Erik Lamela has been among the goals once again this evening – giving Tottenham the lead in their Audi Cup final against Bayern Munich.
But it should come as no surprise, given the Argentinian internationals quite extraordinary record in pre-season.
Life at Spurs hasn’t always been straight forward for Lamela, far from it in fact. He has scored just 14 goals in 129 Premier League appearances, which is one fewer than he managed during his final season at Roma in Serie A when he bagged 15 in the Italian capital.
Both his goal record and his consistency have often been questioned in England, but when it comes to pre-season friendlies, Lamela performs at the top of his game.
And his opening goal against the German champions was his tenth in Tottenham colours, more than any other Spurs player in that time.
Goals:
2014/2015
2 vs Toronto
1 vs Inter Milan
2016/2017
1 vs Juventus
1 vs Inter Milan
2018/2019
3 vs Southend United
2019/2020
1 vs Juventus
1 vs Bayern Munich
Tottenham fans will be hoping Lamela can continue his impressive form into the beginning of the season, but whether he does or he doesn’t, he is exciting to watch in pre-season.
Lamela is just a brilliant player. In his last full season getting regular game time he had a hand in 26 voals that season and was instrumental in defeating City twice (remember his permance in the 4-1 home win and the brilliant through ball to Eriksen in the away win), the 3-0 beating Man U, the battle of the bridge (stepping on fabregas hand amongst other bits) and so many great moments.
The next season he got injured early on and that put him out for over a year bit he didnt feature much upon returning to fitness the rest of the 17/18 season. 2018/19 remember him coming on very late with us 2-0 down at home to Liverpool. He scored an awesome volley and then was turned down a stonewall penalty by the same Liverpool biased ref who threw in one of the worst reffing performances of the season we saw against leicester when we were 3pts off the top. Poch even called out the ref after the leicester game and brought up Lamelas pen call against Liverpool.
Remember Lamela carried us creatively when Eriksen was out for a month early on in the season. When we played Barcelona with no Alli, Eriksen, Dembele or Vertonghen. Lloris had a howler and Toby and Sanchez were too easily ripped apart by barcas MSC. At the other end of the pitch Lamela scored a top class goal and set Kane up for the other.
People need to recognize that Lamela is really hard for organized defences to play against. Where good teams have always been able to shut up Eriksen, Lamela harasses, moves, tackles, fouls, drops his markers, runs at defences, thinks fast, winds up opponents, creates chances and moves defenders.
Theres no one else in our team who does what Lamela does as well as Lamela does it and I cant believe we dont get to see more of him.
Totes agree – we’ll said that man.
I’d be so pleased if Eric Lamela could really make his mark, he most definitely has the talent – just look at his time at Roma where he formed a sublime partnership with Francesco Totti.
Dont you hate how the pundits dismiss the tournament as ‘only pre-season’. Look at who we beat.. Its like saying Champions is only a post-season final .. We do need more Lamela’s when he is on form. Interesting to see how him and Lo Celso would work together if it happens.
Unfortunately Lamela will injure himself doing up his boot laces and then when he sneezes.Somewhere there is a very good footballer but doubt if he will ever make it due to injuries and inconsistency.
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