging brick'

Well now I have moved over to his way of thinking and although I have always rooted for him, people on here will see just how frustrated I am with him and how poor I think90% of his games are

 

[DaveYid]

I think last night was a game of two halves for both Lamela and Townsend.

First half Lamela was awful. Constantly giving the ball away, either through poor passing or poor control. Having said that I was impressed with his strength when he won the ball to begin the move that led to the second goal.
Townsend's first half was good, assist for the first goal and would've had a second assist at the end of the half if it wasn't for Lamela's terrible first touch.

Second half Lamela was very good. Still lost the ball occassionally but the good points definitely outnumbered the bad.
Townsend took over where Lamela left off from the first half. Running down blind alleys, constantly losing the ball etc, etc. He looked tired after an hour. Not been back from injury for long though so understandable.

 

[glasgowspur]

If it had been up to me lamella and andros would have been gone in the summer. Lamella has it but it's not working and andros doesn't have enough of it.
But the last two games I have seen enough (just) to think that whatever the coaches are telling them is starting to penetrate. They are worth sticking with for now.
Lamella needs to move more central and andros be more considered in his approach.
Doubt any of the two will reach the heights we hoped for but can still be good players for us.

 

[Nigeyman]

I am usually one of Lamela's biggest detractors but I thought that overall he had a good game last night. Yes sometimes he is annoying, infuriating even.... probably because he has the worst first touch in the whole team (which is unexpected from an Argentinian.)

However what Lamela does have is vision and movement. The number of good positions that he got into last night was excellent. Yes he then wastes half of those good positions due to having such a poor touch, but I would rather a player who gets into 10 good positions in a match and makes something of 4 or 5 of those than a player who makes something happen three quarters of the time but only gets into a couple of good positions in a game.

For me it is a little like when Aaron Lennon was at his peak, he would waste half of the good positions that he got into by delivering a poor cross/pass, but would get into 2 or 3 times as many good positions as any other player.

It was a similar story for Andy Cole, everyone moaned about how many chances he missed ("he needs 8 chances to score 1 goal") while not considering the fact that he would get himself into goalscoring positions much more often than other players.

I think sometimes with these sorts of players you need to ignore the negatives and focus on whether they make more positive contributions than an alternative player. This is something that I will try to do from now on with Lamela.

Excellent post fella....

I have defended him alot on here and been ridiculed for what I see in him/believing in him.

perhaps last night was a case of the good the bad and ugly...

I want him to suceed...I think it could do wonders for our season if he starts really performing, I just dont think his performance merits a first team spot yet.