Player Watch: Erik Lamela

LeParisien · Aug 11, 2019

doctor stefan Freud said:
He’s back!!!!!!

I’m not saying this to take the piss, but you must be really pleased we managed to sign Tanguy. You were adamant that we wouldn’t manage it so what do you think made this transfer happen? Genuine question

Ha ha I’m delighted. Amazing progress for the club in terms of prestige (narrative has shifted now that we can constantly be referred to as « champions league finalists » even if it’s sometimes « champions league finalists after all »).

It also says a lot about Ndombele that he has chosen the club he feels he can make most progress at, not necessarily the most money or whatever. Like Sessegnon.

Obviously I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about but long may that continue. Whilst I’m at it, i don’t think we have a chance of getting Dybala in January and we’ll DEFINITELY lose Eriksen before September. ?

piedpiper · Aug 11, 2019

LeParisien said:
Ha ha I’m delighted. Amazing progress for the club in terms of prestige (narrative has shifted now that we can constantly be referred to as « champions league finalists » even if it’s sometimes « champions league finalists after all »).

It also says a lot about Ndombele that he has chosen the club he feels he can make most progress at, not necessarily the most money or whatever. Like Sessegnon.

Obviously I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about but long may that continue. Whilst I’m at it, i don’t think we have a chance of getting Dybala in January and we’ll DEFINITELY lose Eriksen before September. ?

I also didn't think we'd sign him. I thought the opportunity had passed us by. You were just brave enough to express it. I'm sure there are others who didn't think we had a chance.

ardiles · Aug 11, 2019

LeParisien said:
Ha ha I’m delighted. Amazing progress for the club in terms of prestige (narrative has shifted now that we can constantly be referred to as « champions league finalists » even if it’s sometimes « champions league finalists after all »).

It also says a lot about Ndombele that he has chosen the club he feels he can make most progress at, not necessarily the most money or whatever. Like Sessegnon.

Obviously I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about but long may that continue. Whilst I’m at it, i don’t think we have a chance of getting Dybala in January and we’ll DEFINITELY lose Eriksen before September. ?

I hope your predictions turn out as accurate as the Ndombele one. (y)

ralvy · Aug 11, 2019

LeParisien said:
You seem smart so I’ll reply.

Lamela’s pressing is excellent and contributes a lot to our style of play. He is willing to get stuck in and its easy to see why fans respond to that.

Let’s compare the last 3 seasons in the EPL for Lamela (aged 24-27) with Alex Iwobi (aged 20-23). You’d expect Lamela to post better stats over three seasons because he is older and has been playing in a better team. I think most fans would also be upset if we bought an Alex Iwobi or similar.

Iwobi had played made 87 appearances to Lamela’s 53 in that time and twice as many minutes. So as you read, multiply Lamelas stats by two to compare like for like.

Lamela scores more (every 343 mins vs 587 mins). He shoots about as often on goal and on target a bit more often.

However Lamela has missed 8 big chances compared to Iwobi’s 7.
Lamela has 5 assists compared to Iwobis 14.
Lamela has 9 big chances created compared to Iwobi’s 18.
Lamela had made 1173 passes to Iwobi’s 2984.
Lamela had worse pass completion.
Lamela made 223 forward passes to Iwobi’s 743.
He made 11 throughballs to Iwobi’s 21.
Lamela was dispossessed 60 times to Iwobi’s 112 (remember he played half as many minutes).

So on ALL these attacking/ buildup metrics Lamela is worse than or about as good as Iwobi - a younger player in a worse team.

Defensively, Lamela wipes the floor with Iwobi but we are no longer a side (like Arsenal) looking to break into the top 4. We need attacking midfielders who are better offensively than Lamela. We need players like ... Lo Celso.

So there are good reasons for fans to be dissatisfied with Lamela. He is underwhelming offensively compared to underwhelming players at our competitors. That is not a crazy thing to suggest, even if his detractors must acknowledge his significant contribution in transition.

1. I understand what your reasoning was when writing this post but, It's usually pointless to compare the stats of players who play for different teams and try to argue from it that one player is better or worse than the other, there are just too many skewing factors. It would be like saying that Messi is a better player when he plays for Barcelona than when he plays for the Argentinian national team, which is simply a stupid thing to say.

2. Iwobi is actually a very skilled player and I would love for us to sign him one day, I'm sure he could be coached into a top player.

3. In case you didn't got the memo during this past six years, Erik Lamela is here to stay.

Giovanni · Aug 11, 2019

Im not sure you can just pluck another player from a rival team and simply build a case on there stats. 2 different types and styles of players.

Im not even sure what people are arguing here. Theres posters dropping in saying things like 'hes crap' and 'rubbish' and its extreemly unfair. Do i think he is a nailed on starter in our best 11? No, not right now. But do i see the skillset he possesses and how they can be very beneficial to us? Yes.

andrewt · Aug 11, 2019

Donki said:
Not good enough.

Agreed he needs to improve or be luckier either or I'm not bothered

andrewt · Aug 11, 2019

Wheeler Dealer said:
I agree he's a nearly player as you state. Unfortunately I doubt he'll ever be the player we'd always hoped for.

Agree on that mate!

amathews3416 · Aug 11, 2019

He is a great squad player to have. Won’t kick up a fuss if he isn’t starting every game and gives it 100% for the shirt every time he steps on the field. To me, he is a great 80th minute sub to go and run his crazy ass off when the other team is getting tired. Not good enough for our first 11 against CL or top half teams but have no hesitation in giving him starts in cups and relegation teams.

Timberwolf · Aug 11, 2019

amathews3416 said:
He is a great squad player to have. Won’t kick up a fuss if he isn’t starting every game and gives it 100% for the shirt every time he steps on the field. To me, he is a great 80th minute sub to go and run his crazy ass off when the other team is getting tired. Not good enough for our first 11 against CL or top half teams but have no hesitation in giving him starts in cups and relegation teams.

Yup - his contribution yesterday summed him up well. It was ultimately his pressing and harrying that contributed to our win when, week-in week-out what we need most from a player in that position is creativity and inspiration.

LeParisien · Aug 11, 2019

ralvy said:
1. I understand what your reasoning was when writing this post but, It's usually pointless to compare the stats of players who play for different teams and try to argue from it that one player is better or worse than the other, there are just too many skewing factors. It would be like saying that Messi is a better player when he plays for Barcelona than when he plays for the Argentinian national team, which is simply a stupid thing to say.

2. Iwobi is actually a very skilled player and I would love for us to sign him one day, I'm sure he could be coached into a top player.

3. In case you didn't got the memo during this past six years, Erik Lamela is here to stay.

1. Interesting point and you’re right to an extent.. The problem is if you compare Lamela to any of Spurs’ attacking midfielders then he compares even more unfavourably offensively.

Also, I wasn’t really arguing Iwobi is better than Lamela - I don’t believe that. I was just using a provocative example to highlight that there are reasons to be dissatisfied with Lamela’s output, despite the original poster’s claims.

@Giovanni

2. I haven’t seen enough to judge ! Gone for good money though..

3. I don’t mind Lamela at all. I’m not hating - he’s a great squad player. I remember Winks giving an interview a few years ago saying how much he looked up to Coco because he’s such a passionate trainer. Clearly great to have around and Lamela himself said he’s enjoying helping the younger players. Top man!

Blake Griffin · Aug 11, 2019

Donki said:
The curious case of Erik Lamela, can’t fault his effort but really off you look at it, he is just squad filler. He certainly isn’t ANYTHING like the player we thought he was going to be. Nice guy obviously but would much rather a youth player got his role TBH. He Bastard Sons of Lamella will surely disagree.

just trying to imagine the reaction on here when we signed him had someone said that in six years time he'd still have fewer league goals for us than what he'd just managed in his last season for roma.

Flashspur · Aug 11, 2019

Thought he was tenacious and put in a shift all game. He struggled like a lot players in the first half with our set up and a very good Villa defence. Loved his mugging off of Grealish. That’s was one of the cleanest steals you will see for Harry’s first goal. Jack is probably still having nightmares about it.

@Bobby__Lucky · Aug 11, 2019

Blake Griffin said:
just trying to imagine the reaction on here when we signed him had someone said that in six years time he'd still have fewer league goals for us than what he'd just managed in his last season for roma.

To be fair Lamela in his last season played the false 9 role mainly in an injury plagued season for Totti. They played a unique system and it suited him incredibly. In the other games he played rwf in a loosly based 433.weve never really played him in those positions and rarely played 433. It's a completely different animal to a 4231. Many argued for onomah in the youth pages that he'd never been given a chance to play in his actual position. Well in 6 years neither has lamela.

Antilokhos · Aug 12, 2019

tooey said:
I can't think of a player that has ever split the fanbase like Lamela.

I remember the Jenas Wars being pretty ridiculous too. Ends up being a similar situation, people judging players for what they aren't rather than for what they are.

guy · Aug 12, 2019

I was disappointed in his display. We all know how good he is at the defensive side of the game, which of course he demonstrated again perfectly, but I wanted to see much more from him with the ball.

It's frustrating because he's got the skills, but we rarely see them imposed for a extended period.

I thought he was going to really shine with Eriksen not starting

KILLA_SIN · Aug 12, 2019

Rewatched the game I personally think he actually had a reasonable game. People want to see what they want to see none of the three goals came directly from Eriksen although the game was better for when he came on but Lamela did put Kane through twice and dispossessed Grealish for the second, wont count as an assist though as his shot was blocked and ended up with Kane? He doesn't really play the Eriksen role if I was speculating I think he will be pushing Ali for his spot rather than Son/Moura/Eriksen.

I looked at his stats for goals and assists yday over the time he has been at the club and even though he hasn't put in massive numbers goals and assists have come against the better sides, United, Pool, Chelsea, Arsenal etc. He does play well against the bigger sides and stats are always filled out more against weaker sides.

If your going to play any top six team one thing you can absolutely guarantee with him he will bring his A game you wont find him hiding in the corners he stands and gets counted. I think that's why Poch plays him so much he knows he's going to get a shift everytime. If he stays injury free then he will put in the goals/assists I think this is his best chance Ali was low on numbers last year so he has a chance to push him. And Ali does have a tendency to enjoy off season a little too much.

He's 27 in think it's been a career blighted by too many injuries but if he gets lucky and stays injury free we could easily get another 3-5 season from him

Gassin's finest · Aug 12, 2019

Lamela is like a reverse Scott Parker. Hunts down the ball, breaks up play and recycles... only he does it at the other end of the pitch. It more than has its uses, and can be a right pest in the right system.

JUSTINSIGNAL · Aug 12, 2019

YiddoInPoland said:
This has to be one of the dumbest threads on this forum.

It's like being in fucking purgatory.

Erik plays a good match: "Quality player, love his work rate and ability to make things happen."
Erik plays a average match: "Not a 30m player. Always losing the ball, has no pace. We need to move him on".
Erik is injured: "He's a coke head. The club are covering it up!"

And rinse and repeat every season.

littlemandefoe · Aug 12, 2019

I think Jack Grealish would of been a great signing for us. Shame we never got him through the door. Step up on Lamela.

Shadydan · Aug 12, 2019

littlemandefoe said:
I think Jack Grealish would of been a great signing for us. Shame we never got him through the door. Step up on Lamela.

They play different positions.

I think Clarke will be Lamela's eventual replacement tbh.

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