I liked Erik Lamela before it was cool

[glasgowspur]

As a matter of curiosity...

What is the standard of comparison here? Who is the template/sterotypical/exemplar £30m player in today's market? (One bought at a young age in part because of his talent and potential, not your average Milner/Barry good player in their prime, never going to be great type signings).

Good question, I honestly don't know. You're only worth what someone is willing to pay. You can worth £30m to one team short ins position and £30 quid to one with 3 in that position. There's isn't really a metric, not a sensible one anyway.
I think Lamella looks like a £30m player as a ball winner who can pass and play, esp if you look at what the like of pogba are quoted as.
But that's not what was expected from him when he turned up at The Lane, he was supposed to be bale mrk 2.
In my opinion to get the best out of him it would be in the centre, behind Kane and two WFs.
But don't see it happening, and why should it, wtf do I know?

 

[milo]

Good question, I honestly don't know. You're only worth what someone is willing to pay. You can worth £30m to one team short ins position and £30 quid to one with 3 in that position. There's isn't really a metric, not a sensible one anyway.
I think Lamella looks like a £30m player as a ball winner who can pass and play, esp if you look at what the like of pogba are quoted as.
But that's not what was expected from him when he turned up at The Lane, he was supposed to be bale mrk 2.
In my opinion to get the best out of him it would be in the centre, behind Kane and two WFs.
But don't see it happening, and why should it, wtf do I know?

Doesn't that suggest that any failure is one of the fans' expectation and the media's coverage of him?

With regards to his attacking stats, my guess is that they would compare favourably with the best in the league this season but that people have got in the habit of overlooking this element of his game.

 

[glasgowspur]

Doesn't that suggest that any failure is one of the fans' expectation and the media's coverage of him?

With regards to his attacking stats, my guess is that they would compare favourably with the best in the league this season but that people have got in the habit of overlooking this element of his game.

Yes definitely, I badly worded the first bit of the previous post, I should have said I don't think he will ever look like the type of £30m player we thought we were getting. To get that player we would need to player more central with less defensive responsibility.

He is quickly becoming worth £30m to us,

 

[Finney Is Back]

Still doesn't look like a £30m player however does look a lot better than his first two years and also looks like he still has more potential to develop.

I really do think that if we want to be top 4 regulars we need more quality in the 3 behind Kane - none of our options there are currently in the same bracket as Alexis Sanchez, an on-form Ozil, David Silva, De Bruyne, Willian, Hazard, (potentially) Martial...without more quality there we're reliant us matching/beating the other teams as a result of us being more of a team than a collection of individuals. Great if we can rely on that (and to an extent it is happening this year) but would be nice to have someone who can open up defences more

The problem is that many of those 'star' type players don't have the work-rate to match their ability. Ozil is a case in point. He is a fantastic player when his team is on top, but pretty much disappears when his team are under the cosh. In Lamela, Eriksen and Alli what we have at the moment is three players with a good level of ability who will also work tirelessly for the team. The problem with playing a pressing game as we do is that even just one player not doing his bit will render the game plan ineffective - and actually worse than just ineffective - it renders it easy to counter. We have to be careful that any player we sign to play in one of the three positions behind our number 9 has to be prepared to play for the team and not themselves. Players who have extremenly high levels of both creative talent and work rate are typically ones that command huge transfer fees and £200,000+ weekly wage packets. We don't operate in those sorts of markets and we therefore either have to take a gamble on a player with proven work rate who is not yet proven in terms of talent or sign a talented but perhaps lazy player and hope that we can somehow instil the desired level of work rate in them. My thoughts are that the former strategy is more likely to result in success.

 

[parklane1]

Doesn't that suggest that any failure is one of the fans' expectation and the media's coverage of him?

With regards to his attacking stats, my guess is that they would compare favourably with the best in the league this season but that people have got in the habit of overlooking this element of his game.

Would agree with this, I have said before a lot of fans can not get the fact that he cost that much and can not see past it. The expectations are he will be a world beater and because of that judge him against those standards.

Transfer fees are a joke and the money thrown around by some of the clubs is crazy as most of those fees are way over the top, but that is the way the games has gone.

 

[iggyfog]

Yes definitely, I badly worded the first bit of the previous post, I should have said I don't think he will ever look like the type of £30m player we thought we were getting. To get that player we would need to player more central with less defensive responsibility.

He is quickly becoming worth £30m to us,

The problem was that he was bought in to replace Bale, we immediately were expecting an inside forward, with bags of pace and a killer left foot, which he just isn't.

 

[milo]

The problem was that he was bought in to replace Bale, we immediately were expecting an inside forward, with bags of pace and a killer left foot, which he just isn't.

But was he? Or at least was he anymore of a replacement for Bale than Chadli or Eriksen?

 

[glasgowspur]

The problem was that he was bought in to replace Bale, we immediately were expecting an inside forward, with bags of pace and a killer left foot, which he just isn't.

Genuine question, did the club ever tout him as a genuine replacement for bale, with the same game style and characteristics? I don't remember that being the case but honestly can't remember.
Having watched his highlight reeled at the time I never thought he was anything like bake, the only similarity was that they scored a lot of goals. He always seemed a bit slow, and his finishing was a lot more deliberate than bales foot through the ball high speed bending and dipping rockets.

Bale played that many positions for us it's with good effect it's difficult to gauge their impacts in comparison.i expected him to start a bit forward and central to what he does.

Bale was a hard worker, but not as hard or effective as Lamella, not to my memory.

I compare the situation to being told you're getting a sports car, great where's my Ferrari, actually it's an Aston Martin and being in a strop because it's not what you expected.

It does seem a bit churlish that some still can't see how much he benefits the team.

 

[Olle73]

Genuine question, did the club ever tout him as a genuine replacement for bale, with the same game style and characteristics

Maybe not the club, but definitely the fans around the world (And not just fans of Tottenham). Fotball can be quite complicated, particularly if you only viewing the sport from the stand during matchdays and through media. Mankind is a simple creature, trying to organise his contemporaries in an understandable way. So we sold our biggest asset for a huge bunch of money and therefore we definitately needed a replacement. More expensive=>Better player. Which one of the newcomers was most expensive? Bang. Eric is the new Bale. He has to be...

I think it is the logic of a person heavily interested in football, but that can only have access to 10% of the context.

 

[scaramanga]

Maybe not the club, but definitely the fans around the world (And not just fans of Tottenham). Fotball can be quite complicated, particularly if you only viewing the sport from the stand during matchdays and through media. Mankind is a simple creature, trying to organise his contemporaries in an understandable way. So we sold our biggest asset for a huge bunch of money and therefore we definitately needed a replacement. More expensive=>Better player. Which one of the newcomers was most expensive? Bang. Eric is the new Bale. He has to be...

I think it is the logic of a person heavily interested in football, but that can only have access to 10% of an average IQ.

FTFY.

 

[Olle73]

FTFY.

I doubt it.

 

[iggyfog]

Genuine question, did the club ever tout him as a genuine replacement for bale, with the same game style and characteristics? I don't remember that being the case but honestly can't remember.
.

Baldini did:

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...th-Bale-reiterates-desire-to-join-Real-Madrid

I know this is a goal.com article:

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/ed...e-can-lamela-finally-emerge-as-tottenhams-new

"It was the sort of moment Baldini told the club to expect regularly as he was convinced Lamela would be the perfect replacement for Gareth Bale."

 

[scaramanga]

Baldini did:

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...th-Bale-reiterates-desire-to-join-Real-Madrid

I know this is a goal.com article:

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/ed...e-can-lamela-finally-emerge-as-tottenhams-new

"It was the sort of moment Baldini told the club to expect regularly as he was convinced Lamela would be the perfect replacement for Gareth Bale."

I just did a search through both articles for quotation marks and I can't find a single thing that's been said by Baldini. Might be that my search is broken though *shrug*

 

[glasgowspur]

I love Lamella, he's our very own Tasmanian devil. But if we had bale even on loan since the winter window opened we'd sitting on top of the league p*****g on everyone below us.

 

[parklane1]

FTFY.

That sounds/looks better.

 

[braineclipse]

Good question, I honestly don't know. You're only worth what someone is willing to pay. You can worth £30m to one team short ins position and £30 quid to one with 3 in that position. There's isn't really a metric, not a sensible one anyway.
I think Lamella looks like a £30m player as a ball winner who can pass and play, esp if you look at what the like of pogba are quoted as.
But that's not what was expected from him when he turned up at The Lane, he was supposed to be bale mrk 2.
In my opinion to get the best out of him it would be in the centre, behind Kane and two WFs.
But don't see it happening, and why should it, wtf do I know?

Isn't it about time we move away from those specific expectations?

The problem with a "he doesn't look like a £30m player" with no standard to compare him by is that it essentially becomes re-affirming. And Lamela has to perform like a £50m player before that falls away.

Not saying he's currently performing like a £30m player, but he's certainly getting closer and I wouldn't want to see the club sell him for £20m in the summer I'd say that much.

 

[glasgowspur]

Isn't it about time we move away from those specific expectations?

The problem with a "he doesn't look like a £30m player" with no standard to compare him by is that it essentially becomes re-affirming. And Lamela has to perform like a £50m player before that falls away.

Not saying he's currently performing like a £30m player, but he's certainly getting closer and I wouldn't want to see the club sell him for £20m in the summer I'd say that much.

Totally agree, there's so many factors that can affect a price that it is a bit of a nonsense at times.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

Do people not think that it is a little harsh to expect any player to be a replacement for Bale? I mean we sold Bale for what £80m. People expecting a player that costs much less than half that would be a direct replacement?

What this shows is that there are unrealistic opinions based on the price paid. Some fans equate price with quality, hence why they get more excited by a Martial than say a purchase of Alli. It obviously does not always work out that way. The way I looked at it was that 7 players were bought to replace the gaping hole that Bale left. Some played in similar positions, others were bought to make other areas of the team stronger to negate the impact.

The, he's the most expensive signing, was bought days before Bale left, therefore he must be Bale's replacement is simplistic and just not right.

 

[Spurs7891]

I love Lamella, he's our very own Tasmanian devil. But if we had bale even on loan since the winter window opened we'd sitting on top of the league p*****g on everyone below us.

Not so sure about that. Bale will definately score more goals than Lamela. But don't think he can work hard defensively the way Lamela does for us. Also, with Bale around, we would probably become a one-man team like we used to be under AVB, affecting Kane's chances to score goals.

 

[Baleforce]

and Bale has been injured for most of that time, hence Madrid's poor form