I think it's a given that he's an extremely silly boy. He was given a great chance by us, and chose to **** about and be the playboy instead..
If it was simply Lamela being the only weak link in the team, the team might just have been able to fit him in the team and allow him time to adjust. But there are simply too many new players adjusting and quite frankly, we can't have half of the team on the pitch learning to adapt. It's an unfortunate situation as I believe Lamela does have the potential to do very well with Spurs but he can only do so once the rest of the team is settled and performing consistently. Sorry to state the bleeding obvious!
When he played against FC Sherriff he scored a good goal and won a penalty courtesy of his incredibly quick footwork. He seemed confident then and what happened? He got left out for the next match. I say play him now. Tell him he will get a run of games and his undoubted skill will come to fore.
Just remember that spell Bale had where he was the "curse" and give the kid time. Lamela is highly rated and clearly a talented footballer. My concern is that Sherwood won't play him so it makes Baldini look bad, and I wonder if Sherwood might have his own agenda. - Hence not making any signings in January, despite the obvious need for a LB in particular. Then sherwood can say "They weren't my players, I've done my best". it's been made clear on here in the past that Sherwood is a snake.
I don't believe that Levy, as useless as he is proving himself to be, would be so stupid as to fall for any of that. Sherwoodie would walk, which is what is likely to happen, in any event.
He wasn't injured enough for Wenger to sign him. Edit: I didn't read Spurms post before I posted this. Great minds think alike.
Haven't read anyone elses, as i can't help but think one thing ...premature? How is he a problem?, he didn't understand avb's gameplan...did anyone? and he's been injured since November. I'd like to see what the new manager does with him first tbf.
I really think a lot of you are playing the money rather than the man. There is absolutely nothing about his performances that suggest he should be anywhere near the team. We need results and cannot afford to carry anyone. He looks lightweight and is easily dispossessed. I accept that a lot of people know him from his Italian league performances and perhaps from some simulations. But I only know what I have seen and that has been terrible. So he performed well once, that isn't actually much of a big deal considering how much we paid. I appreciate that many think he should therefore have been picked for the next game and that argument has merit, but if he is any good he would be able to perform in more than just one match (when IMHO he was good but hardly world class). We also don't know whether he was completely fit for the next match. I understand that it appears to make financial sense to build up a player who is a major investment, but not to the extent of damaging the possibilities of the team. I really think that there is no argument, other than "he might be better than he appears to be if he had a run in the team", for playing him. And that is not enough when we need every single point. I think he is by far of the "least" of our summer signings. Maybe he will come good, but how do you allow him the game time to do so? It's too much of a risk.
Not even arguably mate, he was miles ahead of everyone that night. The kid is ridiculously talented and while he himself hasn't really done much bar the Europa night & assist vs Cardiff, his management has been so ****ed up that it's not surprising he underperforms when given opportunities. Sherwood better play him when he's available.
Funnily enough I agree with nearly all of that. Main way I differ is with the bit in bold. As already mentioned it's not like we'd be dropping Bale or Lennon in one of his finer runs of form. For me game-time slots are open on either wings and even behind the front man (where Eriksen's stats have been more impressive than his overall performances IMO). So giving him a bit (hopefully increasing) of game time in the league is not too much of an ask IMO. As a sub to begin with whenever possible. Agree that his Sheriff performance was blown out of all proportion. It was good and much better but not great. But, like I said, some of his early-season one-touch passing just looked so bad it cannot be a real measure of him. He looked nervous and confused and it wasn't til a few games in that he really tried consistently getting his head down and dribbling (which, to my eyes so far, seems to be his main attribute). For me it's not like he's a Pav or a Bent or a Dempsey (or a Chadli, TBH) etc where you think "Hmm - there's not much here" from early on. He does look like he has something about him and just maybe it can come out. Unfortunately this is a little bit like how I feel* about the player with our second-highest transfer fee of all time... *Rather embarrassingly it is also how I felt for quite a long time about GDS. He just looked so good in those pre-season friendlies! (That was the year we won all our pre-season friendlies and Bent was knocking them in for fun. Then followed 2 points in 8. Lesson learned about pre-season friendlies).