Best combination of AMs

[Original # 10]

We've been crying out for a dilemma like this one.

3 from Alli, Lamela, Son, Eriksen, Lucas is so good for our match day squads given that 2 of them will be game changers from the bench.

Long may it continue.

 

[dondo]

Yes. Dele is maybe the most overrated player we ever had. Its a big mystery why Poch treats him as undroppable.

I suggest you check out how many goals and assists dele has since he joined us to solve your mystery

 

[spids]

I just did a little research to see if personal bias waa affecting my interpretation of effectiveness.

Statistics from League Games this season (2017/18)

Firstly 'Goal Events' (i.e. Goals and Assists):

Rank, Player, minutes, goals, assists, combined, mins per 'goal event'

1. Son, 1715, 8, 4, 12, 142.92
2. Eriksen, 2326, 7, 7, 14, 166.14
3. Dele, 2284, 5, 7, 12, 190.33
4. Lamela, 388, 0, 2, 194.00

... and then shots and key passes per game:

Rank, Player, shots, key passes, total

1. Eriksen, 2.6, 2.6, 5.2
2. Dele, 2.2, 2, 4.2
3. Son, 2.1, 1.1, 3.2
4. Lamela, 0.8,0.7, 1.5

I obviously excluded Lucas Moura as he has not had enough league minutes yet.

There is obviously more to an AMs role than just shots, assists, goals and key passes. For example, an assist to an assist is why a playmaker like Modric's stats never looked great on paper. But I do think the stats above do show a good measure of effectiveness in the last third. Despite the stats, Lamela is still a fantastic player, who leads our press, gives us an edge, and has real technical skills and a great through ball, and Poch has a real dilemma when picking teams form now on. I would not be surprised to see Lamela start against the likes of Juve and Man City as he gives us more than someone like Son in terms of resilience.

 

[dontcallme]

I suggest you check out how many goals and assists dele has since he joined us to solve your mystery

Alli could get 2 goals and 2 assists today and OPModric would talk about how he miscontrolled one pass and tried shooting once when a better option was available.

 

[kremlyn]

If Eriksen doesn't play then we miss him the most. Next is Lamela. We had such a sluggish start to the season and, had he been fit, he would not have allowed that to happen. Those 2 dictate the play. The third place goes to dele. He's the fairy dust in our team.
For the big games, that's my front 3.

 

[OPModric]

I suggest you check out how many goals and assists dele has since he joined us to solve your mystery

Well, Son produced more goals/assist last season and again this season so far. So how do you mean? By your logic Son should be more undroppable and thats not the case.

 

[dondo]

Well, Son produced more goals/assist last season and again this season so far. So how do you mean? By your logic Son should be more undroppable and thats not the case.

That’s a different point, and a much better debate. Lamela or dele is no debate in my view.
I’m not knocking lamela, he is a good player but dele’s is more prolific

 

[WiganSpur]

Maybe a tad too early to say just yet but I feel that Dele has stepped up his game to another level in the last few months. I think he's maturing.

Previously it was all about goals and assists, but now I think he is working harder, making better decisions generally and taking more care in possession. He's still got another level to get to, but I can see improvement for sure.

Just got to hope the change is permanent and that he doesn't regress to that footballer who could always pop up with something special but is ultimately frustrating.

 

[keithtighe93]

We've gone from having the same three all the time nailed on, to having five genuine quality options. It's fucking fantastic. I'd like to see Eriksen, Lamela & Moura together.

 

[Yid-ol]

Dembelle
Eriksen...Dele
Moura...................Lamela
Kane
​

Would be an attacking team! and went for lalela over son for that reason as it would be more to break a team down that defends deeper.

 

[nferno]

I love the prospect of having 2 different AM tridents (both quality) come summer if we hopefully get one of Malcom/Sess.

As others have pointed out, the key is that some of them can play CM. All part of the work ethic installed by Poch, I bet he does a lot of training on how to tackle.

 

[Lemon]

It really does depend on the opposition as all bring something slightly different. Lamela moves the ball the quickest and can inject the most pace into our attacks. But moura and son bring a greater goal threat and can beat players. Eriksen has the best balance but can be a little timid in the tackle. Dele is unique and can just make something happen out of nothing.

The great thing is that we now have a variety of options to change games. Long gone are the days when we had nkodou as the only attacking player on the bench!

Or, Andy Sinton being our saviour...

 

[Cornpattbuck]

Maybe a tad too early to say just yet but I feel that Dele has stepped up his game to another level in the last few months. I think he's maturing.

Previously it was all about goals and assists, but now I think he is working harder, making better decisions generally and taking more care in possession. He's still got another level to get to, but I can see improvement for sure.

Just got to hope the change is permanent and that he doesn't regress to that footballer who could always pop up with something special but is ultimately frustrating.

Dele's not been quite as effective in front of goal recently, but he's quietly been making some blinding and seemingly effortless pick the lock passes etc. Sure the confidence in front of goal will return soon.

 

[OPModric]

Alli could get 2 goals and 2 assists today and OPModric would talk about how he miscontrolled one pass and tried shooting once when a better option was available.

Stop spaming the thread. I suggested my best combination as the thread title say and people questioning my choice and I answer them back. You rate me with spam but your post is more spam.

 

[EQP]

So Eriksen 21, Dele 19, Lamela 14? Kinda proves my point.

Re: the video clip. That’s him at his best. Shame there haven’t been many like that in the two years since (I know he missed a year through injury). Eriksen by comparison has a very long showreel of amazing assists in the interim.

Don’t get me wrong, I rate Lamela and am always happy to see him either start or come on. He has a phenomenal will to win and workrate, and is probably our best ‘vertical line’ passer to feet. I just feel he has less end product than Dele, Eriksen or Son in the last third, and this is reflected in the goals and assists statistics.

Against Juve next week I’d rather start with Lamela for example (over Son), as he offers more in the middle third of the pitch, particularly winning the ball back quickly and then possession.

I guess what I was trying to get across is that, Lamela might not score more than Dele or assist more than Eriksen but his impact on the field allows the likes of Dele and Eriksen to excel at what they do. I truly only disagreed with you stating that he never shows courage or drive in the attacking third. The stats are the stats but watching him play you can see how his infectious energy, which sadly cannot be quantified, is essential to our team.

 

[CowInAComa]

If Eriksen doesn't play then we miss him the most. Next is Lamela. We had such a sluggish start to the season and, had he been fit, he would not have allowed that to happen. Those 2 dictate the play. The third place goes to dele. He's the fairy dust in our team.
For the big games, that's my front 3.

I actually rate Lamela highly but we missed him for the best part of our best season in 50 years so not sure your opinion holds up too well.

 

[Sophos151]

Your numbers don’t correlate to the post below yours that lists the actual goals and assists, and where Lamela was significantly lower than the other two you listed and not higher as you suggest. That coupled with the fact that whilst Lamela was out injured Dele and Eriksen (and Son) significantly upped their goal/assist outputs in 2016/17 suggest to me that they are more effective in the last third than Lamela is.

Ah, I'm using Alli and Eriksen's stats from this season, but went back to 15/16 for Lamela, seeing as he hasn't played serious minutes since then. If we use Alli and Eriksen's 15/16 stats, Lamela basically matches Eriksen for goals and Alli for assists, while falling behind on assists and goals respectively.

Alli's total was 0.69, Eriksen's was 0.58, Lamela's was 0.53; so yeah, Lamela wasn't quite at their level that season. Although Lamela did score 6 goals in 8 games in Europe.

 

[kremlyn]

I actually rate Lamela highly but we missed him for the best part of our best season in 50 years so not sure your opinion holds up too well.

You misunderstand me. I said he wouldn't let our standards slip as they had done in the first part of this season. I also believe that however well we played, Lamela makes sure that everyone has given 100%; If we'd have had him during that great run, we'd probably have done even better.

He's not a lesser option, nor an alternate option. He's a catalyst. He makes us better. He starts.

 

[CowInAComa]

You misunderstand me. I said he wouldn't let our standards slip as they had done in the first part of this season. I also believe that however well we played, Lamela makes sure that everyone has given 100%; If we'd have had him during that great run, we'd probably have done even better.

He's not a lesser option, nor an alternate option. He's a catalyst. He makes us better. He starts.

Sonaldinho says hello.

 

[kremlyn]

Sonaldinho says hello.

Quite. Against Huddersfield and when on form Son is a great option.

When he's not on form Son can actively blunt attacks with rash and desperate shooting. Valuable asset. Not a catalyst.