HomeFeatured ArticlesThe Enigmatic Erik Lamela

The Enigmatic Erik Lamela

Erik Lamela is probably the last man standing from the £86m spent out of the money received from Gareth Bale (along with Eriksen.)

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He goes from the sublime and ridiculous to being somewhat anonymous in his 2.5 years at White Hart Lane. His Rabona goal vs Asteras Triplois in the Europa League game at WHL is one of the most outstanding goals of recent times. He scored a similar stunning Rabona in his River Plate days.

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Even his critics will agree, he undoubtedly has the skill and ability, however even hardened WHL visitors have questioned his mentality and desire. In my opinion several factors have coalesced to improve his form:

1) Pochettino is a fellow Argentine who knows and fully believes in his ability. A fellow countryman undoubtedly helps in instructions and specifics as they probably converse in their native language.

2) Stability of the manager and a playing style at Spurs, as it can be no fun having a revolving door of managers: Redknapp, AVB, Sherwood and now Pochettino in short succession.

3) The disillusioned South American clique has been disbanded and moved on in Gomes and Paulinho and the squad is a smaller tighter young hungry unit. The non-performers Capoue, Soldado and Adebayor have all been moved on.

4) Pochettino has supplied 19 of the last 60 England debutants in 3 years (an amazing stat) and Mauricio has an un-yielding faith in youth and young players.

5) Spurs have a scoring no9 in Harry Kane, unlike the spell with Soldado, goals and wins inevitably lift players and squads and their confidence, banishing supporter dis-quiet.

Brendan Rodgers famously used the phrase “the weight of the shirt” when describing the failure of the £55m pair of Carroll and Downing. The £30m fee paid to Roma for Lamela inevitably weighed heavily on his shoulders. However anybody who has played for River Plate and played under the microscope of Roma fans un-deniably has the mental ability. Scrutiny at River Plate and Roma is probably greater than at Spurs.

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Pochettino favours a 4-2-3-1 system, with Delle Ali and Eric Dier holding, Lamela right, Dembele centre and Eriksen left with Kane up front. This is a system Lamela will be familiar with both at Roma and at River Plate. Spurs are a young hungry energetic team, with no cliques or excuses now, and each player explicitly knows what’s expected of him.

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This Opta graphic very significantly points at his up turn,
tackles from 1.2 to 2.6, fouls from 0.6 to 2.2, show he is pressing very enthusiastically and buys into the Pochettino ethos. A rating score from 6.35 to 7.14 with all key stats, assists, crosses and key passes increasing significantly over 2 years.

Kyle Walker’s performance has also improved, and this consistent understanding with Walker must help Lamela and his game. Undeniably he has matured since arriving at the age of 21 (he is now 23) and his body is maturing and developing to take the bumps of the Premier League. An Argentine manager, and watching Gareth Bale graduate at Spurs on to Real Madrid, must give him belief he can replicate that. Also having a very realistic chance of Champions League qualification has energised the whole squad with their 5th place last year.

Pochettino never got the credit he deserved for that 5th place with a dis-jointed, low morale squad signing only a single player in the £5m Fazio centre-back. Pochettino being an ex Argentine centre-back (20 caps) has an eye for the best role for a player, witness Eric Dier moving from centre-back to holding midfielder. It can be no coincidence Lallana, Shaw, Lambert, Rodriguez and Chambers have never regained that form Pochettino got from them at Southampton in a mere 18 months and new to the rigours of the Premier League.

Aguero, Tevez, Suarez, James, Sanchez, Vidal, all show the South American players have the mental ability and desire to be world beaters across Europe. You have to have something special about you to make your River Plate debut at 17 years of age like Lamela did in December 2009.

19 goals in 62 games in Rome at Roma in what Evra said this week “is the hardest league to score in” (in 2 years aged 19-21) shows he has everything in his locker, a 1 in 3 strike rate for a midfielder is outstanding in that free scoring Roma team who had Gervinho and Totti also banging them in.

Lamela has the potential to be world beating and join the league of Bale, James and Pogba, and given Pochettino’s record with Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw, and more recently with Christian Eriksen it would be no surprise if Lamela hits the heights in North London giving even more to his Argentine compatriot Pochettino, and continuing Spurs legendary Argentine heritage of Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Poch signed more than Fazio in his first summer (although it is questionable whether any player was truly his signing per se)… Benjamin Stambouli, Michel Vorm, Ben Davies, Eric Dier.

    I’m a Tottenham fan and agree, Poch didn’t get enough credit with his 5th place finish, especially whilst Sky persist in hyping Liverpool as if they’ve finished above Spurs in something like seven out of the last nine seasons (they haven’t, I’m being sarcastic). I just like it when people get their facts straight.

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