What's the deal with Eric Lamela, he was highly rated at Roma and bought for a handsome fee at the time. At 28 should be at the peak of his powers, yet never seem to play consistently. Thoughts,
@InLevyITrust @balaks
Btw where is
@GlastonSpur and there used to be another fairly active Spurs fan pre lockdown?
Lamela was, and was something of a flair player. There's a bit of a weirdness around him over his time with us.
He signed, then when Sherwood took over he had a 'mysterious' back injury for about 8 months or something. I remember at the time people speculating that it was a ploy to keep Sherwood away from the star player, or that Sherwood didn't rate him.
The next problem (which will be dismissed by many) is that Pochettino had two main impacts on him:
1) He just isn't really the type of manager to cultivate 'flair' players. First and foremost, every attacker has to be a defender. You have to press, jostle, tackle, track back etc. Lamela seems like he was a really good student and hard worker and was happy to change his game, but it seems like he 'lost' a lot of his flair and attacking abilities that made him so exciting at Roma. People complain about how Kane tracks back too much and that's the same influence there - you just wouldn't have had an Ibra or Bale in that era of spurs.
2) All of the above, coupled with double training, has seriously affected the robustness and longevity of a lot of the players. Lamela was a bit fragile as it was, but he seemed to be getting constantly crocked due to the demands of both training and the role on the pitch. He also had a strange period where he disappeared from a long time, with no real explanation, and people gossiped as to whether it was more 'Berahino' than 'Andy Carroll'. At one point a couple of seasons ago he was complaining of a persistent hip issue but it seemed like he was being made out like a hyperchrondriac/munchousens type player. Eventually it seems they found an issue because he had a big operation (there's a meme of him in a hospital bed that's done the rounds outside of football circles) on his hip or leg, and it took him a while to come back from it.
You think back to Ledley King and how Harry was fine with him not training in order to keep his knees healthy enough to make a matchday - that's an entire club legend that would have never existed under that regime.
He's underrated and is a very useful player. You know when you're 2-1 down and they do a sub? He's the exact player you want coming on as he's an utter b******. Other fans wouldn't like him, but he's great for your own team and he will come straight on and is 100% Argentine footballer - he'll do everything to try and win the game.
As I mentioned at the beginning, he's no longer the 'flair' player that he was as a prodigy. He's developed into a different type of footballer and picked up some injuries that have affected his game. He's still an excellent squad player though, as he has a tenacity and passion that is often missing from others. I imagine he was primed for the chopping block under Mourinho, but I fully expect that he's now fully appreciated by him.