Agreed. Difficult to justify dropping Chadli, same with Kane who keeps scoring. Eriksen got his goal against Hull so harsh to drop him too. Could play Kane as the lone striker, but he seems to play better behind a striker with Soldado up front perhaps. Not shocking if Lamela loses his place against Everton, although personally I think he should be in the team.
Nice one! I think he has been rightly criticized for holding on to the ball sometimes in the past, very little evidence of that in this compilation at least. He fairly consistently manages to find space to turn, looks up, and if the pass is on he finds his team mate most of the time. Loved him winning the ball towards the end (at 1-1), then the little interplay with him and Eriksen. The kind of energy I was talking about earlier in the thread.
A good highlights clip. Confirming what I thought based on my recollections of g the game at the time - which was that Lamela played well. Absolutely love the way he takes the ball in - he's got an excellent touch. And the way he receives the ball draws defenders in - and he's effective in these situations, either laying the ball off and moving into space for a one two, or skips/turns past the player. And when he gets past them he lays the ball off, or draws a foul.
When I watched the game I didn't see him frequently losing the ball, taking too many touches, not finding team mates, making bad decisions etc - which is what he seems to be frequently cricitised for.
I see an intelligent player who actually is a step ahead of most opponents - even a step ahead of his team mates at times. Put him in a settled, proper pass and move team with everyone on the same wave length and he'd look twice as good as he already does. But encouragingly as you mention you can see his interplay with Eriksen - a player who is on that wavelength already - is really, really slick. And very effective at moving our play progressively up the field. There's even signs with Vlad in this video.
This video seems to back up what I was thinking at the time about his performance. Particularly love the passages at 1.17 (one two with Eriksen) and 3. 17 (Cruyff turn in a tight spot, then more excellent one-two style football before a great switch of play). Shows all the attributes I just talked about.
I think it shows he has a footballing brain, he is brave on the ball, and he has been coached well as a kid.He also, clearly, works hard. Love his clear energy and desire shown throughout the game.
Do think his chance at the end, though, when he should have squared to Mason, is an example where Lamela's decision making could have been better. He can improve... BUT just like the whole team can.
To me Lamela's decision making is actually clearly quite good. I still think people are using the price tag to effectively bash him - "his decision making isn't at the level of a 30 mil player". He's no better or worse than any of our other players including Eriksen IMO, it's just he cost £30 mil and this automatically makes people think he should be so much better than the others.
I would be inclined to agree with africanspurs about this. I'm not sure he'll ever be "our 'star' £30 mil player". I think he will a high class support player to the key pivots in the team (a bit like Chadli is proving to be). I think this is key to the whole price thing - if people think he will go on to be our MVP based on his price tag, then they will end up being disappointed.
The only slight concern I have is that I am seeing Lamela playing like a no 10. I also think Eriksen is a no. 10 and plays best when he does this. So fitting the two into whatever team and system we go with could be a challenge. Still, how it ended up on Sunday -- Lamela wide on the left, Lennon wide on the right, Eriksen through the middle - could prove to be a good way round this puzzle.
, I'm sure Lamela created chances for others that were also missed. Ultimately goals and general play are the most important factors for me.
