Christian Eriksen

[Spurger King]

I agree with what @C0YS is saying here.

Whilst Christian is good, I think he still lacks some key attributes from his game in order to really round him off as one of the 'top' attacking midfielders.

I think the goals that Christian has scored have been quite narrow in terms of variance. We've seen James Rodriguez score some pretty impressive goals, those which can come from nowhere and end up in the top corner, plus some pretty inventive play. Currently, Christian seems to either score goals from direct free kicks, or swept shots from the edge of the box that end up relatively low in the corners. I haven't yet seen him develop the strengths that the likes of Lampard or Robben score and/or create.

I'm struggling to explain in words what I mean, but he's done really well and is still at an early age in his development.

Eriksen is not currently a world class player, but his free-kicks are certainly world class. He's also a very good finisher and has an excellent footballing brain. On the other hand his overall game is quite inconsistent, and he has a tendency to disappear from games. He'll improve with age and I'm sure he'll become an outstanding player (he's already very, very good), but he does have limitations.

James is just on another level in terms of the variety, effectiveness, and consistency of his game.

 

[225]

Eriksen is not currently a world class player, but his free-kicks are certainly world class. He's also a very good finisher and has an excellent footballing brain. On the other hand his overall game is quite inconsistent, and he has a tendency to disappear from games. He'll improve with age and I'm sure he'll become an outstanding player (he's already very, very good), but he does have limitations.

James is just on another level in terms of the variety, effectiveness, and consistency of his game.

I think at the moment he's not got enough 'versions' of his game, so he can be neutralised quite quickly in a game aside from the free kicks.

I don't think a midfielder is ever complete until you can see him regularly give a MOTM performance without scoring a goal.

 

[ilikeost]

So far Eriksen hasn't been the player I thought he would be for us. I thought he would come in and be an assist machine and the man who would be the orchestrator of our attacks. I'm not complaining since he has scored some really important goals for us this season, but I really do hope he improves when it comes to assists and chance creation.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Eriksen is not currently a world class player, but his free-kicks are certainly world class. He's also a very good finisher and has an excellent footballing brain. On the other hand his overall game is quite inconsistent, and he has a tendency to disappear from games. He'll improve with age and I'm sure he'll become an outstanding player (he's already very, very good), but he does have limitations.

James is just on another level in terms of the variety, effectiveness, and consistency of his game.

To be fair to him, he's disappeared less this season and lately hasn't disappeared at all, but what has is his creativity in the final third IMO. I have been very impressed with his work rate and team play in the last couple of months, it's been very consistent, but I am a bit disappointed with his passing in key creative moments in general. His execution of incisive passes has actually been poor at times, for a player with his ability and brain.

His overall contribution is very good and very important but would love him to chip in with a few more quality passes in the final third.

 

[Spurger King]

To be fair to him, he's disappeared less this season and lately hasn't disappeared at all, but what has is his creativity in the final third IMO. I have been very impressed with his work rate and team play in the last couple of months, it's been very consistent, but I am a bit disappointed with his passing in key creative moments in general. His execution of incisive passes has actually been poor at times, for a player with his ability and brain.

His overall contribution is very good and very important but would love him to chip in with a few more quality passes in the final third.

Yep he's certainly been one of our most impressive players this season, and does seem to have a bit more energy about him. He's just not a player I'd describe as a constant threat. Probably doesn't help switching his position in the attacking three. At the moment he reminds me of a more effective Kranjcar.

 

[eddiev14]

Take him out of our team, we look scarily devoid of creativity.

He's our best outfield player.

 

[CJMurray]

Take him out of our team, we look scarily devoid of creativity.

He's our best outfield player.

Definitely Kane for me.

Eriksen needs to dominate and influence matches more. His end product in terms of goals is top class but he's still not influential enough in games, especially when he plays through the middle. Until he starts dominating matches I don't see him as a top tier player.

 

[Lufti]

Definitely Kane for me.

Eriksen needs to dominate and influence matches more. His end product in terms of goals is top class but he's still not influential enough in games, especially when he plays through the middle. Until he starts dominating matches I don't see him as a top tier player.

I think when you look at him in real life it's clear he's head and shoulders above everyone else, in terms of pure ability that is. His touch is never off and he just oozes class

 

[CJMurray]

I think when you look at him in real life it's clear he's head and shoulders above everyone else, in terms of pure ability that is. His touch is never off and he just oozes class

Yeah, technically he's top class, I just want him to take control of games more. It's the same issue he's had since his Ajax days as I remember reading a lot of reports saying that he goes missing too much.

I'm not particularly worried about losing him anytime soon as I think until he completes his game I can't see a Barca/Madrid being interested.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Definitely Kane for me.

Eriksen needs to dominate and influence matches more. His end product in terms of goals is top class but he's still not influential enough in games, especially when he plays through the middle. Until he starts dominating matches I don't see him as a top tier player.

Kane's not better than Eriksen. Both fantastic players, but Eriksen has more potential IMO. Thankfully, we don't have to choose between the two

 

[Ionman34]

He's still only 21 isn't he? If memory serves me correctly, Lampard was still finding his feet at that age.

It just shows how much quality Eriksen has that such high expectations are put on his shoulders at such a young age. He will certainly get better, his desire to improve is evident in his workrate.

 

[Shadydan]

I agree with what @C0YS is saying here.

Whilst Christian is good, I think he still lacks some key attributes from his game in order to really round him off as one of the 'top' attacking midfielders.

I think the goals that Christian has scored have been quite narrow in terms of variance. We've seen James Rodriguez score some pretty impressive goals, those which can come from nowhere and end up in the top corner, plus some pretty inventive play. Currently, Christian seems to either score goals from direct free kicks, or swept shots from the edge of the box that end up relatively low in the corners. I haven't yet seen him develop the strengths that the likes of Lampard or Robben score and/or create.

I'm struggling to explain in words what I mean, but he's done really well and is still at an early age in his development.

I don't have a problem with people saying that Rodriguez is better than Eriksen, it's that fact that people think that he's not or nowhere near on Rodriguez's level especially when Eriksen is having his best season and is so far proving to be one of the best players in the league this season.

It's very hard to make a direct comparison between the two because they play for two completely different teams and they both have different roles on the pitch but if you want to compare them ability wise @COYS then I would say that Eriksen has better vision, has better technique, better passer and seamingly now he's improved the defensive side of his game, as a defender I'd trust him more than Rodriguez although I would agree on the things you listed.

You're splitting hairs overall really.

The problem with your post is that you've gone too far the other way, agreed that Eriksen does get a little too over hyped by some fans but that's always going to happen.

I personally wouldn't call James Rodriguez World Class, certainly not on the level of the likes of David Silva for example.

 

[Partizan]

To be fair to him, he's disappeared less this season and lately hasn't disappeared at all, but what has is his creativity in the final third IMO. I have been very impressed with his work rate and team play in the last couple of months, it's been very consistent, but I am a bit disappointed with his passing in key creative moments in general. His execution of incisive passes has actually been poor at times, for a player with his ability and brain.

His overall contribution is very good and very important but would love him to chip in with a few more quality passes in the final third.

Statistically speaking (according to Squawka anyways) he is second in the league in terms of "key passes", tied with Downing and behind Hazard. However, in the top 10 everyone else has 5 or more assists, he only has 1.

http://www.squawka.com/football-pla.../2015#season#1#all-matches#keypass#desc#total

 

[THFCSPURS19]

He's still only 21 isn't he? If memory serves me correctly, Lampard was still finding his feet at that age.

It just shows how much quality Eriksen has that such high expectations are put on his shoulders at such a young age. He will certainly get better, his desire to improve is evident in his workrate.

He just turned 23.

Statistically speaking (according to Squawka anyways) he is second in the league in terms of "key passes", tied with Downing and behind Hazard. However, in the top 10 everyone else has 5 or more assists, he only has 1.

http://www.squawka.com/football-pla.../2015#season#1#all-matches#keypass#desc#total

So this suggests Eriksen's doing a lot, but it's the other players not finishing the chances.

 

[F_AN2CE]

I think the team has become more direct this season, and as a consequence CE has become "less important" for the final assist. This season he seems more to be the 3rd, 4th or even 5th last foot on the ball. At times he seems to get a little frustrated, as he does make a lot of intelligent runs, where he could be last or second last on the ball, but the team doesn't seem to see him (Kanes 1st shot vs Liverpool, Lamela in general etc). I dont blame anyone, I think its part of the transition the team is going through, and CE is just a couple of years ahead of the rest mentally, vision wise and to some extend technically. Once Lamela learns not to copy his runs, but pass to him and run for goal while yelling "make magic ball", things will be just fine

 

[dagraham]

Agree that Eriksen goes missing from games which currently prevents him from being as good as a Hazard or Silva, but he's a cut above anyone else in our team. Like Modric, you know that whenever he receives the ball in tight areas 99times out of 100 it's going to be retained and unlike Dembele for example, it's going to be retained with a purpose.

He would also have far more assists if a) we had a different type of striker than Kane, b) he played in a less of a floating role and c) we had players who attacked the ball at free kicks.

 

[yido_number1]

I think the team has become more direct this season, and as a consequence CE has become "less important" for the final assist. This season he seems more to be the 3rd, 4th or even 5th last foot on the ball. At times he seems to get a little frustrated, as he does make a lot of intelligent runs, where he could be last or second last on the ball, but the team doesn't seem to see him (Kanes 1st shot vs Liverpool, Lamela in general etc). I dont blame anyone, I think its part of the transition the team is going through, and CE is just a couple of years ahead of the rest mentally, vision wise and to some extend technically. Once Lamela learns not to copy his runs, but pass to him and run for goal while yelling "make magic ball", things will be just fine

The one two with Lamela for Kane's goal shows the future for us. Top player and one that will keep on improving, hopefully with us. If he didn't have such a goal threat in and around the opponents box I could easily see him dropping back deeper to get more involved from the CM positions. Poch has improved his fitness and work rate and I should imagine his tackling stats are really impressive this season compared to last.

 

[eddiev14]

Definitely Kane for me.

Eriksen needs to dominate and influence matches more. His end product in terms of goals is top class but he's still not influential enough in games, especially when he plays through the middle. Until he starts dominating matches I don't see him as a top tier player.

I think Eriksen gets a hard time in this regard because he does a lot more than he's given credit for (by some).

I've seen this sort of comment before on a few occasions and I think some people are expecting him to become a player he simply isn't ever going to become - all action, box to box, loads of running around etc. It's probably the same reason Liverpool fans think Coutinho is better than Eriksen (Coutinho looks busier but in reality contributes far less than CE).

Eriksen is more subtle and elegant than that type of player but, make no mistake, he is already very influential.

If you don't notice this influence during the games, then just look at how our team shape and creativity suffers when he's not playing.

Also, 60 chances created this season in the EPL, only 5 behind the most creative player in the division - Cesc Fabregas (who is in his prime and nearly 28 years old)

He's also scored 9 Premier League goals in 25 appearances, many of them crucial late goals to secure us three points or (more recently) a cup win.

For what it's worth, I think he can (and will) improve but - having just turned 23 on Saturday - I'd say he is pretty darned influential for his age and to suggest otherwise is harsh.

 

[rio bryan]

Perhaps it's time for Eriksen to be starting along side of Wanyama or Dier, has much more of an influence in that position and is also a bit more solid defensively than he use to be !

 

[tiger666]

*Quickly searches old bumped thread for embarrassing old comments I made*