- Aug 22, 2014
- 13,603
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Absolutely spot on. Also I think you may have been drawn into making this a comparison with Moura which I highly doubt is your point in the first place, so it would be a shame if anyone responding decides to go down that route and have a whine.
Lamela has a huge off the ball influence, it's so clear. What I think a lot of people might have missed is that he does the same kinda thing on the ball. He always wants the ball and if he's not making a run will come pick it up. He's one of the few players who'll happily try and ping it around one touch. When he's got it he'll be looking for a clever pass, trying to open up space. YES when he has time to think he sometimes takes way to much fecking time on the ball and gets tackled but he makes up for that big time. He's gone up to another level with it this season under Mou and it's so shit he got that injury earlier in the season.
But it's more than just about Lamela, it's about getting enough ball players on the park. Lamela is one of the players who'll get the pass and move boulder rolling and that is what makes him so valuable right now. We as many of those type of players on the pitch and as few as possible who'll hide or roll the ball about sideways.
Lamela is a player for me who, you have to use sparingly or else he'll break down. I'd try and save him for games against the big 6 where we'll be defending a lot, games where we need to turn around a bad run of form (as shown at the weekend) and then I'd only use him as a sub here and there, if it's a game where we need a spark or we're winning but the lead is slim and we need to close it out.
For example, I wouldn't start him against Everton with City to come soon after. He needs to be managed carefully.