Soldado and Lamela, the elephant in the room.

[G Ron]

Much better last night, particularly in the 1st half. His passing was quicker and a lot more purposeful, often in front of players running into space. Great assist and very nearly scored. Second best player behind Dembele who was immense. Keep it going!

 

[mrlilywhite]

Erik Lamela covered 12.13km, more than anyone else on the pitch, according to opta. A good game from Erik. Though there was an obvious pass to his left when he fed Dembele, but otherwise a good night from him.

 

[DJS]

Okay I can admit I may have been wrong about Lamela, I'm fickle and I admit it lol.

Let's hope he continues to find his feet

 

[nicdic]

Didn't think he had that in him. All the reports before we signed him seemed to say he was a bit lazy defensively, but the guy is putting in monster shifts right now. Incredible work rate. Hopefully as he gains confidence he'll start to show more going forward too. Thought he did really well last night, assist for Kane was lovely, and some good attacking moves, but as noted by everyone, picked the wrong option by cutting to Dembele rather than slipping Mason in.

 

[dagraham]

He had a much better game last night, but still seems to slip over constantly when on the run. Don't know whether he's wearing incorrect studs or just doesn't possess very good balance.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I don't do stats but would be interested to know what his passing completion was seeing as everyone uses it as a benchmark. From what I saw he misplaced a lot of passes again, cant fault his workrate though, was very evidently working his tits off.

 

[0-Tibsy-0]

I don't do stats but would be interested to know what his passing completion was seeing as everyone uses it as a benchmark. From what I saw he misplaced a lot of passes again, cant fault his workrate though, was very evidently working his tits off.

It was quite poor, 70 something %, but better than Eriksen and Kane.

 

[nicdic]

I don't do stats but would be interested to know what his passing completion was seeing as everyone uses it as a benchmark. From what I saw he misplaced a lot of passes again, cant fault his workrate though, was very evidently working his tits off.

According to whoscored, 71.4%

 

[dagraham]

The whole team was sloppy in possession last night really.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

The whole team was sloppy in possession last night really.

Yeah no doubt about that, was just surprised we were singling out Lamela for praise, his passing (statwise) was slightly better than Eriksen who I thought had a very poor game by his standards. As I said though can't fault Lamela's workrate.

 

[dagraham]

Yeah no doubt about that, was just surprised we were singling out Lamela for praise, his passing (statwise) was slightly better than Eriksen who I thought had a very poor game by his standards. As I said though can't fault Lamela's workrate.

I don't think Lamela was particularly great, but it was definitely an improvement on the Arsenal match in terms of attacking productivity.

What still concerns me is that unless he's playing against pony opposition he still seems unable to beat a man.

 

[JerryGarcia]

He's slowly making himself a vital cog in our system, we wouldn't be able to press as much down the right without him at the moment IMO.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I don't think Lamela was particularly great, but it was definitely an improvement on the Arsenal match in terms of attacking productivity.

What still concerns me is that unless he's playing against pony opposition he still seems unable to beat a man.

Yeah worries me too.

 

[yiddo23]

He looks like a true poch player right now

 

[npearl4spurs]

I'm glad I said something as the vast majority of this thread since has been productive for me.

I like seeing what other people say about him bar the price tag. I didn't get to watch the game yesterday, but saw some extended highlights and thought he looked much better.

He does fairly well in my eyes when collapsed on by two or three defenders because he is tricky with the ball and can get it out of trouble. He was loosing possession quite a bit in some earlier games this season, but he seems to be improving game by game.

I'm not a natural football player and didn't grow up playing it here in the States, but can his right foot be improved at this stage? It seems if he could do more with it and spend a bit more time on the right side near the touchline we could do a bit more in attack with his creative ability.

 

[Shea]

You must be taking the piss?

Yeah. You're taking the piss.

You're taking the piss right?

Certainly not

As I said - he didn't have a lot of time, nor was he given any service to make an impact in the game

I certainly don't want to unduly moan about him - that's why I never bothered giving him a rating in the match ratings thread

But seeing as this thread is specifically about Lamela and Soldado and both played yesterday I gave my opinions on the pair

When it came to evaluating Soldado, while I acknowledged that he was given very little time and what time he had was spent with us creating very little and Liverpool breaking up the game and closing it out well.....he was brought on as a late sub to try and make an impact and he made zero, basically it was a waste of time bringing him on. Mostly not his own fault, but then I would argue as a fresh impact player he could have done more to directly make things happen with his runs to create some space or offer an outlet for our players seeking to create an attack

I'm being overly critical I know and this is why I didn't mention anything about him in the ratings thread - but analysing him for what little time he had I think he contributed to our attacking play being blunted and us failing to create anything after falling behind and I think we'd have had more chance leaving him sat on the bench to keep Demebele on as at least he may have forced the issue and made something happen

 

[TaoistMonkey]

bizarre

 

[Shea]

bizarre

Why is it bizarre?

He was brought on as an attacking sub to make some kind of impact in the game and he made none

It wasn't worth bringing him on and I believe we'd have stood a better chance of making something happen had Demeble stayed on instead because Soldado is incapable of creating anything for himself and relies on someone else creating for him so while we were not really making things happen for him it was pointless him being on the pitch and he made us weaker as a whole than we'd have been with Demebele still on

It was basically a waste of time bringing him on because he did nothing and Dembele at least could have made something happen potentially