If i were Poch (and if Lamela is fit) i'd be putting him in for 90 mins in all games til the end of the season now. The pressure is off, we have nothing to play for and it would be useful if he got a sustained run playing the majority of every game. Kane came in similarly last season.
I'm afraid Lamela has shown me nothing to indicate he's top drawer. I'd love to be wrong, but like Lenny, my head tells me, I'm not. Whatever it was these European coaches saw, we haven't even seen a glimpse of it. He's being kept out of the side for good reason, IMO. He's obviously not shown MP anything to indicate that he's worth persisting with. Having said this, I'm sure we'll keep him, for financial reasons if nothing else.
I think that Lamela's better suited to playing a central role in behind the striker, especially in this division. He's shown the appropriate work ethic and Chadli's form has been appalling recently, so I'd be tempted to chuck him in.
As this thread is descending into a game of Let's Slag Off Lamela, I'll say something pretty damn important: Lamela, for his faults (and the main one, namely how much we paid for him, has nothing to do with him) he still has far more upside than Townsend does.
It's not a game, and no, he's certainly not worth what we paid. Harsh as it may seem, he will be judged to some extent by that fee paid for him. Nobody would love to see him metamorph into a £30mill player more, or at least show a sign that he may do so. But, so far, it ain't happening and that's what we have to judge him upon.
please log in to view this image It's this ability that is either the reason for the hope that Lamela is special or the false promise that lead us to think he was worth signing.
I judge a player's worth on how likely he is to win the 2015 Puskas award. Based on that Lamela is easily our best
The issue there is the reverse to that argument is that, if we signed a player for nothing - either on a free, or they came through our youth team - should we cut them more slack if they turn out to be a poor signing? Say if we had a game where both Lamela and Townsend were misplacing passes or shooting at the floodlights for 90 minutes, by that logic Townsend should get less stick despite being equally useless.
Now you're turning it into a game if Let's Damn Lamela With Faint Praise. So to join in I'll say this: Lamela is also better than Jonnie Jackson. (And I do not think he's shown better ability than Townsend, by the way. If they were both academy products I think most people would say that Townsend has shown by far the most promise over the last two years).
As I've said before: people say Lamela gets slagged off cos of the 30m fee. But equally I think he's cut an awful lot of slack and invites assessments like "he's got the ability but..." Purely due to the price tag. If he'd been an academy product I don't think so many people would definitely see this quality that's supposed to be there.
Again, I'd agree with Lenny. As I put in my earlier post, he will inevitably be judged to a large extent by his fee. Not his fault, I agree, but that's the way it is. You can make comparisons, ability wise, with Townsend, but the fact remains that Townsend didn't cost £30mil, and so will be judged differently. Lamela, is probably viewed by the club as an expensive asset that they're stuck with.
It works a bit both ways. Lamela gets cut slack because he was impressive and much admired at Roma at such a young age, and slagged off because he cost a hefty sum of money and hasn't impressed much, or even met the standards he sat at his previous club in any meaningful, consistent way. Townsend gets cut slack because he's a youth product and produces odd moments of brilliance, and slagged off because there are aspects of his game that are incredibly frustrating and that haven't developed since we've been watching him - most notably his decision making. That said, when Townsend is on the pitch I'm more hopeful of something positive happening than when Lamela is playing right now. The former might **** up a lot but we might get to see some shots or crosses and he has the pace to at least worry defenders. Lamela usually just throws a few stepovers and promptly loses the ball.
Someone's looked at Lamela with his stepovers, tricks and pace and thought he's the next Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo suddenly went from show pony to superstar, but he had a manager who trusted him and nurtured him - playing him even when others thought he would amount to nothing. If Lamela has talent, he needs the same treatment.
It has just occurred to me that there is almost certainly going to be a winner's curse for transfers of players who are on long contracts. The only way to secure the player is to pay more than the selling club's valuation and more than every other possible buyer. So you would have to have an enormous edge over the other clubs even to expect to break even. That doesn't of course mean that we shouldn't buy players - keeping the money in the bank isn't going to lead to success on the field but it does mean that we shouldn't have high expectations that they will be 'worth the money'.
When you look at those buys there : Stambouli Fazio Capoue Chiriches Soldado Lamela Paulinho and the money spent, and the time invested. That's enough disasters in such a short space of time to wreck a club's prospects for the best part of a generation. It's only because for the first time in decades, we actually had reasonable players coming up through the club that in footballing terms we havent sunk without trace. And it'll be kane, pritchard and bentaleb together with eriksen, who keep us in the top half next season. This football club has basically been saved by tim sherwood. The man many booed out of the club.
No, those last 3 are the only ones that have cost us. What's Stambouli even doing there? £5mill and 8 months on a squad player? Hardly setting us back generations, is he. "reasonable players" coming through the academy? Again, nonsense as reasonable players don't prop you up in the top half, which is where you seem to think we are thanks to them. Why do you only creep out when things go bad? You were silent after the Chelsea and Arsenal wins, does it upset you when things go well for Spurs?
I was leaping round a bar full of arsenal fans knocking pint glasses flying at the end of the arsenal game, for your information. And yes, the likes of stambouli and fazio need to be in the list, because regardless of the cost of the transfers, it's time lost integrating players who might really make a difference. It's not nonsense in the slightest, that next season, when weve lost lloris, it will be pritchard, kane, bentaleb and the like who will be keeping us afloat. If you want to lable that fact "nonsense", that's up to you pal
How much do you think squad players should cost then? Both in time and money, obviously. Personally, I think £5mill for Stambouli and £8mill for Fazio is pretty reasonable. If your argument relies on predictions like losing Lloris and Pritchard being a success then my counter argument relies on predictions too. When Bale returns to us we'll win the league
I cant think of any post i have read on here that i have disagreed with more...he was not booed out of the club...no matter how many times he and the twat ferdinand pretend they were. Sherwood and twatman were not solely responsible for the development of our youth players no matter how many times they claim they were.
