I liked Erik Lamela before it was cool

[braineclipse]

Quite a lot through 15-16 season

Lamela (33 starts), Alli (35 starts) and Eriksen (40 starts), tended to feature ahead of Chadli (19 starts), Townsend (3 starts) and Njie (2 starts)

Yeah. Our 4231 with Eriksen, Alli and Lamela with Kane ahead of them worked really well.

 

[scaramanga]

 

[awesome dawson]

Welcome back Erik

 

[greatwhitenorf]

That's a productive two first touches on his return.

OK. Post script suggests it was three first touches. Still, great to have him back.

 

[SteveAWOL]

https://twitter.com/x/status/935622022163550214

https://twitter.com/x/status/935620022176796677

 

[awesome dawson]

And another five minutes to register his first yellow card. Wasn't deserved mind.

 

[awesome dawson]

He also took our first decent corner in about 13 months.

 

[billyiddo]

Oh how I've missed seeing him charge down every loose ball in the final third

 

[Robbo]

Welcome back!

 

[mjc23]

Welcome back Erik.

 

[braineclipse]

Great to have him back. And looked sharper than I thought he would.

 

[the dza]

Raised the tempo, both with the ball and without. He could be the boost that the team currently needs, very glad to have him back. And now if Eriksen needs a rest, there is a proper replacement for him (and I'm sure they will also start many games together too).

 

[greatwhitenorf]

One of the few positives to take from this game. Best of all, he can only feel confident about what he has to offer moving forward. Well done, Erik, and well done Mauricio for properly managing his re-introduction

 

[Rorschach]

He's good at those through passes.

Eriksen prefers the aerial route but they seem to be coming up short all the time. Tired legs I would think.

 

[nayenezgani]

He offers nothing! He's a stupid fancy fanny who we haven't missed one bit.. Useless. Sell him and his fragile hips.

 

[scaramanga]

He's good at those through passes.

Eriksen prefers the aerial route but they seem to be coming up short all the time. Tired legs I would think.

Lamela just disguised them better. His pass today for the goal had him shaped to pass across the box - I'm fairly sure he looked in that direction too.

Defenders can see what Eriksen's going to do, so the ball has to be so much better to clear them.

 

[Mr_B]

I said a while back he would never play for us again, I'm delighted to be wrong, great to see the boy back, please stay healthy now.

 

[SteveAWOL]

https://twitter.com/x/status/935669661341011968

https://twitter.com/x/status/935648800676483078

 

[Hidden]

I'm very happy he returned and immediately made a difference to our display. He was like a breath fresh air and potentially can help us in returning to winning condition along with Kane.

 

[braineclipse]

Straight away you could see him playing his quick and accurate passes. In the buildup for the goal he's actually involved twice. One touch pass to Dier who finds Son who plays it back to Lamela. One touch to control it, "simple through ball". In between there's a nice little movement from Lamela to find space too.

Kane, Son, Alli, Dembele, Sissoko and even Eriksen so often end up taking an extra touch or two for various reasons. The quick passing from Lamela ups our tempo and makes us harder to defend against.