Soldado and Lamela, the elephant in the room.

[NeverRed]

how long do we persist with him on current form. He was by far our weakest performer at the weekend.

Really? I watched the game too and that seems like a bizarre conclusion.

Spurs official site has him equal in successful tackles to mason that game with 4, beating eriksen's 2 and kane's whopping 0. Lamela's passing accuracy of 81% to mason's 79, to eriksen's 74 to kane's 68.

It's just stat's but as I say I watched it too and to say he was by far our weakest performer seems a little off.

I'm not offended by criticism of any spurs player, but I dipped into this thread and see talk off facts, looking past personal feelings and passing balanced views, followed by the same people launching into opinion pieces. Some posters are even saying sell in the summer and cut loses.

All our players have put in pretty decent performances in the last few games, yet people seem to need to have to pick on a player that played, so why not pick the young foreign one who cost 30m, is coming back from another injury and didn't score at the weekend or take it around 4 players in a single dribble because their expectation is that he should.

Realistically he hasn't played bad at all on his return. Workman-like, direct and positive... as usual.

 

[mrlilywhite]

Pretty good work-rate by Lamela. Great game. If he now, just can start scoring a little..

This is a small example of how Lamela is working to improve a side of his game that throughout his career he has not been renowned for. At Roma it was often considered that he did not work hard enough to track back.

This was taken from a article about Lamela whilst at Roma; "His work rate is one of his weaknesses. Lamela loves to attack, and does very well when his team has the ball, but is a bit of a liability when the team is looking to defend, as he hardly makes any sort of a contribution to the defence. His tracking back is also almost negligible, leaving the full back behind him in a lot of trouble. This is a tactical problem for managers, who ideally want the winger and the full back to work as a pair."

Also worth noting some other things about him in the article;
"Physically, Lamela has a great turn of pace, and good acceleration too, which helps him beat defenders. His height is also quite adequate, allowing him to compete for aerial balls. He could do a lot more in terms of his physique though, which is a bit of a weakness in his game, and lets defenders push him off. He his quite a determined player, and doesn’t pull out of tackles, or give up easily. In order to get past physical defenders, he often runs with ball, and uses his pace to leave them trailing."

"The first thing one notices about Lamela is his skill. The player has been blessed with exceptional ability, and utilises this to good effect. He loves to dribble with the ball, and makes an average of 3 dribbles every game, with 48% of his dribbles being successful (Luis Suarez-33%, Marco Reus-38%). This is a key part of his game, and makes him very dangerous, as he can be a real match-winner, creating chances out of nothing. His driving runs with the ball particularly highlight this aspect of his game. As a result, opposing teams often have to have midfielders pay special attention to him, leaving others in space. Such attention paid to him also leads to him winning a lot of free kicks. On an average, he is fouled around 2 times every game, winning useful set piece chances for his team. He does however, leave a little to be desired on this front, as he sometimes shows too much of the ball to opposing defenders, leading to him getting dispossessed at times. Another aspect that could be improved is his running with the ball. While the driving runs are quite deadly, he tends to over-run the ball at times, leading to a break in the attacking pace."

These quotes do tend to lend themselves to a lot of what we are seeing, but the article does highly suggest that he has the makings of a exceptional talent..........We must persist with him imo

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Really? I watched the game too and that seems like a bizarre conclusion.

Spurs official site has him equal in successful tackles to mason that game with 4, beating eriksen's 2 and kane's whopping 0. Lamela's passing accuracy of 81% to mason's 79, to eriksen's 74 to kane's 68.

It's just stat's but as I say I watched it too and to say he was by far our weakest performer seems a little off.

I'm not offended by criticism of any spurs player, but I dipped into this thread and see talk off facts, looking past personal feelings and passing balanced views, followed by the same people launching into opinion pieces. Some posters are even saying sell in the summer and cut loses.

All our players have put in pretty decent performances in the last few games, yet people seem to need to have to pick on a player that played, so why not pick the young foreign one who cost 30m, is coming back from another injury and didn't score at the weekend or take it around 4 players in a single dribble because their expectation is that he should.

Realistically he hasn't played bad at all on his return. Workman-like, direct and positive... as usual.

He was better than Eriksen IMO.

 

[joseph]

He was better than Eriksen IMO.

You are probably alone on that. Eriksen wasn't great but he had a better game than lamela. Poch thought so too.

 

[Khilari]

Lamela wasn't bad. He just didn't shine, and there's no shame in that. He played an important part in our pressing from the front and high tempo game, linked together well with Dembele (with who he hasn't played in a front three much at all) and played against a side who defended back in numbers, which is why none of our players waltzed through acres of space.

The transfer fee has been his biggest disadvantage - and that's through no fault of his own. He is seen obviously by some to possess a lot of talent and, if given time could become one of our best players. But he needs to be given time. And needs to play to adapt to a very different league.

I like him a lot - not because I think he's played to anywhere near his supposed potential to even begin to justify the enormous price tag - but because I love that he has kept trying. Many players, who can't speak the language and have quite as tough a first season as he did adapting to another culture (football and beyond) clearly regress and sink away. He is improving and clearly is trying very hard to play well and make us better. I really hope he succeeds as he has shown sparks of brilliance in there.

 

[ultimateloner]

He is a good dribbler and can see a pass so he would always have a role for our team. Needs to add goals but it took hazard a few seasons so let's see if he gets that next season.

 

[ultimateloner]

i think the only one there you could apply that logic to is chadli. bale's history seems to have been re-written somewhere along the line, he actually looked pretty fantastic to begin with but was stopped short by a bad injury. modric struggled initially but by the end of his first season he was already one of the more important players. sandro barely got a chance until milan away which he took with both hands, he was superb thereafter and walker won young player of the year in his first season? benny was crocked for two years and did a solid job in his first season from memory and then improved year by year.

i don't want to say much more about lamela that i haven't already. i rewatched yesterday's game and he really does work hard off the ball but at some point he's going to have to really step it up going forward, otherwise he's going to become a very expensive park ji-sung.

Park ji sung has a knack for scoring important goals and always delivered in important matches.

 

[Always Offside]

He was better than Eriksen IMO.

I wouldn't say he was better than Eriksen, but he did appear to track back more than him & didn't leave his fullback exposed as often as Eriksen did. This may be seen as an acceptable trade off though as i think we all agree that Eriksen is not a LW player & will naturally look to get involved more centrally.

 

[stemark44]

He was better than Eriksen IMO.

Even if he was as good as Eriksen against Arsenal.................a blind man can see that Eriksen is just a naturally gifted footballer,it comes so easy to him and he will have more good games than bad ones.
Lamela is having to work his balls off just to get in the team and he has to do things now that he never did at Roma.
There were a few times that Eriksen lost the ball but I could see what he was trying to do with it.
I watched Lamela closely and on 2 occasions when he was moving forward with the ball.....he didn't know what to do with it and lost it both times.

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

Spurs signed a 20 year old that was one of the highest-potential young attacking talents to come out of south america and already perform well on the european stage, not to mention a capped Argentine international. Not a bad deal in comparison to the type of deals going on these days.

He wasn't signed to be a 1st season wonder and a long-term injury stopped any chance of that.

His value isn't decreasing much, being only 22, years on contract, recent appearences and goals for his national team, now in presentation of proper opportunities to progress with appearances for his club he's not turning in bad ones at that.

Isn't Paulinho a Capped Brazil International? i don't see the relevance or specialty of being an Argentinian Intentional over say a Belgium one?

Saying his value "isn't decreasing much" is plain stupid. He's possibly worth less than half of what we paid for him. His depreciation is that of a Rover 2300SD. Please tell me those clubs in the current top four that would pay say 20 million for him (a third off)?


He has scored one goal in twenty nine appearances, so we all await his "high potential" to suddenly burst on the scene not unlike say a Kane, Bentaleb, or even Mason. You know those basement finds that cost well.....bugger all. Finally i do agree he wasn't signed as a first season wonder, and apparently as of today's date a second season wonder either. For all his huffing and puffing i am sure that the Club didn't pay thirty million for a player who, well, to coin a well known phrase "fucking run around a bit". I am sure that Baldini saw something more in him than a water carrier.

I am sure that Poch will at some point decide whether he can be made into a force to be reckoned with, but as part of the Magnificent Seven whichever way you try and polish the players performances he has overall disappointed as much as Soldado, Chiriches and Paulinho. To suggest otherwise is plain daft.

 

[Bobbins]

Really? I watched the game too and that seems like a bizarre conclusion.

Spurs official site has him equal in successful tackles to mason that game with 4, beating eriksen's 2 and kane's whopping 0. Lamela's passing accuracy of 81% to mason's 79, to eriksen's 74 to kane's 68.

It's just stat's but as I say I watched it too and to say he was by far our weakest performer seems a little off.

I'm not offended by criticism of any spurs player, but I dipped into this thread and see talk off facts, looking past personal feelings and passing balanced views, followed by the same people launching into opinion pieces. Some posters are even saying sell in the summer and cut loses.

All our players have put in pretty decent performances in the last few games, yet people seem to need to have to pick on a player that played, so why not pick the young foreign one who cost 30m, is coming back from another injury and didn't score at the weekend or take it around 4 players in a single dribble because their expectation is that he should.

Realistically he hasn't played bad at all on his return. Workman-like, direct and positive... as usual.

There must always be someone in line for criticism, no matter the result or the performance.

Even when the team performs fantastically well in a game, some feel the need to pick out for criticism the one who played 'least fantastically', if that's even possible.

I'm sure if Lamela hadn't played it would be Townsend, Rose or Walker who would be the subject of it this week.

 

[Shea]

Pretty good work-rate by Lamela. Great game. If he now, just can start scoring a little..

He's pressing well and putting in a lot of effort - he's; at least become a functional member of our squad now

But really for £30m I'd like to see him evolve in to one of the stars of the team, a match winner. I wanna see him beating players and playing killer passes as well as scoring and testing the keeper on a regular basis now

 

[G Ron]

Really? I watched the game too and that seems like a bizarre conclusion.

Spurs official site has him equal in successful tackles to mason that game with 4, beating eriksen's 2 and kane's whopping 0. Lamela's passing accuracy of 81% to mason's 79, to eriksen's 74 to kane's 68.

It's just stat's but as I say I watched it too and to say he was by far our weakest performer seems a little off.

I'm not offended by criticism of any spurs player, but I dipped into this thread and see talk off facts, looking past personal feelings and passing balanced views, followed by the same people launching into opinion pieces. Some posters are even saying sell in the summer and cut loses.

All our players have put in pretty decent performances in the last few games, yet people seem to need to have to pick on a player that played, so why not pick the young foreign one who cost 30m, is coming back from another injury and didn't score at the weekend or take it around 4 players in a single dribble because their expectation is that he should.

Realistically he hasn't played bad at all on his return. Workman-like, direct and positive... as usual.

What's bizarre about that conclusion? He's hardly been on form so far this season, and in my view (and that of many others judging by the ratings thread) he was our least strong performer in the NLD (not that it was a problem as the all round team performance was immense). Out of curiosity, who did you think had a less effective game (if you don't mind me asking).

I tend not to reference stats as they can be misleading. Were the tackles recovering possession lost by the player. Were the passes forward and further than 2 yards etc.

I just know that I witnessed top class performances from the likes of Mason, Kane, Bentaleb, and the back four and I wouldn't put Erik's shift on a par with those guys.

Clearly there are some on here who would toss him aside now and cut losses, and others who would defend him to the hilt. I'm in between both camps at the moment as I haven't seen enough of a threat from him going towards goal, but there is clearly talent in there. Whether he's made for the premier league remains to be seen for me. My heart says yes, my head says no, but all I know is that he needs to be more than just a grafter.

I don't think people would be any less harsh if he was English, just look at the dogs abuse handed out to Townsend and Lennon on here. The price tag probably is a factor as I'm sure people want more from players costing in excess of £20M. I don't recall Bentley getting an easy ride on here either after his big money move and he was English and a boyhood spurs fan.

I'm a huge advocate of giving credit whee it's due, and I'll always praise a great performance, but personally I haven't seen enough of those from him to date.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Everyone who argues against Lamela in some form has to use the '£30m' comment. As if it's their money.

Do you think Pochettino says to Lamela "Well Erik, you had a good game but you're going to have to do better because you cost £30m" or would you expect Levy to say to Pochettino "Mauricio, Lamela's working hard, but I think you should not play him as he cost us £30m".

There are plenty of reasons why you could criticise Lamela, but his price tag is irrelevant and I pretty much ignore anything which mentions it.

 

[225]

He's pressing well and putting in a lot of effort - he's; at least become a functional member of our squad now

But really for £30m I'd like to see him evolve in to one of the stars of the team, a match winner. I wanna see him beating players and playing killer passes as well as scoring and testing the keeper on a regular basis now

He's got 5 goals and 5 assists in 30 games (8 as a sub) so far in all competitions. Townsend has 4 goals and 5 assists in 23 and Dembele has no goals and 1 assist in 30. Considering Townsend has been on penalties (and penalties don't count normally on here ) I'd say he's doing a pretty good job for his first full season, especially in comparison to other players in the team.

Take away Eriksen's free-kicks and looking at 'goals from open play' (another spurs fan obsession) and Lamela wouldn't be far off Eriksen in his contributions.

Chadli is the guy I feel sorry for - he's been brilliant but still is so underrated imo.

 

[al_pacino]

Everyone who argues against Lamela in some form has to use the '£30m' comment. As if it's their money.

Do you think Pochettino says to Lamela "Well Erik, you had a good game but you're going to have to do better because he cost £30m" or would you expect Levy to say to Pochettino "Mauricio, Lamela's working hard, but I think you should not play him as he cost us £30m".

There are plenty of reasons why you could criticise Lamela, but his price tag is irrelevant and I pretty much ignore anything which mentions it.

No but I expect Levy is saying to Baldini "Franco we invested a club record amount on this player and I can see he's putting a shift in but is this as good as it gets?".


So while we as fans have to ignore what he cost and just evaluate his performance as a single player on the ptch there are people at the club who will be looking at the value we are getting from him

 

[Donki]

Even if he was as good as Eriksen against Arsenal.................a blind man can see that Eriksen is just a naturally gifted footballer,it comes so easy to him and he will have more good games than bad ones.
Lamela is having to work his balls off just to get in the team and he has to do things now that he never did at Roma.
There were a few times that Eriksen lost the ball but I could see what he was trying to do with it.
I watched Lamela closely and on 2 occasions when he was moving forward with the ball.....he didn't know what to do with it and lost it both times.

To be fair Lamela was heavily marked and pressured when he got the ball. There is so much more to come from this kid, I still think he can be a huge player for us, I'd certainly rather have him in the starting line up than Andros.

 

[Sputic]

Everyone who argues against Lamela in some form has to use the '£30m' comment. As if it's their money.

Do you think Pochettino says to Lamela "Well Erik, you had a good game but you're going to have to do better because he cost £30m" or would you expect Levy to say to Pochettino "Mauricio, Lamela's working hard, but I think you should not play him as he cost us £30m".

There are plenty of reasons why you could criticise Lamela, but his price tag is irrelevant and I pretty much ignore anything which mentions it.

It doesn't even make a difference if it's our money or not. It's done - the fee doesn't change depending on his performances. It's not like the exact same performance from Townsend (as if) would be worth more to us cos he cost nothing, the 30 mill is no longer relevant.

I think he's doing ok, but no more so. I want to see more in an attacking sense, though I also think he does more than he gets credit for going forward.

I was listening to the Guardian podcast and they were discussing how hard and how intensely we press the ball under Poch. And it struck me that Lamela is really the poster child for Pochettino's effect on the team, even though other players are playing better. Who would have been the last player you'd have expected to buy into it and then actually produce it? Last year he was a sicknote, a lightweight Argentinian winger who didn't fancy it and now he's working his balls off and effectively so (in terms of the pressing).

 

[stemark44]

Everyone who argues against Lamela in some form has to use the '£30m' comment. As if it's their money.

Do you think Pochettino says to Lamela "Well Erik, you had a good game but you're going to have to do better because he cost £30m" or would you expect Levy to say to Pochettino "Mauricio, Lamela's working hard, but I think you should not play him as you cost us £30m".

There are plenty of reasons why you could criticise Lamela, but his price tag is irrelevant and I pretty much ignore anything which mentions it.

If you believe that his price really doesn't matter,thank god you are not looking after the clubs finances........you are living in cloud cockoo land.

 

[stemark44]

To be fair Lamela was heavily marked and pressured when he got the ball. There is so much more to come from this kid, I still think he can be a huge player for us, I'd certainly rather have him in the starting line up than Andros.

I didn't notice him heavily marked and pressured more than anyone else.
I certainly don't think Arsenal set up to stop Lamela because they were worried about him.
The difference between what Lamela and Townsend bring to the team has been tiny.
Both need to do better.