Player watch: Christian Eriksen

[wiggo24]

There's a football statistics book I read a few months ago which essentially stated that corners should always be either short, or to the near post because the near post tends to be isolated and left to 1v1 aerial battles, rather than the clump of players directly in front of goal.

Wouldn't surprise me if our players are directed to aim corners for the near post, thereby increasingly the proportion not beating the first man, but also creating higher quality chances when it does.

Never really understood why people actually assume Eriksen can't take corners to the back post if he wanted to.

 

[Sandros Shiny Head]

There's a football statistics book I read a few months ago which essentially stated that corners should always be either short, or to the near post because the near post tends to be isolated and left to 1v1 aerial battles, rather than the clump of players directly in front of goal.

Wouldn't surprise me if our players are directed to aim corners for the near post, thereby increasingly the proportion not beating the first man, but also creating higher quality chances when it does.

Never really understood why people actually assume Eriksen can't take corners to the back post if he wanted to.

Because he cant. If he could hit a free kick above dick height I'd believe you but he just can't

 

[C0YS]

I think it's true to a point because Eriksen is a great facilitator. Like nobody else he keeps the ball running and keeps our possession. And he does hit critical passes at times,,, Conversely he is a very conservative player even when the game calls for taking more chances. He often passes side and back when a shift could change an angle and create from nothing. Circulating the ball and not making something happen more directly by his own creativity. It's not absolute he does at times create but he is more of a conservative player and that's not all bad

What I find strange is I have almost the exact opposite complaint about Eriksen, which is, for someone in his position he really isn't very good at keeping the ball.

So Eriksen makes 2 key passes a game, that puts him 5th in the league. Which is pretty good. He also got 12 assists, which I believe is third in the league. Not bad.

His passing is at 80%, this puts him behind B Silva, D Silva, De Bruyne, Mata, Willian, Lingard, Maddison, Pogba, H Costa and Shaquiri among others, who play in comparable positions. He is 108th in the league for accurate passing, only slightly ahead of Alli. All this really shows though is he probably makes a lot of risky passes.

However his other stats have problems. He makes marginally more unsuccessful touches than Dele, and is dispossessed slightly less. Eriksen gets deposed almost three times as often as the two Silva's in Man city, and loses the ball, more than Son does. Out of every player to have played at least one game in AM, Eriksen is the 28th best AM at making successful touches, and 26th at not being dispossessed. Not particularly great stats.

 

[Ronwol196061]

It's another reason why I think Eriksen isn't creative. A creative player will try different things till it works or have a vision about something else, Eriksen goes groundhog day with corners

 

[C0YS]

Because he cant. If he could hit a free kick above dick height I'd believe you but he just can't

Again, it's about what type of ball you want in the box. If you want it high, you normally sacrifice power, if you sacrifice power, it means attackers need to generate the pace themselves = worse quality chance. If you hit it lower and harder, it means if you get contact you've got a very good chance of scoring.

Eriksen could loop it to the back post, but its unlikely to create very good chances. And in part it is down to how he kicks the ball. If we want to loop it Trippier is much better at that kind of ball.

 

[C0YS]

It's another reason why I think Eriksen isn't creative. A creative player will try different things till it works or have a vision about something else, Eriksen goes groundhog day with corners

I can't find the breakdown of set piece goals, though I assume most of them come from indirect freekicks. But we are second in the league in goals from set plays, and I suspect that we score a great deal from corners. Almost every team complains about their corners, but generally most teams score only 3-10 of them in a season. Corners do not really lead to many goals outside international football.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

'Eriksen isn't creative' is perhaps the worst take I've seen on here.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

'Eriksen isn't creative' is perhaps the worst take I've seen on here.

It’s up there with “I did not inhale.”

 

[nedley]

Sheringham, Carrick and even Berbatov I all understood.

Not anymore. I'd be done with him if he went there.

 

[ajspurs]

I wouldn't take any link to United seriously at this stage to be honest. They're getting linked with 2/3 new players every day in the media.

 

[dagraham]

'Eriksen isn't creative' is perhaps the worst take I've seen on here.

If Eriksen isn’t creative then it doesn’t say a lot about the rest of the squad.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

If Eriksen isn’t creative then it doesn’t say a lot about the rest of the squad.

But they 'put their foot in' so it doesn't matter.

 

[TEESSIDE1]

If Eriksen isn’t creative then it doesn’t say a lot about the rest of the squad.

He’s very creative but there’s a major ‘BUT’, take away attacking full backs and 1 or 2 destroyers in central midfield and he suffers big time, as do Alli, Kane and Son.

 

[Goobers]

If there is a better number ten that we could get than Eriksen I would love to know how and who. If he stays I think we are much stronger and perhaps more importently more varied as an attacking force.

 

[dagraham]

On the subject of corners; over the years there has been a definitive trend of top set piece takers coming to Spurs and then getting steadily worse and worse at them as the seasons go by. Each time VDV, Sigurdson and Eriksen arrived , during their first season I thought “finally we have a top, consistent set piece taker” and then they all turned to shit in that regard.

I can only come to the conclusion that it’s not so much the players, but that we as a club don’t put much emphasis on them in training.

 

[dagraham]

He’s very creative but there’s a major ‘BUT’, take away attacking full backs and 1 or 2 destroyers in central midfield and he suffers big time, as do Alli, Kane and Son.

Yeah, but that’s just about having a balanced team.

 

[Johnny J]

On the subject of corners; over the years there has been a definitive trend of top set piece takers coming to Spurs and then getting steadily worse and worse at them as the seasons go by. Each time VDV, Sigurdson and Eriksen arrived , during their first season I thought “finally we have a top, consistent set piece taker” and then they all turned to shit in that regard.

I can only come to the conclusion that it’s not so much the players, but that we as a club don’t put much emphasis on them in training.

I get that scoring a free kick is hard, but I don't think sticking the ball into a dangerous area from a corner should be a little artoculsrly difficult task for a professional footballer.

 

[TEESSIDE1]

Yeah, but that’s just about having a balanced team.

I know and a couple of injuries last season completely knackered our balance. It must be addressed this summer.

 

[striebs]

He’s very creative but there’s a major ‘BUT’, take away attacking full backs and 1 or 2 destroyers in central midfield and he suffers big time, as do Alli, Kane and Son.

Come on everyone .

Christian Eriksen is the best player at the club by quite a bit .

We were so fortunate to land him when Modric left .

Dele is OK and more physical but he's not now and unlikely to ever be the sort of play maker Eriksen is .

Ericksen's departure was inevitable at some point in time but it's still a bit depressing

It's a short career and his departure probably has nothing to do with Tottenham's budget constraints stopping us reaching the very top level .

He wouldn't be the same player if we stopped him going so I for one will wish him well wherever he goes and look forward to watching him .

 

[dagraham]

I get that scoring a free kick is hard, but I don't think sticking the ball into a dangerous area from a corner should be a little artoculsrly difficult task for a professional footballer.

I totally agree, but as I said, all those players I mentioned were great at corners when they first came ( particularly VDV and Sig), but over time were just unable to do it consistently any more.

There are many mysteries about Spurs, and this is definitely one of them. It’s just weird.