Friday was a typical Erik Lamela performance.
The Argentine did some important work to help us gain the upper hand in the first half, retaining possession under pressure and starting attacks, as well as the off-the-ball effort that you can always count on him for.
But, as usual, his lack of quality let us down when we needed it. Lamela had three opportunities to feed Son Heung-min in dangerous positions, but could not find the pass on each of those occasions…
— TheBoyHotspur (@TheBoyHotspur) June 21, 2020
— TheBoyHotspur (@TheBoyHotspur) June 21, 2020
— TheBoyHotspur (@TheBoyHotspur) June 21, 2020
The last of those three is a little speculative, but the first two clips are not difficult passes, and he is in the team to get those sort of passes right.
There is a misconception that Lamela’s only issue is his injury record, and that he’d be a regular in the starting XI were he not in the treatment room.
He has the odd good through ball in him, but his production when and where it matters is not good enough. Fit or unfit, that will never change.
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Very frustrating player, hasn’t achieved enough in his time here , the headless chicken description is well suited.
Maybe he is rusty, maybe he’s not a natural midfielder or maybe we should have sold him long ago and bought a fit player who actually contributes week in week out.
Ok he’s not perfect, but his qualities are good enough to keep him on the fringes of our team. I think his passing isn’t bad in general. Perhaps he needs a run of games to get in sync with his team mates.