Christian Eriksen

[danielneeds]

I think it's telling that the other two are defensive midfielders. Eriksen really doesn't need to cover that much ground as a number 10. He's meant to be our playmaker, not our Scott Parker. It's a waste for him to expend his energy and run around like a headless chicken in areas where we need him to get that ball moving and carve out chances with defence splitting passes.

Modric covered a lot of ground (as far as I can remember) but he played a deeper role than Eriksen, pulling the strings whilst the likes of Sandro and Parker mopped up. Eriksen hasn't got the fight that Modric has, but perhaps putting him a bit deeper might create a more productive player. Drop him into a midfield 3 where him and Bentaleb can keep that ball moving and make those late supporting runs, whilst a DM does the dirty work. Push those wide men (Chadli and Lamela) forward to support the striker and make those runs past Kane and into the box (think of Chadli's goal assisted by Dier in the Sotton game, and just about every goal Lamela scored at Roma came from that kind of play).

Not if your coach's game plan revolves around winning the ball high up the pitch and scoring with one or two pass counters. The problem has been that the pressing has completely collapsed since March, the likes of Eriksen and Kane look knackered now.

 

[Strikeb4ck]

I should specify I meant that Eriksen is no better than decent in the #10 role of Poch's formation (if you take away the free kicks). I think he would be much more consistent and even better if he played in a 3 man CM like at Ajax. Unfortunately, I don't think Poch will stray away from his 4231.

 

[Shea]

I should specify I meant that Eriksen is no better than decent in the #10 role of Poch's formation (if you take away the free kicks). I think he would be much more consistent and even better if he played in a 3 man CM like at Ajax. Unfortunately, I don't think Poch will stray away from his 4231.

I'm really not a fan of this 4231 formation

We're so over reliant on our full backs for width and whenever they provide it we lose all shape at the back as none of our CM's are really capable of covering effectively (they're over ran themselves in a 2 man midfield a lot of the time)

I'm sure it could work, with different components but with the players in our squad it's not getting the best out of them and in my eyes Poch should have been about to try different formations to try and get the best out of the squad

He could focus on returning to his beloved 4231 after the summer if he gets the players he feels he needs in to make it work

As of now it's been pretty crazy to stick with this formation and expect it to magically work with the players at our disposal

 

[dk-yid]

Goals yes assists No,
Creating goals Lamela by a mile.

Do your homework mate and read my post again ... you are making yourself look stupid.

 

[dk-yid]

There may be something in him but when he's off form, like he is now... persisting in playing him is to the detriment of the team.

Agree. But you can hardly fault Eriksen for picking himself.

 

[RickyVilla]

Inconsistency is his middle name. Let's hope he grows out of it. Still only a young un.

 

[jezz]

Do your homework mate and read my post again ... you are making yourself look stupid.

Right okay, have fun

 

[spursfan77]

Just saw this on twitter

@WindyCOYS: Writing an article & noticed that there are 76 players with more Premier League assists than Christian Eriksen this season. #THFC #Spurs

@WindyCOYS: That includes James Tomkins FFS. James Tomkins has more Premier League assists than Christian Eriksen this season. #THFC #Spurs

 

[npearl4spurs]

http://thetottenhamway.com/article/...cret-weapon-adds-a-new-dimension-to-tottenham

Good article.

 

[RickyVilla]

He was average tonight for Danmark. He will be inconsistent for the rest of his career in my opinion. Crying shame as he has the skills.

 

[CJMurray]

He was average tonight for Danmark. He will be inconsistent for the rest of his career in my opinion. Crying shame as he has the skills.

Ye, will never be a top player. Hasn't got the the mentality for it and his exceptional free kicks mask the fact that he doesn't do anywhere near enough in games and open play.

 

[beats1]

Ye, will never be a top player. Hasn't got the the mentality for it and his exceptional free kicks mask the fact that he doesn't do anywhere near enough in games and open play.

I just don't think he is in the right system for him to progress, he looked better at ajax imo

 

[Borks]

Ye, will never be a top player. Hasn't got the the mentality for it and his exceptional free kicks mask the fact that he doesn't do anywhere near enough in games and open play.

You're not allowed to talk about the golden boy like that.

 

[JerryGarcia]

I really hope Eriksen shuts up his doubters this season, he's been one of my favourite Spurs players since he signed for us and is still only 23. He can and will improve his consistency, we need to get him signed up to a long term deal.

 

[CJMurray]

I just don't think he is in the right system for him to progress, he looked better at ajax imo

Maybe not. I dunno where he fits in really. He's not doing enough to justify being the #10. He's at his most productive drifting in off the left where he can find space but I don't think that's what's best for the team long term.

I see a lot of people saying on here that Eriksen should be played as the 'advanced midfielder in a 4-3-3' as if that's so much different from what he is now. Footballs more fluid than that. It's not rigid and it's not really about formations. Putting Eriksen maybe 5 yards deeper is not going to suddenly change his game.

 

[tooey]

It makes me laugh how people are completely sure that Eriksen at 23 "will never be a top player" and talk about inconsistency, yet Ryan Mason at 24 "shows promise". It's so ridiculous.

 

[CJMurray]

It makes me laugh how people are completely sure that Eriksen at 23 "will never be a top player" and talk about inconsistency, yet Ryan Mason at 24 "shows promise". It's so ridiculous.

Eriksen's been playing CL and International football for 5 years now. Mason's had one season of top flight football and is still relatively new to playing in deep midfield. He may be older but he's nowhere near as experienced and has a lot more scope to improve IMO. Don't think anyone expects him to be a top player either, whereas a lot of people consider Eriksen to be/will be.

 

[tooey]

Eriksen's been playing CL and International football for 5 years now. Mason's had one season of top flight football and is still relatively new to playing in deep midfield. He may be older but he's nowhere near as experienced and has a lot more scope to improve IMO. Don't think anyone expects him to be a top player either, whereas a lot of people consider Eriksen to be/will be.

Why?

 

[CJMurray]

Why?

As I said, he's still relatively new to his position and has only had one season of top flight football. His career's has taken a completely different trajectory from Eriksens, whose been playing CL and International football since he was 18. Mason's been injured for large periods and had a loan spell in France where he didn't play for a year.

He may be 24 but in football terms he's more like 22. I said it through the tail end of last season and over the summer (when loads of people were saying that he's not good enough to start for us) that he'll really kick on this season. He was clearly worn out at the end of last year as Poch didn't rotate enough and he'd never played that much football in one season before.

 

[tooey]

As I said, he's still relatively new to his position and has only had one season of top flight football. His career's has taken a completely different trajectory from Eriksens, whose been playing CL and International football since he was 18. Mason's been injured for large periods and had a loan spell in France where he didn't play for a year.

He may be 24 but in football terms he's more like 22. I said it through the tail end of last season and over the summer (when loads of people were saying that he's not good enough to start for us) that he'll really kick on this season. He was clearly worn out at the end of last year as Poch didn't rotate enough and he'd never played that much football in one season before.

Fair enough, I don't think that really directly answers why he has more scope to improve though. I'd suggest that the only reason he has more scope to improve is because he's the vastly inferior player, different, but inferior none the less. I don't think Mason is good enough, he wouldn't be good enough for any other team challenging in the top 6 but given our options in CM he has to be good enough. Bentaleb made a horrendous start to the season and Dembele isn't fancied (rightly so) in the middle two. He's still behind Alli and Dier though. Back to Eriksen, he's 23, he plays every game he's fit for, so why doesn't the same "he's worn out" argument apply to Eriksen?