Érik Lamela

[Astro]

Are we all agreed ?

It's not going to ever happen is it ?

Very poor footballer x

Not being one to hit that dreaded "X" lol

I disagree man.

He's really really overcriticised. That price tag is like a weight around his neck especially in light of Bales departure.
It's easy to see peoples subconscious association..... we loose Bale, buy Lamella for a club record transfer fee and whammo.....expect a new Bale.

This kid is not Adebeyor, you can see him trying on the pitch, he's working hard and he's young.

 

[Furball man]

The assists and goals for one.

This season has been his first real season, last season hardly counts. Lets see what he can do next season.

Cheers . Yup I stand corrected with the assists . I just find him very frustrating as a 90 min player

 

[Raven_Spurs]

Raven_Spurs

I try to never diss our players & i always support them while in the shirt but can u explain why you disagreed with my post? When has he impressed? He's now 2 seasons in

Thank you for the reply ( not being sarcastic, I hope u can explain why I am wrong )

I just don't think it can be a coincidence that our attack has been so much more effective than it has been in the last couple of games when Lamela didn't start. Yes, he made quite a few mistakes but he probably was a bit nervous and felt he had something to prove (which he did) after making his first start after such a long time on the bench. I thought he got into a few good positions today and hopefully can build on that in the next few games plus I think he can offer more than Townsend, offensively and defensively. I know it may be stupid but I still have faith in him and still desperately want him to succeed here. Plus he got an assist today and has more of them than anyone else on our team (as far as I know) so his performance today couldn't have been that bad.

 

[ArcspacE]

Lolz

Cunt-faced gooner cunt troll cunt. FOAD

 

[Totti]

I think we looked better, not because Lamela was superb or anything, but I feel he has an overall presence that Townsend doesn't. Whilst both are not afraid to take on players, I feel Lamela has a bit more "guile" about him, mix that in with his work rate it's a recipe for improvement. An assist is always good for confidence, not the hardest but it's an assist.

I think he should start in our next game. I'd start the exact same front four actually. I'd prefer Dembele away at Southampton, but maybe we'll partner him in the middle with Bentaleb? Probably not, I don't think Pochettino likes Dembele in central midfield.

 

[Tomo]

I think we looked better, not because Lamela was superb or anything, but I feel he has an overall presence that Townsend doesn't. Whilst both are not afraid to take on players, I feel Lamela has a bit more "guile" about him, mix that in with his work rate it's a recipe for improvement. An assist is always good for confidence, not the hardest but it's an assist.

I think he should start in our next game. I'd start the exact same front four actually. I'd prefer Dembele away at Southampton, but maybe we'll partner him in the middle with Bentaleb? Probably not, I don't think Pochettino likes Dembele in central midfield.

I think the issue with Townsend is his positioning and how he presses, I also prefer him on the left. Townsend is a traditional winger, he looks out of place when on the right in our system.

 

[JDK]

Lamela was appalling today. He gave away possession constantly, didn't appear to have any control of the ball at his feet, almost got sent off, and missed chances.

I'm all for giving him a chance to play the rest of the season as I'd like to see if there is anything there before the summer window. However, anyone trying to dress up his game today in any kind of positive light is seriously deluded.

 

[Astro]

I just don't think it can be a coincidence that our attack has been so much more effective than it has been in the last couple of games when Lamela didn't start. Yes, he made quite a few mistakes but he probably was a bit nervous and felt he had something to prove (which he did) after making his first start after such a long time on the bench. I thought he got into a few good positions today and hopefully can build on that in the next few games plus I think he can offer more than Townsend, offensively and defensively. I know it may be stupid but I still have faith in him and still desperately want him to succeed here. Plus he got an assist today and has more of them than anyone else on our team (as far as I know) so his performance today couldn't have been that bad.

It's not stupid mate

 

[Jenny Talia]

He should play every minute of all our remaining games. Is he frustrating? Yes. Is there a top player in there? Also yes.

 

[Astro]

Lamela was appalling today. He gave away possession constantly, didn't appear to have any control of the ball at his feet, almost got sent off, and missed chances.

I'm all for giving him a chance to play the rest of the season as I'd like to see if there is anything there before the summer window. However, anyone trying to dress up his game today in any kind of positive light is seriously deluded.

His first half wasn't great.

Hell.... Eriksen can be invisble for almost 90 minutes, then do an assist or score a goal and all is ok with the world.

In every match thread... soon as Lamella makes a mistake, no matter how small.....there's 10-20 posts lambasting him.

Jesus..... even in Harry's best games, he looses the ball, makes a bad pass, but what you see in the match threads is, "unlucky Harry."

A lot of this is perception. Harry's one of our own, come through the ranks. Erik is our club record signing (having never played in the England before)
It is the expectation that drives a lot of it. And rightfully so, there's a lot of expectation for the money we paid. But he's a young kid, not some assett that is infallable.

I can see a good young player that's working hard every game, and I mean every game - trying too hard at times. And I remember what thats like trying so hard to impress, instead of just relaxing and letting it happen.

We were lucky to have Bale, didn't appreciate him fully when he was here and there is a huge void (world record transfer void) that many expect Lamella to fill.

 

[JDK]

His first half wasn't great.

Hell.... Eriksen can be invisble for almost 90 minutes, then do an assist or score a goal and all is ok with the world.

In every match thread... soon as Lamella makes a mistake, no matter how small.....there's 10-20 posts lambasting him.

Jesus..... even in Harry's best games, he looses the ball, makes a bad pass, but what you see in the match threads is, "unlucky Harry."

A lot of this is perception. Harry's one of our own, come through the ranks. Erik is our club record signing (having never played in the England before)
It is the expectation that drives a lot of it. And rightfully so, there's a lot of expectation for the money we paid. But he's a young kid, not some assett that is infallable.

I can see a good young player that's working hard every game, and I mean every game - trying too hard at times. And I remember what thats like trying so hard to impress, instead of just relaxing and letting it happen.

We were lucky to have Bale, didn't appreciate him fully when he was here and there is a huge void (world record transfer void) that many expect Lamella to fill.

I don't disagree with most of what you just said. There's definitely a lot of confirmation bias and jumping on a player anytime that they make a single mistake.

But I'm not posting in the game thread, I'm posting after watching 90 minutes. He was absolutely horrendous by any standard. You can say that we expect too much out of him because of his price tag or because he hasn't been Bale but on the flip side if Townsend, Lennon, or an academy boy put in that performance there is not a single chance in hell that the majority of posts in this thread would be defending them.

He was really bad for 93 minutes, it is what it is. I hope that he starts again against Southampton and isn't bad.

 

[Astro]

I don't disagree with most of what you just said. There's definitely a lot of confirmation bias and jumping on a player anytime that they make a single mistake.

But I'm not posting in the game thread, I'm posting after watching 90 minutes. He was absolutely horrendous by any standard. You can say that we expect too much out of him because of his price tag or because he hasn't been Bale but on the flip side if Townsend, Lennon, or an academy boy put in that performance there is not a single chance in hell that the majority of posts in this thread would be defending them.

He was really bad for 93 minutes, it is what it is. I hope that he starts again against Southampton and isn't bad.

But was he "that bad"? I don't think he was that bad and he got the assist.
I've had to take a step back, forget Bale, forget the price tag and pretend I'm watching a kid getting recently promoted from the youth team to give me better perspective.
Because my assessment has been (unintentionally) tainted by Bale void / Lamella price tag. Expecting wonders every game.
He's not a complete player yet and the price tag isn't his fault. I see his mistakes (probably not all - I'm not a football guru) but I see him trying hard and I see lots of quality too - not in every game, but is Mason consistent in every game?

Even if we had Maradona at his peak, he would still have bad games.

I guess my point would be that every player has bad games and good games, but because of circumstances and expectation, his good games aren't really recognised because the bar has already been set a lot higher by Bale.
It's like being the next manager after Fergie.

 

[Freudlyuchenko]

I don't disagree with most of what you just said. There's definitely a lot of confirmation bias and jumping on a player anytime that they make a single mistake.

But I'm not posting in the game thread, I'm posting after watching 90 minutes. He was absolutely horrendous by any standard. You can say that we expect too much out of him because of his price tag or because he hasn't been Bale but on the flip side if Townsend, Lennon, or an academy boy put in that performance there is not a single chance in hell that the majority of posts in this thread would be defending them.

He was really bad for 93 minutes, it is what it is. I hope that he starts again against Southampton and isn't bad.

I was beyond shit in the first half, as we grew into the game he got better and more direct, still far from brilliant but there was notable improvement between the halves.

 

[Blanchflower]

For me it's pretty simple:
- with Townsend - he plays shit, and the team looks very poor.
- with Lamela - he can play even worse individually, but the team still looks better.

I can happily sit through any number of mistake ridden games from Lamela.......as the alternative is no better

Clearly we need to buy better wide players in the summer.

 

[JDK]

But was he "that bad"? I don't think he was that bad and he got the assist.
I've had to take a step back, forget Bale, forget the price tag and pretend I'm watching a kid getting recently promoted from the youth team to give me better perspective.
Because my assessment has been (unintentionally) tainted by Bale void / Lamella price tag. Expecting wonders every game.
He's not a complete player yet and the price tag isn't his fault. I see his mistakes (probably not all - I'm not a football guru) but I see him trying hard and I see lots of quality too - not in every game, but is Mason consistent in every game?

Even if we had Maradona at his peak, he would still have bad games.

I guess my point would be that every player has bad games and good games, but because of circumstances and expectation, his good games aren't really recognised because the bar has already been set a lot higher by Bale.
It's like being the next manager after Fergie.

Your argument is built heavily around consistency. But Lamela hasn't really had many good games. For the most part in his two years at the club he has been consistently bad. So when he has a bad game it doesn't make logical sense to assume it was a one off. Thus, he doesn't get the leeway of Maradona, Bale, or even Ryan Mason (though Mason would be getting it much worse if he had Lamela's game today).

Now some of Lamela's issues can be partially explained by injuries, everything weird that happened last season, adjusting to a new league/country, and not gettign the most consistent run in the team. But that isn't really my point. I hope he plays against Southampton and that he keeps getting starts as long as our games remain relatively meaningless. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to take positives from his absolutely galling performance today. Newcastle are about as bad of an opposition as we'll face on the run in, he really should be doing better than he did today.

 

[JDK]

For me it's pretty simple:
- with Townsend - he plays shit, and the team looks very poor.
- with Lamela - he can play even worse individually, but the team still looks better.

I can happily sit through any number of mistake ridden games from Lamela.......as the alternative is no better

Clearly we need to buy better wide players in the summer.

Or maybe the more apt casual link is that we when Townsend was playing against Leicester, Burnley, and Aston we were playing extremely motivated teams scrapping to avoid relegation and Lamela got to play the league's worst form side in Newcastle who clearly cannot be bothered.

Not disagreeing with your point that Townsend and Lamela both need to be improved upon or that Lamela should play on the run in but I don't think Lamela versus Townsend was the decisive factor in beating an awful Newcastle team.

 

[Astro]

Your argument is built heavily around consistency. But Lamela hasn't really had many good games. For the most part in his two years at the club he has been consistently bad. So when he has a bad game it doesn't make logical sense to assume it was a one off. Thus, he doesn't get the leeway of Maradona, Bale, or even Ryan Mason (though Mason would be getting it much worse if he had Lamela's game today).

Now some of Lamela's issues can be partially explained by injuries, everything weird that happened last season, adjusting to a new league/country, and not gettign the most consistent run in the team. But that isn't really my point. I hope he plays against Southampton and that he keeps getting starts as long as our games remain relatively meaningless. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to take positives from his absolutely galling performance today. Newcastle are about as bad of an opposition as we'll face on the run in, he really should be doing better than he did today.

Not really bud. More built on perception and expectation tainting the view of the quality of his performances.

A good game for Lamella - viewed bad because it wasn't Bale standard.
A good game for Mason/Bentaleb- viewed great because they're young, come through the ranks.

And it's hard to shine (especially if you're struggling) in a team that isn't playing that well. And as a team, I don't think we have been playing great (apart from the odd game here or there).
For example... Man Utd in their best years, it was much easier for a youngster when every one else is on form and firing and confidence is soaring.

That's not to say that I don't hope for more, even expect more as he matures and garners experience.

Like you, I hope he gets more games, but I'd like to see him in important games too. There's no better learning experience than when the pressure is on.

 

[Tomo]

Or maybe the more apt casual link is that we when Townsend was playing against Leicester, Burnley, and Aston we were playing extremely motivated teams scrapping to avoid relegation and Lamela got to play the league's worst form side in Newcastle who clearly cannot be bothered.

Not disagreeing with your point that Townsend and Lamela both need to be improved upon or that Lamela should play on the run in but I don't think Lamela versus Townsend was the decisive factor in beating an awful Newcastle team.

I think why people sometimes prefer Lamela depsite his awful awful first half is that his positioning, pressing and general link play seems to fit our system far better than Townsend who just looks like an old fashioned winger.

Last two games all our issues have come from the attacking three of Chadli, Eriksen and Townsend not linking properly and thus starving Kane. Of course this is not all Townsend's fault but we do for some reason look more balanced with Lamela on the right than Townsend.

Personally I feel that Townsend looks better on the left, he goes past people and can put in a mean cross on his left peg. On the right he runs down blind alleys and doesn't trust his right foot to cross as much, he also seems confused with the defensive side of the game on the right which I find hard to understand.

 

[Bergmattsson]

Had a shit first half where he was actually as bad as he is often painted out to be on here/Twitter. Noticeably improved as the game went along and should've scored one and got into positions where he should've been given the ball for more chances (Kane, looking at you). Added his team leading 6th assist too whilst constantly making runs and getting on the ball. All in all, a mediocre showing. We did look way more dangerous than we have lately and obviously he was part of that. He's also had strong subs lately and before he was glued to the bench he played well in the NLD and was arguably MoM against Liverpool. I think he's had an okay season (yes, I'm using the "this is first actual season"-excuse) and if you are leading the team in assists you simply can't be as bad as many would have us believe.

That said, I fully expect him to be better and I demand more. Not because of the price tag but because that it is evident that he has all the tools required to be a marquee player for us, but he needs to assemble them soon. It happens way too often that he does something brilliant only to run straight onto the defender and be dispossessed. However, his work rate his flawless, he's creative and always looking to damage the opposition (which we need in our side) and has just turned 23. As someone said, if he could just get into the habit of scoring the odd (PL) goal people wouldn't get on his back as much, as Eriksen is just as ineffective and inconsistent at times but isn't given as much stick.

Tldr: had a mare in the 1st half, raised his game as it went along. Is not half as bad as painted out to be most of the times. Shouldn't be sold but if we get a big offer I wouldn't protest if he was. I do see a baller in him though.

 

[JDK]

Not really bud. More built on perception and expectation tainting the view of the quality of his performances.

A good game for Lamella - viewed bad because it wasn't Bale standard.
A good game for Mason/Bentaleb- viewed great because they're young, come through the ranks.

And it's hard to shine (especially if you're struggling) in a team that isn't playing that well. And as a team, I don't think we have been playing great (apart from the odd game here or there).
For example... Man Utd in their best years, it was much easier for a youngster when every one else is on form and firing and confidence is soaring.

That's not to say that I don't hope for more, even expect more as he matures and garners experience.

Like you, I hope he gets more games, but I'd like to see him in important games too. There's no better learning experience than when the pressure is on.

Fair enough, only thing I disagree entirely with is the comparison of Lamela to the players who came from the academy. I think a lot of people have forgotten how Bentaleb, Kane, and Mason were talked about when they first got into the team. They get the benefit of the doubt now because they have proved it on the pitch.

Check out the beginning of the Kane and Bentaleb threads and tell me they got an easy ride. I think guys like Soldado and Lamela who have proved absolutely nothing over two seasons have gotten a much cleaner ride than the academy boys did because of their pricetag.