Player Watch: Erik Lamela

TEESSIDE1 said:

But what Hercs is alluding to is we’re looking to strengthen our squad and to do that we need to let players go. Unfortunately for Lamela he’s got a shocking injury record and his contract is running down. Out of our existing attacking midfielders he’s got the least going for him. Sissoko, I don’t class him as an attacking midfielder, I don’t think he even knows what his best position is. Surely when we’ve shipped Sissoko out he’ll be replaced by a central midfielder.

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If his fitness issues are reason he's let go then I understand completely.
Hercs is saying if we bring in another overseas player we will have to offload an overseas player due to our quota.
Sissoko would be my choice if that happens.

dagraham said:

Promised myself I wouldn't get involved in this bipolar thread again, but I'll bite.

Lamela is a good player, skilful, incredibly tenacious off the ball and offers something different. Namely the ability around the box to play clever passes into the front man. I wouldn't want to sell him unless we were getting someone appreciatively better. However, he doesn't use these attributes nearly often enough. His decision making is suspect imo and he more often flatters to deceive with the ball and lacks the end product his talent should bring.

Put it this way, even though he's only had a handful of appearances I feel Moura has more chance of coming off the bench and making a match winning/saving contribution than Lamela. I thought it Wednesday night, and I still think it today.

As for comparisons with Dele, he is not the same player this season in front of goal, but has shown over the past two seasons he has it in his locker, where as Lamela has never really shown that in his Spurs career (even though injuries have obviously played there part). I don't think Dele should be undroppable and earlier in the season his all round game was poor, but he's stepped that up recently and the only thing lacking is regaining his confidence in front of goal. I can see why Poch perseveres with him, even though he's probably the most vulnerable of the attacking players right now in terms of his place in the team.

And the argument Lamela's injury is the main reason Chelsea won the league instead of us is nonsense. In Lamela's best period for Spurs at the start of that season we were still drawing too many games and bombed out of the CL. Meanwhile Chelsea were embarking on a 13 winning streak which all meant we were left with too much to do, combined with Chelsea having no European competitions to distract them and virtually no injuries. Nothing to do with Lamela. In fact, after his absence we got to an FA Cup semi final and accumulated more points per game in the PL.

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Cracking post - totally agree on all fronts

Shadydan said:

Whatever it was he removed the post lol

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It's still there. It just says that 'Aurier is far sups to Walker', which is eerily close to the OP's accusation that Herc was 'probably one of the jokers who were crowing in the summer about Aurier being an upgrade on Walker without having seen him play more than 3 games.'

Ouch.

SlotBadger said:

Were any of our players a threat by the Lamela entered the field and Juventus were sitting deep to protect their lead?


I mean, it's almost impressive how you've quoted his entire post but clearly gave up reading after the first four words.

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Unfortunately this is the sort of hyperbole that reigns in this thread. With no new contract offer seemingly on the horizon, I think he is deemed to be bottom of the pecking order amongst our attacking midfielders. I think herc is trying to let you boys down gently. If we delve in to the transfer market for Malcolm et al the foreign quota will come in to play.

jezz said:

If his fitness issues are reason he's let go then I understand completely.
Hercs is saying if we bring in another overseas player we will have to offload an overseas player due to our quota.
Sissoko would be my choice if that happens.

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Think it's not only your choice...

King of Otters said:

It's still there. It just says that 'Aurier is far sups to Walker', which is eerily close to the OP's accusation that Herc was 'probably one of the jokers who were crowing in the summer about Aurier being an upgrade on Walker without having seen him play more than 3 games.'

Ouch.

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I believe he will prove to be, once he settles.

Hercules said:

I believe he will prove to be, once he settles.

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I admire your optimism, Herc, but I think the issue is that talking in black and white, categorical terms about 'x target being miles ahead of y current player' is unhelpful, and as often as not, inaccurate.

King of Otters said:

I admire your optimism, Herc, but I think the issue is that talking in black and white, categorical terms about 'x target being miles ahead of y current player' is unhelpful, and as often as not, inaccurate.

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Point taken. One can get carried away at times. I personally believe all round he is way ahead of Walker, but admit he has to show it. Walker for a good 3 years was getting negged, and rightfully do, and he even then did not have the tekkers of Serge. And based upon that I pray I end up been proven right. However, I accept your rebuke.

Hercules said:

Point taken. One can get carried away at times. I personally believe all round he is way ahead of Walker, but admit he has to show it. Walker for a good 3 years was getting negged, and rightfully do, and he even then did not have the tekkers of Serge. And based upon that I pray I end up been proven right. However, I accept your rebuke.

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I have high hopes for serge. I am slightly alarmed by his propensity to cut inside on to his right foot whilst facing his own goal. This is a bit of a schoolboy error or he is extremely confident in his own ability. I suspect Poch will try and coach this out of him.

Went to the zoo with the family the other day. Walked past the monkey exhibition and they were just going at it. A few were throwing shit at each other. There was a group having an orgy near the looking glass. One was just fiddling with himself on top of a rock. Wild stuff.

My wife, bless her said it reminded her of the folly of man. I said "Just looks like a normal day in the Lamela thread to me".

Hercules said:

Point taken. One can get carried away at times. I personally believe all round he is way ahead of Walker, but admit he has to show it. Walker for a good 3 years was getting negged, and rightfully do, and he even then did not have the tekkers of Serge. And based upon that I pray I end up been proven right. However, I accept your rebuke.

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Well one thing is for sure ; Walker is better at throw-ins

Hercules said:

Point taken. One can get carried away at times. I personally believe all round he is way ahead of Walker, but admit he has to show it. Walker for a good 3 years was getting negged, and rightfully do, and he even then did not have the tekkers of Serge. And based upon that I pray I end up been proven right. However, I accept your rebuke.

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I was excited by Serge aswell, but that excitement has diminished quite a lot in recent months. I'd also swap Malcom for Lamela, who I agree is a limited player, but, as has been said elsewhere, it's really impossible to say whether he'd work out here or not. If an attacking mid like Di Maria, who looked to be the perfect Prem player (quick, high work-rate), can come to England and struggle to make an impact, then anyone can.

Im gonna have to get involved again because this post is literally 99% hyperbole.

TwanYid said:

Lamela is like Modric, only an AM as opposed to a CM. He doesn't get the statistics others do- Luka never did either- yet he is such a vital player for us when he's out there. He is just so relentless, such a warrior, so hateable- which is why I love him. He engenders a level of antipathy from opposing fans (and opposing players) that borders on the psychotic. He gets under the opposition's skin like no one else I've ever seen that plays for us. He rattles them. I mean, here's this pretty boy- one who can do all sorts of fancy-Dan tricks- flying into tackles, pressing like he's a magnet and the other team's players are made of metal, and just generally being this unpredictable, dangerous nuisance of a player.

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Lamela is not like modric wtf, why is there the need to ridiculously overrate a decent player? Also how is Lamela the player that annoys other teams the most? I've literally never seen another teams fans hate on Lamela, why would they hate on a spurs squad player? If anyone it's alli that brings that kind of hatrid, and that's unarguable.

TwanYid said:

When you add to that the fact that he might be the best passer on the team (or if he's not, he's second only to Eriksen), that he's incredibly unpredictable offensively (one never knows if he's going to bomb forward, or hit the breaks and thread a through ball, or stop on a dime and turn and move- forcing a foul, or pass diagonally to someone cutting in, or play keep ball followed by a 1-2 with Kane, Alli, Eriksen, etc.)-- I mean the guy is just a straight up fucking terror.

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I'm glad you realised after you made that statement that it's crazy to suggest Lamela is a better passer then Eriksen because that really would've been untrue. But add to that, is Lamela really the clear second best passer in the team? He's good but I've seen Kane and Alli play passes that if done by Lamela would have the fan club crowing for a ballon d'or nomination. Also all the things you mention after are done better by other players, hence why some people don't class Lamela as god of football.

TwanYid said:

He never shirks from a challenge, never backs down, never plays scared. As a matter of fact, sometimes I feel as if he has an extra gear that others don't; indeed, occasionally it seems as if he's taunting the opposing player because he knows he's so much more talented than they are...

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I'm not gonna get back into this in this thread but there's another player in our squad who never shies away from a challenge but he doesn't quite receive the appreciation Lamela does.

"taunting the opposition because he's so much more talented then them"

Really? There's probably at least 50 players more talented then Lamela in the prem, probably more, and that's not an attempt to take away from Lamela, just pointing out how ridiculous the idea that he holds his superiority over the mear mortals of the premier league is.

TwanYid said:

Players like him- guys dripping with natural talent yet who have that much fight/ferocity/desire to get stuck-in- are truly rare. We have one. We would be stupid to let him go.

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"Dripping with natural talent" eurgh, again wtf, that's just such a crazy over-exaggeration he's a good player who can play good passes. Messi is dripping with natural talent, again not spurs's 4th choice attacking mid

Let's pretend everything you say in your post is true, whys Lamela 4th choice at spurs and why are no clubs apart Inter, a club miles from where they should be, interested in him?

dagraham said:

Promised myself I wouldn't get involved in this bipolar thread again, but I'll bite.

Lamela is a good player, skilful, incredibly tenacious off the ball and offers something different. Namely the ability around the box to play clever passes into the front man. I wouldn't want to sell him unless we were getting someone appreciatively better. However, he doesn't use these attributes nearly often enough. His decision making is suspect imo and he more often flatters to deceive with the ball and lacks the end product his talent should bring.


As for comparisons with Dele, he is not the same player this season in front of goal, but has shown over the past two seasons he has it in his locker, where as Lamela has never really shown that in his Spurs career (even though injuries have obviously played there part). I don't think Dele should be undroppable and earlier in the season his all round game was poor, but he's stepped that up recently and the only thing lacking is regaining his confidence in front of goal. I can see why Poch perseveres with him, even though he's probably the most vulnerable of the attacking players right now in terms of his place in the team.

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Sorry to break it to you, but Lamela has proven already he has that end product... just take a look at the 2015/2016 season.

dagraham said:

Put it this way, even though he's only had a handful of appearances I feel Moura has more chance of coming off the bench and making a match winning/saving contribution than Lamela. I thought it Wednesday night, and I still think it today.

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That's cool. Make sure you share this knowledge with Poch as he currently doesn't seem to agree with you.

BTW, I have nothing against Lucas and I'm quite excited that he's playing for Spurs and what he can bring to the table.

dagraham said:

And the argument Lamela's injury is the main reason Chelsea won the league instead of us is nonsense. In Lamela's best period for Spurs at the start of that season we were still drawing too many games and bombed out of the CL. Meanwhile Chelsea were embarking on a 13 winning streak which all meant we were left with too much to do, combined with Chelsea having no European competitions to distract them and virtually no injuries. Nothing to do with Lamela. In fact, after his absence we got to an FA Cup semi final and accumulated more points per game in the PL.

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I agree, that's why I didn't made that argument. I made the argument that his injury was one of the main reasons we couldn't pose a better challenge to Chelsea that season and be a bigger threat to their title aspirations, not that his injury was the reason Chelsea won the title. I honestly don't understand why both you and streetspur77 are showing such poor reading comprehension skills.

I believe with a healthy Lamela we probably wake up a bit earlier that season, we don't draw against West Ham and we may go on to eliminate Chelsea at the FA semifinals (which may have given us full momentum to hunt them down for the rest of the season(.. What are my reasons for believing this? Well, to start, a healthy Lamela usually makes us a stronger team with more fight in it (just look at the match in Turin for proof of this).

Streetspur77 said:

Im gonna have to get involved again because this post is literally 99% hyperbole.



Lamela is not like modric wtf, why is there the need to ridiculously overrate a decent player? Also how is Lamela the player that annoys other teams the most? I've literally never seen another teams fans hate on Lamela, why would they hate on a spurs squad player? If anyone it's alli that brings that kind of hatrid, and that's unarguable.



I'm glad you realised after you made that statement that it's crazy to suggest Lamela is a better passer then Eriksen because that really would've been untrue. But add to that, is Lamela really the clear second best passer in the team? He's good but I've seen Kane and Alli play passes that if done by Lamela would have the fan club crowing for a ballon d'or nomination. Also all the things you mention after are done better by other players, hence why some people don't class Lamela as god of football.



I'm not gonna get back into this in this thread but there's another player in our squad who never shies away from a challenge but he doesn't quite receive the appreciation Lamela does.

"taunting the opposition because he's so much more talented then them"

Really? There's probably at least 50 players more talented then Lamela in the prem, probably more, and that's not an attempt to take away from Lamela, just pointing out how ridiculous the idea that he holds his superiority over the mear mortals of the premier league is.



"Dripping with natural talent" eurgh, again wtf, that's just such a crazy over-exaggeration he's a good player who can play good passes. Messi is dripping with natural talent, again not spurs's 4th choice attacking mid

Let's pretend everything you say in your post is true, whys Lamela 4th choice at spurs and why are no clubs apart Inter, a club miles from where they should be, interested in him?

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Harry Kane reckons Erik Lamela is the most skilful player in our squad so I'll take his word over yours. (Listen to the Ryan Mason interview if you want proof of what Lamelas about)
4th choice? Poch says its a squad game not a first eleven so I'll take his word over yours again.
And why did 4th choice start in one of our biggest games in recent history?
Why would any club be interested in a player who's been injured for 13 months?
Some Lamelas passing and through balls are world class and he does it more often than not.
Does he fcuk it up sometimes? Yes he does but show me a player that gets it right every time.
He needs to score more goals it's as simple as that. The rest of his game is as good as it gets.
And needs stay fit and healthy as its the big issue for us.

T-Love92 said:

Think it's not only your choice...

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Correct that's why its my choice not everyone else's.

jezz said:

Harry Kane reckons Erik Lamela is the most skilful player in our squad so I'll take his word over yours.

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Ok? I never mentioned skilful. But even if he is when does he do it in matches? I'm sorry but he simply doesn't have the acceleration to bear his man so that "skill" is pretty useless

jezz said:

4th choice? Poch says its a squad game not a first eleven so I'll take his word over yours again.

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Yes it's a squad game but he's still 4th soon to be 5th choice, why would one base an opinion of whether he's a squad player or not off the fact he started one game? Also Juve wasn't one of the biggest games in our history.

jezz said:

The rest of his game is as good as it gets.

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lol

TwanYid said:

Lamela is like Modric, only an AM as opposed to a CM. He doesn't get the statistics others do- Luka never did either- yet he is such a vital player for us when he's out there. He is just so relentless, such a warrior, so hateable- which is why I love him. He engenders a level of antipathy from opposing fans (and opposing players) that borders on the psychotic. He gets under the opposition's skin like no one else I've ever seen that plays for us. He rattles them. I mean, here's this pretty boy- one who can do all sorts of fancy-Dan tricks- flying into tackles, pressing like he's a magnet and the other team's players are made of metal, and just generally being this unpredictable, dangerous nuisance of a player.

When you add to that the fact that he might be the best passer on the team (or if he's not, he's second only to Eriksen), that he's incredibly unpredictable offensively (one never knows if he's going to bomb forward, or hit the breaks and thread a through ball, or stop on a dime and turn and move- forcing a foul, or pass diagonally to someone cutting in, or play keep ball followed by a 1-2 with Kane, Alli, Eriksen, etc.)-- I mean the guy is just a straight up fucking terror.

He never shirks from a challenge, never backs down, never plays scared. As a matter of fact, sometimes I feel as if he has an extra gear that others don't; indeed, occasionally it seems as if he's taunting the opposing player because he knows he's so much more talented than they are...

I just don't get how you can watch Lamela play and not love him. He looks so soft and yet he's so fucking hard. The guy has no fear. I'll say it again: the guy's a straight-up warrior. I would be distraught if he left us, particularly because his best years lie straight ahead.

Players like him- guys dripping with natural talent yet who have that much fight/ferocity/desire to get stuck-in- are truly rare. We have one. We would be stupid to let him go.

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Lack of end product. Ask yourself this, If we need a goal & we bring lamela on do you honestly think that strikes fear into the opposition in a way it would if say a Mahrez, Bale or even Son was coming on (or whoever the next upcoming version of these players are, I have never seen Malcolm play so can't comment on him personally).
If we are aiming (and due to the incredible job MP has done we are) to win big trophies and compete with city etc & the elite clubs in Europe then this is the standard we are looking for.
A player who was ok for us in the past now becomes vulnerable. Tough but ambitious. Thats where we are as a club.
Add in his injury record etc and contract situation.
Me personally, I like him, appreciate his work effort etc and the boy clearly has bags of talent. That said I have never seen an AM so shy around the goal, hesitant to get shots off and react in the box. Is he more of a freestyler (who works very hard) than a premiership goal threat? I'm still unsure. (I know this won't be popular but just being honest).
MP won't be concerned with who can wind up jack whilshere to the pleasure of the fans, he's looking to add extra goals & matchwinners to his attacking options. Add 10 points to our current total.
Sometimes popular players leave for the good of the club. To me he's a decent squad option and I live in hope he will get more dynamic around the box but MP will know what he's doing & if he is sacrificed and replaced with someone the club think have a higher celine than for me it's happy days as just shows how far we have come and what a good place we are in as a club.

Streetspur77 said:

Im gonna have to get involved again because this post is literally 99% hyperbole.



Lamela is not like modric wtf, why is there the need to ridiculously overrate a decent player? Also how is Lamela the player that annoys other teams the most? I've literally never seen another teams fans hate on Lamela, why would they hate on a spurs squad player? If anyone it's alli that brings that kind of hatrid, and that's unarguable.



I'm glad you realised after you made that statement that it's crazy to suggest Lamela is a better passer then Eriksen because that really would've been untrue. But add to that, is Lamela really the clear second best passer in the team? He's good but I've seen Kane and Alli play passes that if done by Lamela would have the fan club crowing for a ballon d'or nomination. Also all the things you mention after are done better by other players, hence why some people don't class Lamela as god of football.



I'm not gonna get back into this in this thread but there's another player in our squad who never shies away from a challenge but he doesn't quite receive the appreciation Lamela does.

"taunting the opposition because he's so much more talented then them"

Really? There's probably at least 50 players more talented then Lamela in the prem, probably more, and that's not an attempt to take away from Lamela, just pointing out how ridiculous the idea that he holds his superiority over the mear mortals of the premier league is.



"Dripping with natural talent" eurgh, again wtf, that's just such a crazy over-exaggeration he's a good player who can play good passes. Messi is dripping with natural talent, again not spurs's 4th choice attacking mid

Let's pretend everything you say in your post is true, whys Lamela 4th choice at spurs and why are no clubs apart Inter, a club miles from where they should be, interested in him?

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Lamela is hated by fans of other teams because he is an annoying little shit when he's on the pitch, sneaking a bit of brutality in with silky-smooth play and a "who me?"-look every time the ref catches him mullering an opposition player. Imagine, if you will, that Lamela played for them ****s up the road- or, say, Chelscum- and he did the same thing for them as he does for us, except he'd be doing it to us.

Imagine him harrasing the shit out of our players, always being up and in their faces, looking kind of gangly and disjointed and yet- at the same time somehow being a terribly effective defender (especially considering he's an Attacking Midfielder for fuck's sake) and yet at the same time being this guy who can, seemingly out of nowhere, thread a killer through-ball to Lacazette, Wellbeck or Morata- putting it on a plate for any one of them- and then *BANG*-- all of a sudden they've scored, solely because of something he did. Basically, a problem at both ends.

Or how about this: Chelscum are attacking when all of a sudden this skinny, awkward, left-footed player of theirs with a weird haircut and devilish smile drives toward the box, fakes Dier or Rose out of their shoes and- as a result- gets hacked down by one of them, resulting in a set-piece in a dangerous area from which Hazard/Willian/Aubameyang/etc. scores. IOW, think of him on a rival, doing to us what he does to other teams: I'm sorry, but you'd hate him. And not because he's a Spurs player-- for example, you wouldn't hate Eriksen or Dembele or even Kane-- nope, it would be Erik Lamela who would annoy the fuck out of you. More than Dele All? No- but still high up there on the list of Tottenham players you despise. If you're open-minded and honest with yourself you'll agree; it's players like him- guys that are relentless, fearless, talented, sneaky and occasionally outright dirty- that engender true antipathy from fans of opposing teams. Lamela is a "gets-under-your-skin"-type- he just is. My best friend is Ars*nal and he says "We all hate Lamela and hope he soon fucks off back to Italy, where he can finally come out as a woman. His is a face I just so badly want to punch."

Now, is that a scientific sample of how other teams fans feel about him? No- of course not. But what it is is a natural reaction- by a committed gooner- to this odd, unique, talented-yet-enigmatic character called Erik Lamela. I have a feeling lots of opposing fans feel the same way- not to the same extent as Alli- but similar. The difference is Alli score goals, Lamela doesn't.

"Ah," but you say- "THAT'S THE POINT!!!!" I, however, beg to differ. I don't think we suffer much- especially now (that we have more goal-scoring options)- due to his lack of end product. In fact, I think it almost enhances us, because he's so good at doing what he does do: defend, defend, pass, drive us forward and defend. To me, that's good enough. I love him.

Would I like it if he got more goals? Of course. But mainly I think the problem some have with him is that we bought him as Gareth Bale and ended up with a hybrid of Javier Mascherano and Christian Eriksen.

And that, to me, is fine.