21 year old Argentine International Erik Lamela arrived at the end of August as our record signing but the former Roma man has been kept under wraps by Andre Villas-Boas so far. Having made just seven appearances in all competitions to date – the majority as a substitute – we’ve yet to see the best of Erik and judging by comments on social media, many Tottenham fans are unconvinced.
In the middle of the international break, there are many calls in the press today for Lamela to be given his chance. There’s an obvious place for him at the expense of Andros Townsend but AVB persists with the England squad member, possibly because he feels that his replacement isn’t quite ready for a starting slot.
Patience may be the key with the Argentine, as indicated by his compatriot and former Spurs boss Ossie Ardiles.
“Lamela will take more time, but over the long term he’ll be our best buy. I’m looking forward to seeing him develop,” Ossie said.
“In Argentina, Lamela played for River Plate and he was named the new Messi. He moved to Roma and was labelled the new Totti. That gives you an idea how talented he is.”
But £30m is a lot for a player to sit on the bench so is it time to unleash the record signing and give Erik Lamela a run in the starting XI?
Unleash him!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes get him in there. start against villa would be nice… cant see it though tbh. Echo ossie, ive always thought he would become our best, even after the early form of pau n eriksson
AVB persists with Townsend in the PL because he is playing so well. Andros is growing up and doesn’t shirk his responsibilities. He accepts that feeling the effects the physical side of the game is the price he has to pay to hold down a place. Anyone at the game on Sunday could see how effective he was (again). He is also crossing/passing more and shooting less. Lamela is obviously a telented boy, but in his brief appearances to date, he has avoided anything like a hard challenge for the ball and isn’t comfortable working for it unless its put on his toe. I’m sure that he will come good, but now is most definately not the time and the EUFA Europa League games will provide him with a better (less physical) introduction into the side, until he settles more.
Spot on, could not put it better myself.
Hopefully he starts against Aston villa
I must admit, my faith in AVB has been a little shaken a little since seeing him tactically outmaneouvered in the last couple of PL matches, but I admire his patience when it comes to Lamela. The boy is obviously extremely talented but the gap in playing style is huge between Italy and England. Just like Lloris, he needs to play understudy until he’s fully adapted.
In the meantime, Townsend needs to help Walker out more as he’s only a sprint on a cold day away from a hamstring injury with all the constant running he has to do in a typical match. Looking forward to Lennon getting back in there, giving us some proper wing options and giving our attacks a bit more guile and less of a battering ram. He and KL are an excellent combo too.
my patience is running out as well I think the bloke is clueless and gutless he picked defoe because the press kept on about playing him when clearly defoe cant play as a lone striker cant hold the ball up, and why he keeps playing naughton is beyond me as for dawson he tried to sell him last season the blokes not got any quicker has he.
Another season of failure looming
I would like to point that we don’t score goals because of Townsend being preferred to Lamela. Spurs have the most shoots off target thanks to Townsend as he just shoot and shoot and don’t pass the ball. Am I the only to see that this boy is extremely selfish and is not one bit a team player. We have scored 6 goals so far and Soldado is struggling because of Townsend’s inability to find him. This boy is taking chances from outside the box that Bale will not take, who does he thinks he is. He is very wrongly called to play for England because he is the most ineffective player in the premier league so far this season. I also want to remind you that if Townsend stayed on the pitch against Cardiff we wouldn’t have won the game. Townsend may be good taking on the opposition left back but that’s all, so if a £30 million player have to play as a sub out of position because of this headless chicken then I don’t think is right. Lamela’s place is on the right dear AVB, not on the left! As for Townsend…..please give him a chance in League cup games and see how he will do, but until then Lamela on the right and Andros on the bench.
I couldn’t disagree with you more. At the moment Townsend is the only player who looks as though he has it in him to score. We are getting too caught up in tactical footbal with no penetration. Too much of that wonderful midfield is spent playing sideways or back, that is why soldado is not getting any supply. Even the dreaded long diagonal ball into the box who give the Striker something to work with. We have no width and if Big Sam can work this out, then any manager in the PL can do the same. Townsend is the threat. He links up well with Walker and they break with pace, ok there has been times when the pass has been on in the final third and this something that he must had to his game, but he creates chances and he has a cracking left foot, and in my opinion it’s only a matter of time untuil he starts finding the net. We miss this on the left, and unfortunatley again this makes us predictable. I think Lamela is something special, but something special for the future. At the minute we need to sort out or goal drought.
Townsend had one shot in the first half, which went over, and all other efforts to shoot were blocked…..ergo ball lost. Townsend is a random entity. QPR had 3 of them: Taarabt and Hoilett. Capable of the spectacular once in 10 games, but not often enough.
Idiot he was the main reason England won, crawl back under your stone!
Townsend gets high marks for effort and guile. BUT for goodness sake he was the player who lost the ball the most times in the West Ham game… A game where a) we struggled to create clear cut chances – despite Townsend getting the ball into the box a couple of times (perhaps he should not cross with just Defoe in the box? What is the point?). b) we lost the game 3-0, and got caught on the break numerous times. If he is playing so well, then where are the goals/assists/MoM performances? Townsend needs to learn to retain possession sometimes. Let’s forget that this kid was playing for a side that got relegated last year, and hardly won any games. The kid is developing well, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
Agree with all this Tony – another point against Andros (perhaps the biggest negative…) is that Hodgson rates him!!! Good for impact thus far I think…
My heart sinks whenever I see Tony on any internet forum he hasn’t got a fcuking clue. I think he is a gooner troll.
And you my friend are a moronic foul mouthed cunt.
To dim to spot the irony in your post? Priceless.
Play Lamela! Despite Townsend’s improvement and good performance against West Ham, I still think he gives the ball away far too much and lacks a final ball, evidenced by no goals, and I think, no assists. I’d personally like to see a healthy Lennon play along side Eriksen and Lamela. Oh, and while I’m at it, bring back BAE!
its time to ditch dawson exposed by pace all the time and naughton must be the premier leagues worst full back ball watching all the time also defoe must not start a game again.
Bit harsh on Naughton…we never see him in his true position….
his true position is playing for some champioship club the bloke is fucking shit
With Lennon back in the fold, move Townsend over to the left wing, I hope Kaboom gets back soon, as Dawson certainly is,nt the answer! Walker, Daws, and Naughton are the weakness in this squad! Hurry back soon Kaboom and Capow,,,we NEED you!
agreed what the fuck is dawson playing for avb tried to sell him last season no fucking pace he was a joke against wet spam who by the way were average at best along with they shit cunt naughton fuck them both off
What has lamela really done to deserve it. Yes he assisted with the Cardiff goal, but did nothing against west ham with the score 0-0. In many instances it is a like for like marking at corners. Who scored the first Reid. Should lamela have been marking him. He was terrible in Russia but the pitch was horrible too. His second half againt villa was poor too. I would lamela to be a hit, but he needs to prove himself. For now even chadli is ahead of him. Don’t be too harsh on Townsend. His commitment was high, and with a better striker his one fantastic cross would have been put away
I fear Lamela will be the biggest bust ever.
He looks so unsuited to the PL. Weak, slow & what is his actual position. No one knows. He came on against WHU supposedly as a winger drifted into the middle.
30mm??not even worth 1mm. Shocking player.
Where is all this pace. I don’t see it. Reminds me of a poor Bentley (that’s saying something).
Lastly, who else actually wanted him? That’s right no one!!!
Our so called Genius Baldini has spent 100mm on garbage!
I predict between 8th & 15th this season.
I know you must be vastly experienced and knowledgeable in these things, RAS, but if it’s OK with you I’ll put my faith in Mr. Ardiles’ opinion of Lamela.
Jesus Christ… You can’t be a spurs fan… More like someone on the wind up… He’s young and last season scored 15 goals for an average Roma team from the wing… Italy is very different to the PL, but generally teams at least know how to defend well, so it shouldn’t be scoffed at.. Baldini was at Roma too, so knows what he was buying…
That’s fine with me Chazza. Ossie was a great player
for us & consistently class over a long sustained period.
One of my favourites.
Seems a great person
too.
Not 1 of my Favourite managers though!!
I’m just saying, I’ve absolutely nothing to
suggest he is remotely good.
These purchases (apart from Capoue) seem
V over priced & mediocre!
Yup, Soldado average, that’s why he’s been a regular started for Spain (the best team in the world) over the last few years and has also been one of the (if not the) highest scoring spaniard… Paulinho’s average, that’s why he starts for Brazil and was 3rd best player at the competition in the summer (alongside Iniesta & Neymar)… Chadli I think has promise, technically very good and physically big, strong and fast… Capoue looks good, but Sandro when back at his best is an absolute monster, so shame he may not get all the games he may deserve.. Eriksen’s quality too (as proven in internationals and in CL at a young age… Even Holtby’s quality, a few years ago he dominated Arsenal’s midfield in the CL while playing for Schalke… Have you ever watch a whole game where these players are playing… Be it for spurs or anyone else?
Many, many fixtures yet to played. Sometimes in a great movie a half hour passes before the best actor makes an appearance. The movie that is Spurs 13/14 is still in the sneak preview phase.
Damn! This international break has already got you plastic fans convulsing. lamela will be class for us! Be patient look at some of his touches ,look how he set up that goal for Paulinho. Remember he’s 21 and looks better then Bale was around that age. He needs to fill out because he’s tall but is built like a new born giraffe so the physicality and explosivieness of this league will be something he needs to get used to.Most of all he needs to settle on a personal level and get used to a different culture plus his brother was kidknapped recently. Have a little mercy now because you’ll be going on about how amazing he is later.
Lamela is going to be a late developer to the EPL unfortunatly these days the premiership clubs want instant success from expensive buys , it looks like we will have to tolerate Lamela for a while longer but sitting on the bench is not the answer .
This is what we get for constantly selling our best players. Levy out and take AVB with ya.
I would love to see Lamela given the nod ahead of Towy but there is also another case now.Lennon is back and he is good when fit.so how is Lamela gonna play when both Townsend and Lennon are vying for that spot and they are fast?
Only positive for Lamela is that he can create from no where and his delivery is better than the other two.maybe Lamela on the right and Lennon on the left.