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I liked Erik Lamela before it was cool

As Tottenham fans we have become far to accepting of mediocrity. Look at the love the likes of Sissoko, Lamela and Winks get.
Funny thing that, what exposure does to you - both ways. When we had a "system", Lamela and Sissoko really stood out as mediocre players. And when I say system, I mean an Eriksen in form. I cannot emphasize enough how important (I think) he was for us. Arguably the best buy we've made in eons, his peak coincided with the best seasons I've ever seen from Spurs. His vision, distribution and ability to make things happen allowed other players to be themselves (exhibit A: Alli) and even look better in the process. Without Eriksen we have no one to create anything (the best "initiator" we have now is probably Kane for GHod's sake). This exposes Winks as a player who is much more comfortable passing the ball sideways and backwards to someone who makes things happen, even when 2-0 down and said person does not exist, and Sissoko as someone who prefers to pass the ball straight back at the very person he received the ball from (later interpreted as "solid"). If he on top of that makes a successful pass or two forward, he's shoe-in MotM. Still it's a little unfair to expect them to be players they never were, and they're rightfully applauded when trying. Those kind of players' reasons for standing out negatively are now their reasons for standing out positively, so to speak.

Same goes for the defence, even Sanchez would and did look better before. Not because he's suddenly become an idiot, but because our defense had much less chance to go tits up when 85% of the league sat back against us, and rarely had more than one man in our half. No one double and triple teams Kane anymore, because he spends most of his time going walkabout in a non lethal position on the field. Look at Liverpool now, their dip is not all down to Van Dijk being injured. It's about when put under regular pressure, not all players are as solid as you maybe thought they were.

Put old Lamela in our team today, and he'll look good. Even if he hasn't changed much, if at all. This goes for Son too actually, the same Son who hardly started a game in our "heydays" unless Kane had one of his annual ankle break breaks. He's pretty much the same player as well, but he's more visible and has more responsibility. He has always had an engine, he's always been direct, and up until recently he's always been oblivious to that there may be players (Kane) better placed in the box than himself. He's actually a bit worse now in my opinion, because his suspect decision making sometimes makes him pass out of "obligation and favour", not because it's a better option than going for it himself. At least that's the way I see it.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with those who feels a massive rebuild is for the best.
 
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Funny thing that, what exposure does to you - both ways. When we had a "system", Lamela and Sissoko really stood out as mediocre players. And when I say system, I mean an Eriksen in form. I cannot emphasize enough how important (I think) he was for us. Arguably the best buy we've made in eons, his peak coincided with the best seasons I've ever seen from Spurs. His vision, distribution and ability to make things happen allowed other players to be themselves (exhibit A: Alli) and even look better in the process. Without Eriksen we have no one to create anything (the best "initiator" we have now is probably Kane for GHod's sake). This exposes Winks as a player who is much more comfortable passing the ball sideways and backwards to someone who makes things happen, even when 2-0 down and said person does not exist, and Sissoko as someone who prefers to pass the ball straight back at the very person he received the ball from (later interpreted as "solid"). If he on top of that makes a successful pass or two forward, he's shoe-in MotM. Still it's a little unfair to expect them to be players they never were, and they're rightfully applauded when trying. Those kind of players' reason for standing out negatively are now their reason for standing out positively, so to speak.

Same goes for the defence, even Sanchez would and did look better before. Not because he's suddenly become an idiot, but because our defense had much less chance to go tits up when 85% of the league sat back against us, and rarely had more than one man in our half. No one double and triple teams Kane anymore, because he spends most of his time wallying about in a non lethal position on the field. Look at Liverpool now, their dip is not all down to Van Dijk being injured. It's about when put under regular pressure, not all players are as solid as you maybe thought they were.

Put old Lamela in our team today, and he'll look good. Even if he hasn't changed much, if at all. This goes for Son too actually, the same Son who hardly started a game in our "heydays" unless Kane had one of his annual ankle break breaks. He's pretty much the same player as well, but he's more visible and has more responsibility. He has always had an engine, he's always been direct, and up until recently he's always been oblivious to that there may be players (Kane) better placed in the box than himself. He's actually a bit worse now in my opinion, because his suspect decision making sometimes makes him pass out of "obligation and favour", not because it's a better option than going for it himself. At least that's the way I see it.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with those who feels a massive rebuild is for the best.


Could not agree more about the bit about Eriksen he was our heartbeat and everything good came through him, sadly he was not always appreciated by a section of our crowd as much as he should have been IMO. Since he left we have had no general in the centre of the pitch and that is usually where a game is won/lost. I know some will disagree with that.
 
Could not agree more about the bit about Eriksen he was our heartbeat and everything good came through him, sadly he was not always appreciated by a section of our crowd as much as he should have been IMO. Since he left we have had no general in the centre of the pitch and that is usually where a game is won/lost. I know some will disagree with that.
It's a sad state now really. I feel that most of our gameplan now is to "soak up the pressure" (GHod I hate that expression), ping in from the wing/byline or repeatedly throwing one-man runs against a wall. Of just hoof it. Kane is incidentally a good hoofer, while he should not need to be one. We are so easy to defend, because we have so little initiative and movement. When outside the opposition box, everything often just grinds to a halt. We have little use of a successful one-man run when the rest of the team just stands there with their hands up their arses, and a few through balls with more hope than intent.

Sometimes things just clicks and this method yields results, but it's often against poor opposition and not a tactic to rely on in my book.
 
Funny thing that, what exposure does to you - both ways. When we had a "system", Lamela and Sissoko really stood out as mediocre players. And when I say system, I mean an Eriksen in form. I cannot emphasize enough how important (I think) he was for us. Arguably the best buy we've made in eons, his peak coincided with the best seasons I've ever seen from Spurs. His vision, distribution and ability to make things happen allowed other players to be themselves (exhibit A: Alli) and even look better in the process. Without Eriksen we have no one to create anything (the best "initiator" we have now is probably Kane for GHod's sake). This exposes Winks as a player who is much more comfortable passing the ball sideways and backwards to someone who makes things happen, even when 2-0 down and said person does not exist, and Sissoko as someone who prefers to pass the ball straight back at the very person he received the ball from (later interpreted as "solid"). If he on top of that makes a successful pass or two forward, he's shoe-in MotM. Still it's a little unfair to expect them to be players they never were, and they're rightfully applauded when trying. Those kind of players' reasons for standing out negatively are now their reasons for standing out positively, so to speak.

Same goes for the defence, even Sanchez would and did look better before. Not because he's suddenly become an idiot, but because our defense had much less chance to go tits up when 85% of the league sat back against us, and rarely had more than one man in our half. No one double and triple teams Kane anymore, because he spends most of his time going walkabout in a non lethal position on the field. Look at Liverpool now, their dip is not all down to Van Dijk being injured. It's about when put under regular pressure, not all players are as solid as you maybe thought they were.

Put old Lamela in our team today, and he'll look good. Even if he hasn't changed much, if at all. This goes for Son too actually, the same Son who hardly started a game in our "heydays" unless Kane had one of his annual ankle break breaks. He's pretty much the same player as well, but he's more visible and has more responsibility. He has always had an engine, he's always been direct, and up until recently he's always been oblivious to that there may be players (Kane) better placed in the box than himself. He's actually a bit worse now in my opinion, because his suspect decision making sometimes makes him pass out of "obligation and favour", not because it's a better option than going for it himself. At least that's the way I see it.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with those who feels a massive rebuild is for the best.


You make it sound like we were a one man team and without Eriksen every player was worse, can't agree with that at all. And that is not a dig at Eriksen, who I agree with you that he is undoubtedly the best buy we have made in years.
Also don't remember a time when son wasn't a shoe in as a starter. I'm fact I'm pretty sure quite a few of us are said that at times son should be dropped.
And I wouldn't use Sissoko to judge anything or anyone.
 
You make it sound like we were a one man team and without Eriksen every player was worse, can't agree with that at all. And that is not a dig at Eriksen, who I agree with you that he is undoubtedly the best buy we have made in years.
Also don't remember a time when son wasn't a shoe in as a starter. I'm fact I'm pretty sure quite a few of us are said that at times son should be dropped.
And I wouldn't use Sissoko to judge anything or anyone.
In terms of creativity, it wasn't too far off. At least they way I saw it, and saw when it wasn't there anymore. I'm not saying we were a one man team - in fact I would say (and may have mentioned) the exact opposite. Everybody contributed, because we had someone who nearly always tried to make something happen. I seem to remember being overjoyed by us having movement up top again, which we had lacked for so long. Eriksen always seem to see clever runs, as opposed to people making runs over and over again without receiving the ball. If that happens for too long, people stop making runs, and regress to ball watching. There was a period, can't remember when exactly, where we had a fantastic fluid attack, where Kane would regulary either drag defenders out of position, opening up for others, or making the runs himself. Happy times.

My comment about Son may perhaps be a tiny bit overstated for effect, but I seem to remember him wanting to leave for being featured too little. It is perfectly possible that I remember that incorrectly and will hold my hands up if so. My mind isn't what it never used to be, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't always been a regular starter, and at some point even were feared to be a flop and regarded energetic but ineffective.
 
In terms of creativity, it wasn't too far off. At least they way I saw it, and saw when it wasn't there anymore. I'm not saying we were a one man team - in fact I would say (and may have mentioned) the exact opposite. Everybody contributed, because we had someone who nearly always tried to make something happen. I seem to remember being overjoyed by us having movement up top again, which we had lacked for so long. Eriksen always seem to see clever runs, as opposed to people making runs over and over again without receiving the ball. If that happens for too long, people stop making runs, and regress to ball watching. There was a period, can't remember when exactly, where we had a fantastic fluid attack, where Kane would regulary either drag defenders out of position, opening up for others, or making the runs himself. Happy times.

My comment about Son may perhaps be a tiny bit overstated for effect, but I seem to remember him wanting to leave for being featured too little. It is perfectly possible that I remember that incorrectly and will hold my hands up if so. My mind isn't what it never used to be, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't always been a regular starter, and at some point even were feared to be a flop and regarded energetic but ineffective.

You have my sympathy on your powers of recall, mine are not exactly great either. Age is a terrible thing.
Eriksens big talent was his incisiveness at the correct time. A talent I think it took a while for us to totally appreciate.
A talent we made the most of, but maybe to the detriment of others.
Can't blame anyone for that, he was a key component in a system that worked and along with son, Kane and Dembele we had success. And I do consider what we done as success.
But I do wonder if it came at a cost to others, dele, Rose, lamela, Moura and a few others we have moved on.
Maybe a cup would have bought some breathing room to be more expansive and give others a role more suited to their skill sets.
 
You have my sympathy on your powers of recall, mine are not exactly great either. Age is a terrible thing.
Eriksens big talent was his incisiveness at the correct time. A talent I think it took a while for us to totally appreciate.
A talent we made the most of, but maybe to the detriment of others.
Can't blame anyone for that, he was a key component in a system that worked and along with son, Kane and Dembele we had success. And I do consider what we done as success.
But I do wonder if it came at a cost to others, dele, Rose, lamela, Moura and a few others we have moved on.
Maybe a cup would have bought some breathing room to be more expansive and give others a role more suited to their skill sets.
Got to say that I see Dele as one of the real benefactors of that era. What he did and does looked natural and part of our style back then, now it often looks awkward and out of place. Lamela and Moura maybe, but they haven't brought anything revolutionary to the table since Eriksen's decline and departure. Moura in particular is one I reckon would be better with a real midfield general, as in a Modric (not Eriksen).

I do agree about success, I see Poch's reign as nearly as good as it could have been. Of course a title or a cup would have been great, but we were real contenders in a never before seen time of superteams, most of our opponents feared us, we turned the London hierarchy on it's head and cemented CL participation. And we were exciting to watch, I mean, Redknapp's team were fun many times and sometimes not, but under Poch there were almost never a game I didn't feel like we could turn things around right at the end. We had a resiliance and confidence I have never seen before. I am in no position to demand trophies, but I like to see us have a proper go, and be entertaining in the process. Which we did and we were, I fear it will take time before we're back at that level again.
 
I see Poch's reign as nearly as good as it could have been
The first years were really encouraging, but in his last year he started to decay and stumble and fail for all the reasons we've discussed a bazillion times e.g. lack of new players
 
Funny thing that, what exposure does to you - both ways. When we had a "system", Lamela and Sissoko really stood out as mediocre players. And when I say system, I mean an Eriksen in form. I cannot emphasize enough how important (I think) he was for us. Arguably the best buy we've made in eons, his peak coincided with the best seasons I've ever seen from Spurs. His vision, distribution and ability to make things happen allowed other players to be themselves (exhibit A: Alli) and even look better in the process. Without Eriksen we have no one to create anything (the best "initiator" we have now is probably Kane for GHod's sake). This exposes Winks as a player who is much more comfortable passing the ball sideways and backwards to someone who makes things happen, even when 2-0 down and said person does not exist, and Sissoko as someone who prefers to pass the ball straight back at the very person he received the ball from (later interpreted as "solid"). If he on top of that makes a successful pass or two forward, he's shoe-in MotM. Still it's a little unfair to expect them to be players they never were, and they're rightfully applauded when trying. Those kind of players' reasons for standing out negatively are now their reasons for standing out positively, so to speak.

Same goes for the defence, even Sanchez would and did look better before. Not because he's suddenly become an idiot, but because our defense had much less chance to go tits up when 85% of the league sat back against us, and rarely had more than one man in our half. No one double and triple teams Kane anymore, because he spends most of his time going walkabout in a non lethal position on the field. Look at Liverpool now, their dip is not all down to Van Dijk being injured. It's about when put under regular pressure, not all players are as solid as you maybe thought they were.

Put old Lamela in our team today, and he'll look good. Even if he hasn't changed much, if at all. This goes for Son too actually, the same Son who hardly started a game in our "heydays" unless Kane had one of his annual ankle break breaks. He's pretty much the same player as well, but he's more visible and has more responsibility. He has always had an engine, he's always been direct, and up until recently he's always been oblivious to that there may be players (Kane) better placed in the box than himself. He's actually a bit worse now in my opinion, because his suspect decision making sometimes makes him pass out of "obligation and favour", not because it's a better option than going for it himself. At least that's the way I see it.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with those who feels a massive rebuild is for the best.
I agree with much of what you say apart from the Son part. It was only his first year when Son was more of a bit part.

We absolutely relied upon Eriksen to make us tick and when he didn't either through form or injury Tottenham looked hapless. As I've said on here many a time that the mistake wasn't so much relying on Eriksen, that will happen when you have exceptional players our issue was the lack of a comparable backup. We had a sole creative force in the entire squad which is just a frankly ridiculous position to be in. Once Eriksen went off the boil the system withered.
 
My comment about Son may perhaps be a tiny bit overstated for effect, but I seem to remember him wanting to leave for being featured too little. It is perfectly possible that I remember that incorrectly and will hold my hands up if so. My mind isn't what it never used to be, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't always been a regular starter, and at some point even were feared to be a flop and regarded energetic but ineffective.
It was after his first season (2015/2026, 3rd in two horse race etc,) that he wanted to leave. He was a regular starter in the next season which was our best season points wise and the season we finished unbeaten at WHL. Your points on Eriksen are spot on. We need him like we needed Modric.
 
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This is just like saying Lamela has more Rabona goals than Bale or Lamela scored more league goals (7) in his first 3 seasons for us than Bale who only scored 5 goals in his first 3 seasons for us. Remember, most of Bale's goals for us were scored under AVB in 2013 when he scored 21 goals in the league. Other than that season, Bale's goals return are still mediocre like Lamela as he has never scored more than 9 league goals in any season for us.
 
This is just like saying Lamela has more Rabona goals than Bale or Lamela scored more league goals (7) in his first 3 seasons for us than Bale who only scored 5 goals in his first 3 seasons for us. Remember, most of Bale's goals for us were scored under AVB in 2013 when he scored 21 goals in the league. Other than that season, Bale's goals return are still mediocre like Lamela as he has never scored more than 9 league goals in any season for us.
Are you really trying to compare Lamela to Bale??
 
This is just like saying Lamela has more Rabona goals than Bale or Lamela scored more league goals (7) in his first 3 seasons for us than Bale who only scored 5 goals in his first 3 seasons for us. Remember, most of Bale's goals for us were scored under AVB in 2013 when he scored 21 goals in the league. Other than that season, Bale's goals return are still mediocre like Lamela as he has never scored more than 9 league goals in any season for us.
Bale's 'mediocre' goal return is positively tumultuous compared to Lamela's per season returns of: 0, 2, 5, 1, 2, 4, 2, 1.

How a few people on here think Lamela is a good player is a mystery to me.
 
This is just like saying Lamela has more Rabona goals than Bale or Lamela scored more league goals (7) in his first 3 seasons for us than Bale who only scored 5 goals in his first 3 seasons for us. Remember, most of Bale's goals for us were scored under AVB in 2013 when he scored 21 goals in the league. Other than that season, Bale's goals return are still mediocre like Lamela as he has never scored more than 9 league goals in any season for us.
Bale was a left back for those 3 years
I think your programming needs adjusting if your tying to genuinely compare Lamela and Bale
They both have left feet and dark hair but that’s where the comparison ends
Lamela is more in par with Moura I’d say
 
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