Saw this on sky sports today and it kind of backs up what we have been seeing this season. http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ttenham-argentine-rewarding-fans8217-patience
Interesting stats. Anybody surprised to see Chadli puts in 0.3 tackles per 90 minutes? The guy has talent but no so much that he can be a passenger when we are without the ball. Having Lamela and Son as wide attackers (not really wingers are they?) gives us so much more energy and resilience than Chadli and Townsend. Adding Dier, Alli, Kane and even Eriksen to those 2 means we are an extremely dynamic and athletic unit with no little skill. As these young players gain confidence and experience of the Premier League (how many of them have played 50 or 100 games?) their performances should only get better. Lamela looks happier generally and seems to be at the centre of goal celebrations. The players know when someone isn't doing it (see Kaboul and Adebayor last season) and they seem very happy with him. We need to continue to show the lad we love him and he'll continue to improve. I just hope Townsend and Chadli get the message too. Play your heart out for the shirt Boys!!
Thats why I labelled him the new Bale (tongue in cheek) as In Bales final season he would stroll around doing very little, in contrast to his previous form but developed into a match winner, similar to Chadli of last season, Passenger for most of the game but produced in terms of goal/assists. Nicely set-up for a MOTM performance against the goons.
I think that Lamela has probably embraced Pochettino's philosophy more than anyone. He was touted as something of a showpony when we signed him, but the most impressive thing about him now is his work rate. He's still got a lot of skill and is getting some important goals and assists for us, but he really does graft for an attacker. Even if he's not playing well, he's closing down, fighting for everything and making the opposition think and work. I've noticed that a quick browse of opposition fans' comments after our games against them tend to have a theme. Lots of talk of their players making mistakes, being nervous at the back and missing passes. I think Lamela's often key to that and those stats seem to reinforce it. FourFourTwo had an article about our game against Villa and tackling up the pitch was mentioned as a big point: http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features...enham-hotspur-3-1-aston-villa#:0snLVhpTbAPMYA Multiple successful tackles in the opposition half. Villa? None. Lose the ball that deep with a bunch of players on top of your defence and you're in real trouble.
I love Lamela`s work rate and the fact he is more than happy to fulfill defensive duties, his effort is first class. He seems to be improving game by game in offensive areas also, but can still improve his decision making and learn to use his right foot instead of always predictably cutting inside onto his left.
Another interesting article about Lamela: http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/foo...rans-world-sport-as-a-12yearold-a3106356.html
You can't high press in dribs and drabs. It's an all or nothing tactic. If our tallisman and possibly our best player in Kane is willing to work like a dog then I don't see any player who shouldn't match his effort. It only takes 1 player to fail to back up his teammates for the whole thing to be a shambles.
Very interesting read CJ My feelings on Lamela are still quite mixed. I may sound like a spoilt child when I say it, but whilst his work rate and commitment are incredible for a player who arrived with a bit of a 'luxury' label, I just cannot and will not accept that we signed him for that purpose. £30m can and should fetch you a player who terrorises defences - Eden Hazard is a perfect example of this. He's a similar age to Lamela, similar transfer fee (he was a few million more), similarly impressive work rate for a 'luxury' item...but the comparisons more or less end there. I'd like to see opposition defences visibly panic and their fans audibly hold their breath when Lamela receives the ball near their area the same way they do when Kane or Eriksen has possession in full flow. For a player with his obvious technical ability and now in his 3rd year of PL football, I really don't think that is asking or expecting too much. What frustrates me about him is that when the opportunity to terrorise a defence presents itself with open arms, Lamela spends large chunks of the game playing anonymously. This is particularly frustrating when we face teams who are so poor that his defensive qualities aren't necessary, so he basically ends up doing nothing. The Villa game was a perfect example of this. For most of the game I didn't see anything of note from him; he didn't need to get stuck in because Villa were frankly useless going forward. It was only after they scored and started throwing the kitchen sink at us that Lamela came into his own. I said in my comments after the match that he was utterly immense for those last 15 minutes. We lost a big physical presence when Dembele went off and Lamela was working twice as hard to compensate for that. He capped that all off with a well timed run and pass to set up the crucial 3rd goal. So I wonder to myself: are we happy to have a player who receives the ball in a good area; doesn't cause much panic amongst his markers because they know that he lacks the right foot to skin them and the pace to drive inside for the shot...but he contributes a fantastic work rate and covers lots of ground? Is that what we signed him for? I don't know about you but I look at Son and already I think to myself 'that's what we signed Erik to do'. He's a bundle of pace, energy, spins and flicks and can shoot with either foot. In other words, a player similar to Hazard who visibly makes defenders go squeaky bum when he's on the ball. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not having a dig. I'm just saying that being a hard worker and terrorising defences are not mutually exclusive skill sets. And for year 3 of a £30m investment, I'd like to see a bit more of the latter.
Fairly sure Lamela cost a potential total outlay of 30m euros, paid via installments he will probably only cost around £22m if you take into account the change in exchange rate since he signed, there may also be performance related add ons etc factored into that 30m euros. That doesnt stop Sky Sports widely reporting Lamela as our £30m record signing though.
I didn't think it was that low Bill. Most reports at the time had it as £25.8m up front with a further £4.2m in bonus payments. Either way, I'd still argue my point - he was signed to be the next Bale, not the next James Milner.
Unless...get your tin hats on... The clause for those bonus payments expired at the end of last season and this whole thing has been a charade just so that we can Levy Roma.
While Lamela doesn't terrorise defences, that actually works better for him - because he's capable of playing the perfect ball that leaves the entire defence for dead and leads to a goal, as happened against Sunderland and Villa for a couple of obvious examples. In comparison, Townsend will terrorise defences with his pace...but then waste the advantage with either a poor delivery or aiming yet another shot at the floodlights. As somebody said elsewhere, Poch's system uses wide attackers rather than wingers, so logically we shouldn't judge any of Son, Lamela or Chadli (possibly N'Jie as well) as wingers and more like attacking midfielders, and then you realise what we actually have is a trio of No10s on the pitch, but different types of No10: Son/Chadli are goalscoring No10s like Baggio, Del Piero or Totti who ease the burden on the main striker, Eriksen is a No10 who sits behind the main striker threads the ball between the centre backs like Rui Costa, while Lamela is the wide playmaker like Di Maria or Shaqiri who comes inside to thread the ball between the full back and the centre back.
I'm one of those who labeled him show pony. He's shaken the tag off by his own hard work - and I think not a little encouragement from his manager and fellow countryman. The price tag was never his fault, but he's lumbered with it. Bale he ain't, or ever will be. But he's becoming an ever more vital part of this young team.
Quick word about Lamela after today's game. I've been one of his biggest critics, and tbh thought he was a complete write off. When he came, not only did his performances seem to indicate that his talent had been massively overhyped, but he just seemed to drift around a bit looking a bit disinterested. Well, what a turn around. He still loses possession a fair bit. But my god, what an effort he puts in. His running and hunger for the cause is relentless. I'm sure a lot of credit has to go to the manager, but credit where it's due, and that boy deserves some. Keep it up kid
Wasn't impressed with him showboating by the sideline at a key part of the game when the pass was on for Alli, and when he gets into dangerous areas you feel he doesn't have the ability to do something special. However, he works hard, has natural talent and when given the chance to make a simple pass, he can make that pass, rather then doing a Townsend and always going for glory, so overall he's a team player, part of the squad, but for 32 million? I would expect much more.
