Player watch: Christian Eriksen

[mpickard2087]

I actually thought dele and eriksen could play in a 3 but I’m not so sure now. I think it’s why we’ve been giving up so many chances and it restricts their attacking intent to much.

I'd personally never play Alli in any central midfield position at this stage of his career... However it might be possible (if both were working far more diligently than they have so far this season without the ball) in a 4-1-4-1 like Man City do - that has better pitch coverage and reduces the area needed for individuals to close down.

This shape, absolutely no chance of pressing, and so defending, well. Without the ball it basically becomes a 5-3-2, the wingbacks sinking into the backline, and just huge spaces wider out for the opposition to keep switching play. It's piss easy to bypass the two strikers (even though you cant fault Moura's workrate/pressing this season, Kane's though has been declining for 18 months at least not and is currently disgraceful) and then the three midfielders have massive gaps to cover and constantly having to chase the opposition. Your Dier/Dembele/Wanyama/Sissoko's are going to struggle doing that (as we have seen), let alone someone like Eriksen.

Here's a video as a good example of that concept, Cruyff explaining that point with his teams and about how much space you're asked to defend. About 2.30 on the vid (3 mins for the main part):

 

[SdB]

Not interested in Kane playing forward passes from CM/AM personally. What I want him to do is hold the ball up occupy and pull CB's around in turn making space for others, and primarily get on the end of stuff.

I'm not blaming Moura, and there is no question he has been our best player so far over the four games we have played. The problem is while he looks good the likes of Dele and Eriksen look like fish out of water playing deeper to accommodate two up front. There is little point getting 15 goals out of Moura if it restricts Dele and Eriksen to 5-6 each. On top of that if we stick to this 2 up top nonsense where does Son fit in?

If Dele and CE look poor having to play deep I hate to imagine Son doing the same.

Imo we have 4 quality AM's in CE, Dele, Son, and Moura and in order to get at least 3 of them on the pitch you can't play 2 up front. it has to be either 3 in behind Kane or 4-3-3 with at least two of the 3 CM's being more defensively minded.

I don't think we disagree too much.
The Kane you want to see is the Kane we all want but for whatever reason it just isn't there at the moment, for us at thend of last season, for England in the summer and so far this season. He looks slow, clumsy and appears to have lost his strength.

One of the most vibrant and fluid attacking displays I can remember last year was away at Chelsea when Kane was on the bench/injured and Son, Lamela and Eriksen and Deli linked up brilliantly.

I want pace up front, a Hazard type of player and Moura is the closest we have so has to play for me.
All of the attacking players can be accommodated if we end the 3 cb's. If we must play 3 cb's the Danish coward would get the chop.

4-2-1-2-1

Kane
Deli/Lamela/Son
Moura

Eriksen

Winks
Wanyama/Dier

Davies
Verts
Sanchez/TA
Tripper

 

[Johnny J]

Not interested in Kane playing forward passes from CM/AM personally. What I want him to do is hold the ball up occupy and pull CB's around in turn making space for others, and primarily get on the end of stuff.

I'm not blaming Moura, and there is no question he has been our best player so far over the four games we have played. The problem is while he looks good the likes of Dele and Eriksen look like fish out of water playing deeper to accommodate two up front. There is little point getting 15 goals out of Moura if it restricts Dele and Eriksen to 5-6 each. On top of that if we stick to this 2 up top nonsense where does Son fit in?

If Dele and CE look poor having to play deep I hate to imagine Son doing the same.

Imo we have 4 quality AM's in CE, Dele, Son, and Moura and in order to get at least 3 of them on the pitch you can't play 2 up front. it has to be either 3 in behind Kane or 4-3-3 with at least two of the 3 CM's being more defensively minded.

Agreed. We are blessed with great AMs. What we aren't blessed with is the same depth in CM. Pushing our AMs back is simply not working.

I will add that 5 at the back does not suit us without flying wing backs. We just end up with 5 defenders.

 

[Johnny J]

I don't think we disagree too much.
The Kane you want to see is the Kane we all want but for whatever reason it just isn't there at the moment, for us at thend of last season, for England in the summer and so far this season. He looks slow, clumsy and appears to have lost his strength.

One of the most vibrant and fluid attacking displays I can remember last year was away at Chelsea when Kane was on the bench/injured and Son, Lamela and Eriksen and Deli linked up brilliantly.

I want pace up front, a Hazard type of player and Moura is the closest we have so has to play for me.
All of the attacking players can be accommodated if we end the 3 cb's. If we must play 3 cb's the Danish coward would get the chop.

4-2-1-2-1

Kane
Deli/Lamela/Son
Moura

Eriksen

Winks
Wanyama/Dier

Davies
Verts
Sanchez/TA
Tripper

Kane is absolutely knackered. I don't understand why some people don't think he needs a rest. He blatantly does. But watch us flog him to death again.

 

[gavspur]

CE has been poor in all the games. It’s not just his position he’s playing in, the basics to his game are currently awol. His passing and delivery has been truly woeful, particularly for a player of his undoubted quality at these specific skills. He also seems to not be putting in the effort required. He’s really frustrated me so far, and I bet he won’t sleep well knowing that!

Dele, on the other hand, is trying a lot harder, too hard even.. He’s getting a lot of the ball in good spaces, but as everyone has seen, he’s taking too many touches and taking too long to make his decision. Therefore he’s getting tackled almost every time.

For the Watford game, I think Poch got the midfield wrong. Doucoure (sp?) and Capoue were always going to trouble and hassle Dembele, he needed another strong guy next to him. Dier should have started, and he’s been far from amazing. We should have stuck to the same team as the Utd match, showing the players some loyalty after an incredible win. Now, the confidence will be dented. And we have to start again against a rampant Liverpool. Bad decision from Poch, especially as it’s now an International break.

 

[@Bobby__Lucky]

Not interested in Kane playing forward passes from CM/AM personally. What I want him to do is hold the ball up occupy and pull CB's around in turn making space for others, and primarily get on the end of stuff.

I'm not blaming Moura, and there is no question he has been our best player so far over the four games we have played. The problem is while he looks good the likes of Dele and Eriksen look like fish out of water playing deeper to accommodate two up front. There is little point getting 15 goals out of Moura if it restricts Dele and Eriksen to 5-6 each. On top of that if we stick to this 2 up top nonsense where does Son fit in?

If Dele and CE look poor having to play deep I hate to imagine Son doing the same.

Imo we have 4 quality AM's in CE, Dele, Son, and Moura and in order to get at least 3 of them on the pitch you can't play 2 up front. it has to be either 3 in behind Kane or 4-3-3 with at least two of the 3 CM's being more defensively minded.

Kane dropping deep is really frustrating. I know as a youngster he mainly played #10 and had a spell in midfield on loan at Millwall, however its almost serendipitous that he succeeded at #9 and I really think he just needs to work on his movement and bullying defenders up top.

Aside I think 433 is the way forward for us. Its versatile enough to switch 'in play' but by its nature it keeps the up top players up top pressing and can negate the opposition full backs which these days often win games.

 

[dtxspurs]

I wan't to see him get a true run of games as a pure #10. Wingers on either side of him and him sitting right behind Kane.

 

[SdB]

Kane is absolutely knackered. I don't understand why some people don't think he needs a rest. He blatantly does. But watch us flog him to death again.

Don't buy that Kane is 'knackered'
He has been poor outfield since returning from injury - did he not have a long break then?

If he needs a break give him one and go for the Chelsea away line up last season when all those are back and fit.

 

[Johnny J]

Don't buy that Kane is 'knackered'
He has been poor outfield since returning from injury - did he not have a long break then?

If he needs a break give him one and go for the Chelsea away line up last season when all those are back and fit.

He's either knackered, not fully recovered from the ankle injury, or both. I can't see any other way of explaining his performances. His all round game has been awful.

 

[Spurs 1961]

Nice to see Eriksen will get a rest because of the dispute with Denmark, Now if only England & Belgium players could do the same our players would get some time off

 

[dtxspurs]

He's either knackered, not fully recovered from the ankle injury, or both. I can't see any other way of explaining his performances. His all round game has been awful.

I wasn't able to watch the Watford game but I don't think awful is an adequate description at all. I thought he looked great against Fulham and put in a solid effort against ManU that goal was pretty damn good, hold up play was excellent on the third goal as well.

I think Kane is suffering from his own success here with fans. Even if he puts in a 7/10 performance fans will kill him as it isn't his 9.9/10 we all know he is capable of for a sustained period of time.

 

[gibbospurs]

Eriksen starts off slow every season if I remember correctly. Pretty sure he was pants at the beginning of the last 2 seasons.

 

[Spurslove]

He's been a little off colour these past few games, and I wonder if his current dispute with the Danish FA is having an effect on him. They tell us footballers are only human and if your own national FA prevents you from representing your country because of some sort of pay dispute, isn't that likely to have a terrible effect on your game with your club? What do we think?

.

 

[dtxspurs]

He's been a little off colour these past few games, and I wonder if his current dispute with the Danish FA is having an effect on him. They tell us footballers are only human and if your own national FA prevents you from representing your country because of some sort of pay dispute, isn't that likely to have a terrible effect on your game with your club? What do we think?

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Page 2 buddy.

 

[THX2208]

I think that Christian Eriksen is one of the best creative players we have ever had. His vision and creativity are phenomenal and its only a matter of time before he starts to hit the high marks again. He's just too good of a player not to. I think there is a lot going on in his life outside football. I seen him drive out of Wembley long after the Fulham game had ended and just in front of him was Dele Alli, who stopped for me, signed my Match Programme and even asked if I enjoyed the game. Christian Eriksen was the complete antithesis. He looked bloody pissed off for want of a better term. When I approached his car, he told me to get lost, gestured with his hand to get away from his car, rolled up his window and drove away directly behind Dele. Now I didn't take it personally as my brother is a Chef, working in a high end Hotel and when he meet Christian he had no problem getting an autograph for me and my brother said was very polite, softly spoken gentleman. I think it's only a matter of time with Christian. He'll be back to his best in no time ?

 

[Spurslove]

I think that Christian Eriksen is one of the best creative players we have ever had. His vision and creativity are phenomenal and its only a matter of time before he starts to hit the high marks again. He's just too good of a player not to. I think there is a lot going on in his life outside football. I seen him drive out of Wembley long after the Fulham game had ended and just in front of him was Dele Alli, who stopped for me, signed my Match Programme and even asked if I enjoyed the game. Christian Eriksen was the complete antithesis. He looked bloody pissed off for want of a better term. When I approached his car, he told me to get lost, gestured with his hand to get away from his car, rolled up his window and drove away directly behind Dele. Now I didn't take it personally as my brother is a Chef, working in a high end Hotel and when he meet Christian he had no problem getting an autograph for me and my brother said was very polite, softly spoken gentleman. I think it's only a matter of time with Christian. He'll be back to his best in no time ?

Many thanks for that. Yes, I'm sure he'll be back to his best in good time but nonetheless it's a bit worrying that things away from the pitch might have gotten the better of him. Still, you know what they say about form and class. Let's just hope he can resolve his problems for Denmark's next match against Wales (this weekend)?

.

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

Nice goal from Christian against Wales just now.

Some nice touches and clever passes too. Maybe starting to find his form a bit?

 

[ziggy]

Nice goal from Christian against Wales just now.

Some nice touches and clever passes too. Maybe starting to find his form a bit?

Yes very nice goal

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

Yes very nice goal

And another.

(Albeit a penalty!)

 

[SugarRay]

Just what he needed