“Beautifully
done by Modric, and it’s a lovely ball too, and Van der Vaart finds the net!
Lift off for Tottenham Hotspur!”
“Now
Carroll, Bale again, Bale goes for goal, oh what a goal! It’s been a weekend of
stunning goals but that one may just have topped the lot!”
Some
special memories have been forged wearing the number 11 at Tottenham Hotspur,
particularly in recent times. Rafael Van der Vaart and Gareth Bale left White
Hart Lane as cult heroes, and so if filling in the boots of the world’s most
expensive player wasn’t enough, Erik Lamela had to prove he was worthy of
donning that famous navy blue number.
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| No pressure, Erik... |
Well, that
took a while.
Even the
most loyal Spurs fan will struggle to remember anything Lamela did of note in
his first season in north London. A last minute assist away at Cardiff and a neat
goal against FC Sheriff in the Europa League were the only things of note.
The odd
ten-minute run-around at the end of games seemed like a teething issue at first
– Lamela’s figure was slight and dainty, almost certain to crack under a strong
challenge. However, when Tottenham of all clubs spend £30million on one player,
you’d expect him to be the first name on the team-sheet, when in fact he was
probably the last one on the bench.
It was
obvious that Andre Vilas-Boas and Erik Lamela weren’t right for each other, and
when the Portuguese was given his marching orders by Daniel Levy, Lamela soon
suffered a season-ending injury.
The 2014/15
season was a mixed one for Lamela, but was constantly dug out and scapegoated
for his performances. He wasn’t the easy-eye dribbler as touted, but he was
effective. A full review of Lamela’s year can be found here: http://seanwalsh97.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/the-role-of-erik-lamela.html
At the
start of the 2015/16 season, the majority of Spurs fans had given up on Erik
Lamela. A frustrating year had passed by, and sloppy, unbalanced performances
vs Manchester United, Stoke City and Leicester City to start the new campaign
left his place at Tottenham hanging in the balance.
Marseille
offered the chance of a one-year loan deal on deadline deal, but Mauricio
Pochettino pulled the plug on it at the eleventh hour. Lamela had to start
performing again; if he didn’t owe that to the White Hart Lane faithful, he
owed it to his boss.
The
back-end of the 2014/15 season saw an upturn in form from the Argentine winger,
showing just why he was touted as a top prospect upon arrival in N17. His
passing was quicker, his link-up play was far more effective and, perhaps most
importantly, he was silencing a few groans in the crowd.
Lamela fell
victim to the vicious nature of football fans, or to be more specific, ‘availability
heuristic’. In layman’s terms, the image of Lamela losing possession became so
engrained in the minds of the fans at White Hart Lane, they felt compelled to
get on the back of Tottenham’s record signing, even if he was playing well. It's a quality that still lingers around for people who don't watch Spurs regularly.
In my
review of his 2014/15 campaign, I looked at how Lamela could play an important
part in the team shortly after his failed move to the south of France,
highlighting four key areas of improvement: restoring confidence, getting the
basics right, continuing with his newer, more efficient habits, and adding
variety to his game.
Lamela has
gone from strength to strength this season, learning from the mistakes of last
year and even evolving into the archetypal Pochettino player.
Last year, Lamela looked incredibly uncomfortable on
the ball. He lacked finesse, and would often kill attacks by running into
players. Thankfully, he’s found his dribbling boots again.
Fans of
other clubs often look at the Spurs starting eleven and label Lamela as the
weak link, but they’d be wrong to assume so.
The key asset to Lamela’s campaign last season was his
vision and chance creation, and he built on that this year too. Ultimately,
this quality is what makes him such a key cog in the Tottenham team.
What’s more impressive is that Lamela has added a new
dimension to his game, one that you wouldn’t expect from a South American
winger. His pressing is exemplary, and is key to Pochettino’s philosophy – if anyone
puts in half the shift he does, they’ll be crawling off the pitch.
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| Lamela following his incredible display away at Arsenal |
Statistically, Lamela has excelled this season,
proving to be Tottenham’s biggest threat from the wing.
Compared
with the rest of the players who typically occupy the wide roles in
Pochettino’s 4-2-3-1, and himself from last season, Lamela creates more chances
and has more key passes to his name per 90 minutes. In the Spurs team, only
Christian Eriksen exceeds his numbers. Combine his numbers with the immeasurable tenacity he brings to the side and you can hardly label Lamela as the weak link.
Lamela is also statistically the most creative
of his top four rivals in the same position, including PFA Player of the Year
Riyad Mahrez (though his 17 goals will undoubtedly make up for this).
He may not
be the pacey, headline-grabbing forward that his predecessor but…
Who knows? Maybe that’s what he adds to his game this season.
