Player Watch: Erik Lamela

[Flashspur]

Now my little mate @thinktank woild be miffed to read that. He gives his all.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

And if I could be trained to be an astronaut I could go to the moon.

Lamela as a natural successor to Dembele is pretty out there. Like think tank out there.

If you think it’s beyond the realms of possibility that a technically excellent attacking midfielder with great awareness, passing ability and drive, who also happens to be extremely tenacious, embraces the physical side of the game and physically impressive, could be trained into a good central midfielder, then that’s your prerogative. I think all the ingredients are there personally.

At 25 we signed Dembele, who had played two years in attacking midfield for Fulham, having signed for them at 23 at a centre forward in the Dutch league.

 

[E17yid]

If you think it’s beyond the realms of possibility that a technically excellent attacking midfielder with great awareness, passing ability and drive, who also happens to be extremely tenacious, embraces the physical side of the game and physically impressive, could be trained into a good central midfielder, then that’s your prerogative. I think all the ingredients are there personally.

At 25 we signed Dembele, who had played two years in attacking midfield for Fulham, having signed for them at 23 at a centre forward in the Dutch league.

I don’t think it’s beyond the realms of possibility. You could play Danny Rose as a number 10, he is a professional footballer, but that doesn’t mean I think he’d be as good as Alli or Eriksen

I love Lamela but he is nowhere near the physical specimen that Dembele is which is partly why I find the thought of him being his natural successor laughable, frankly.

Dembele is on another planet with ball retention in tight spots (even with 3 guys around him) partly due to the fact he’s such a unit but also the way he drops his shoulder and can shift his balance, there’s literally not many people in world football that can do that as well as him.

Also, and most importantly, we wouldn’t see the best out of Lamela moving him back there as he is best utilised in the final third to pick locks, assist, score every now and then.

 

[Hakkz]

Never go full Thinktank.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Difference is, I’m not saying unequivocally that I think Lamela can play central midfield, only that there’s a skill set there which could be moulded to the position. I’m not even saying it would work, just that if it did, it’d be good. FWIW I feel the same way, moreso in fact, about Dele.

 

[Shadydan]

I don’t think it’s beyond the realms of possibility. You could play Danny Rose as a number 10, he is a professional footballer, but that doesn’t mean I think he’d be as good as Alli or Eriksen

I love Lamela but he is nowhere near the physical specimen that Dembele is which is partly why I find the thought of him being his natural successor laughable, frankly.

Dembele is on another planet with ball retention in tight spots (even with 3 guys around him) partly due to the fact he’s such a unit but also the way he drops his shoulder and can shift his balance, there’s literally not many people in world football that can do that as well as him.

Also, and most importantly, we wouldn’t see the best out of Lamela moving him back there as he is best utilised in the final third to pick locks, assist, score every now and then.

Who says you have to be pyhiscal to play as a DMF?

Not that I think Lamela would be a great mid anyway, he's more likely to hunt the ball down and leave acres of gaps behind him, it's not his natural game to sit and try to cut angles of passes.

 

[WiganSpur]

It'll be very difficult to buy anyone that replicates Dembele's best qualities so we should just sign someone that is a vast improvement on what he's not as good at instead, someone who can release the ball quickly, can dictate the tempo of the game and find the occasional killer ball.

 

[E17yid]

Who says you have to be pyhiscal to play as a DMF?

Not that I think Lamela would be a great mid anyway, he's more likely to hunt the ball down and leave acres of gaps behind him, it's not his natural game to sit and try to cut angles of passes.

Dembele is a DMF is he? Thought that was Wanyama/Dier.

Either way, he doesn’t, and I never said he did. But if you’re saying X is natural successor to Y then you’d expect similar players.

When I was talking about Dembele’s abilty to drop a shoulder and shift his balance the player I always think of is Modric who is, of course, pretty small.

There’s no optimal height for a deep lying playmaker/box to box but, like I say, if someone is going to be a natural successor to Dembele I’d expect some Dembele like qualities and, tbh, I don’t think Lamela has many which isn’t meant as a criticism as he has he own set of attributes that help us immensely.

 

[ohtottenham!]

I think one of the beauties about how we play, with our movement from defence to attack, and with our pressing game, is that we’re all about players taking on different roles according to the game and the particular dynamics within any game.

We get to see the pluses and minuses of our players as they’re asked to take on differing roles.

For example, I don’t think Son would be pushing for a CM role in Poch’s eyes anytime soon. His versatility as a full back didn’t work out so well against Chelsea last year. Poch’s fault not Son’s, as Son hasn’t shown he has the defensive awareness to operate in a role relying heavily on defensive nous.

Re the CM role…Alli’s played in the CM role plenty of times. Erikssen’s had to play further back too. I don’t think there’s “ a natural Dembele replacement”, ‘cause there’s no-one that has Dembele’s ball-holding abilities, ability to shift, protect the ball, and glide past defenders like he does.

I just think the original post proposing Lamela’s qualities as a prospective CM was a good one, and one worthy of debate. The poster qualified it by saying Lamela would need coaching to potentially assume that role.

I’d have never thought Ashley Young would become an excellent RB for any team, let alone Man Utd.

 

[Cravenspurs]

Difference is, I’m not saying unequivocally that I think Lamela can play central midfield, only that there’s a skill set there which could be moulded to the position. I’m not even saying it would work, just that if it did, it’d be good. FWIW I feel the same way, moreso in fact, about Dele.

Been mentioning the same for awhile now. Lamela has the shielding ability, the desire to win the ball back and the quick passing technique to break the middle third open. I do think he would be best in a 3 though where a bit of the defensive responsibilities are placed equally on the 3's shoulders. Kind of like what we did against Pool in our 4-1 win.

 

[thebenjamin]

One of Dembele's least recognised attributes is his phenomenal change of pace over the first couple of yards. Same Modric, not a huge top speed but incredibly quick off the mark, enabling him to get away from people. Lamela has many qualities but acceleration / change of pace is one area where he lacks considerably. Therefore I don't believe he could replicate the kind of transition play that Dembele and Modric are so expert at, as he just can't get away from people in the same way.

 

[Jospur]

It'll be very difficult to buy anyone that replicates Dembele's best qualities so we should just sign someone that is a vast improvement on what he's not as good at instead, someone who can release the ball quickly, can dictate the tempo of the game and find the occasional killer ball.

And can score a bit as well...

 

[dontsalebale]

One of Dembele's least recognised attributes is his phenomenal change of pace over the first couple of yards. Same Modric, not a huge top speed but incredibly quick off the mark, enabling him to get away from people. Lamela has many qualities but acceleration / change of pace is one area where he lacks considerably. Therefore I don't believe he could replicate the kind of transition play that Dembele and Modric are so expert at, as he just can't get away from people in the same way.

This thread never disappoints. Comparing Lamela to Modric and Dembele two of the modern greats in C Midfielders is just surreal. Whatever your smoking pass it around.

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

This thread never disappoints. Comparing Lamela to Modric and Dembele two of the modern greats in C Midfielders is just surreal. Whatever your smoking pass it around.

Did you even read the post you quoted?

 

[Ossie85]

Word here in Argentina is that Sampaoli is going to travel to London in the coming weeks to talk to Lamela. So I'd say there's now a possibility he may go to the World Cup.
He had absolutely no chance before the match against Spain, but it looks like Sampaoli was furious with the attitude of some players, so it opens the door to players like Lamela.
We'll see in the next month, but given he's flying exclusively to talk to him, I think he has a good chance of being part of the first list of 32 players. And then he'll fight for a place in the 23-man squad that goes to the WC

 

[jonathanhotspur]

It's a touchy subject round here, I know, but I have had enough now. I hope we move Lamela on this summer.

 

[E17yid]

It's a touchy subject round here, I know, but I have had enough now. I hope we move Lamela on this summer.

Interesting. Do you not think he’s been good since coming back from injury?

If someone put a gun to my head and said one of Eriksen, Son, Dele and Lamela had to go It would be Lamela, just.

 

[werty]

Interesting. Do you not think he’s been good since coming back from injury?

If someone put a gun to my head and said one of Eriksen, Son, Dele and Lamela had to go It would be Lamela, just.

Lamela is a massive level below any of them.

 

[Monkey boy]

Lamela is a massive level below any of them.

And then some

 

[werty]

If you think it’s beyond the realms of possibility that a technically excellent attacking midfielder with great awareness, passing ability and drive, who also happens to be extremely tenacious, embraces the physical side of the game and physically impressive, could be trained into a good central midfielder, then that’s your prerogative. I think all the ingredients are there personally.

At 25 we signed Dembele, who had played two years in attacking midfield for Fulham, having signed for them at 23 at a centre forward in the Dutch league.

A player with those qualities could make a good central midfielder. Lamela isn't that player.