Player Watch: Erik Lamela

[Bobbins]

For sure. Great things about Lamela are his incredible workrate and strong mentality. Wouldn't surprise me to see him put a MOTM performance this Thursday and pretty much erase his performance against Fulham.

Wishful thinking - for some this performance has already been mentally squirreled away for the archives, ready to be brought out with a flourish any time Erik either starts playing well ("He was shit against Fulham so he's inconsistent") or if he has another bad game ("He's been terrible all season - remember his performance against Fulham?").

Social media is utterly lousy tonight with total bullshit from "fans" posting stuff like "Hopefully now people will see the real truth that Lamela is shit".

If Erik puts together a run of games and his form picks up - you know, like it has every single time he's ever had a run of games for us - the dickheads will all go quiet for a while until he either gets injured again or has a single poor performance. Then all the good stuff will be wiped clean and this game will come out with the rest of the **** Catalogue.

 

[allatsea]

Worked hard today but it didn’t seem to work for him today. Maybe today we saw why he hasn’t been closer to starting games

Showed today why it is much better to play Sissoko.

 

[iddebu52]

Needs to build his self belief again after his latest injury. He'll come good again.

 

[swarvsta]

Some absolutely clueless posts on here. This is a guy who was told he would likely never play football again due to his hip issues.

He has shown amazing drive and determination to even get back playing to anywhere near this level.

He shows so much passion for the club, I can’t understand how our ‘fans’ can be so quick to want to get rid of him.

He didn’t play well yesterday, but he has had some excellent moments this year.

 

[morris25]

Just awful again. Yes he tackles and runs round but seems to be too clever for his own good. And my god he is slow

 

[thebenjamin]

Just awful again. Yes he tackles and runs round but seems to be too clever for his own good. And my god he is slow

It's very odd. Excellent start to the season, but he's been monumentally shit since he came back from his last absence. Perhaps the injuries have caught up with him, but just when we needed him to step up in the absence of all our forwards, he's produced his very worst.

 

[St José Dominguez]

I quite like him but can’t lie I’m disappointed in his performances. His role in squad is really vital, I know we’ve got too many injuries but surely the next in line needs to show enough quality to affect games for us to help us get through injury issues. If he’s not then you have to wonder what his purpose in the squad is, whether we need more players or not we also need him to be an option.

It’s all great playing well when we’ve got Kane, Dele and Eriksen with him, those moments don’t matter a great deal as any half decent player could look good playing alongside world class players.

 

[SugarRay]

I love his attitude.

I’d like to think we could upgrade on him though. He wouldn’t get near the starting XI for our supposed rivals.

The way I sum him up is, I just never really expect him to deliver unfortunately. It’s a shame because there’s something there. It’s been just something there for donkeys though.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

He's had many Injury issues that have obviously disrupted his season. He has the quality, we have all sean it. he is one of the main reasons we had such a good start to the season. He just needs time to get back into form and match sharpness. To be fair, with no one makeing runs ahead of him into the box it kind makes life harder. People are so quick to hate on him, I just don't get it. He has been invaluable to us this season, I think he deserves a few games to figure his shit out.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

I love his attitude.

I’d like to think we could upgrade on him though. He wouldn’t get near the starting XI for our supposed rivals.

The way I sum him up is, I just never really expect him to deliver unfortunately. It’s a shame because there’s something there. It’s been just something there for donkeys though.

To be honest I feel the same way about Moura.

 

[Johnny J]

To be honest I feel the same way about Moura.

At least Lamela has an excuse with his terrible injuries. Moura had a fantastic game at United and has faded very badly. We really needed him to contribute more.

 

[SugarRay]

To be honest I feel the same way about Moura.

Same here unfortunately. I don’t particularly rate either.

 

[stevenurse]

He's a kind of cult hero and is the epitome of a 50/50 player. He'll have a run of 3 or 4 games where he scores goals and creates. Then months of nothing but snidey fouls, elbows and running around aimlessly.

 

[Kingellesar]

Love him as a player and I feel he gives it his all he just isn’t good enough to start.

I think if he gets a run under his belt he can be better but I think going forward he is a good substitute for us who can come on and offer energy and a threat when teams are coming at us late on in games.

Unfortunately now is a time where you would hope he could step up but I just don’t see it. Big few weeks ahead so we will need him to if we are going to be fighting on 3 fronts still when Son/Alli/Kane return.

 

[St José Dominguez]

He's had many Injury issues that have obviously disrupted his season. He has the quality, we have all sean it. he is one of the main reasons we had such a good start to the season. He just needs time to get back into form and match sharpness. To be fair, with no one makeing runs ahead of him into the box it kind makes life harder. People are so quick to hate on him, I just don't get it. He has been invaluable to us this season, I think he deserves a few games to figure his shit out.

I keep seeing that but he only started 5 league games before the Fulham game, personally I thought his better moments in early season were off the bench.
I like him but can see why he frustrates, he’s frustrating me a bit now because we really need him to step up. He’s got plenty of opportunities coming up over next month or so, in the CL especially. These are games where your next in line have to affect games otherwise you have to consider if your next in line needs upgrading.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Same here unfortunately. I don’t particularly rate either.

Yeah, I'm trying not to judge too much because obviously he is just back from injury and it's his first full season. But I'm really not sure what he brings to the team. I think he probably just needs to be played RW for a while and not give him some SS role that requires to much for him. I think Poch has made things a little too complicated for him.

As for Lamela, I really do rate him, but I think injuries have fucked his career. The beginning of the season he was a beast. I just hope he can regain that form over then next few weeks.

 

[gibbospurs]

He’s not built for games on the break, he’s so slow. If a team is parking the bus then he’s useful. He’s also not confident in front of goal, definitely upgrade him if he was a starter, but I guess he’s a great bench player. 100% all the time tho, can’t knock him for that part of his game, but for an example tonight his arms are flying all over the place deep in their half. Free kick. Too many sloppy free kicks.

 

[Mr Pink]

I thought he was fantastic at the start of the season, was really influential.

But just when we've really needed him to step up it hasn't happened at all for him.

Always love his effort but we need more of what we saw at the start of the season if we're to get through this really rough period.

 

[spursrayray]

It's a weird one...we brought him from Roma thinking he was a rapid skillful winger who will take people on. I just don't really know what he brings to our team apart from passion/pressure/aggression. Injuries have clearly affected his loss his pace, he just always seems to overdo things and slow down our play.

 

[punkisback]

I think there's more to come once he gets a run and we have some movement in the team.