He may not have scored or assisted any of Tottenham’s three goals, or for that matter made any significant statistical contributions in attack, but Erik Lamela was as important as any other Spurs player in their first top flight win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge since 1990 on Sunday.
Indeed, Lamela’s Tottenham career has taken an incredibly curious path. Initially billed as the next Gareth Bale, he’s struggled to live up to that reputation – especially in terms of attacking output. But following on from an abysmal debut season and amid frustratingly long bouts on the sidelines through injury, Lamela has embraced Mauricio Pochettino’s philosophy with arguably greater conviction than any of his team-mates.
Although he’s not always in the starting XI, Lamela gives full commitment whenever he’s on the pitch and that really showed on Sunday as the 23-cap Argentine harassed and harried Chelsea’s back three, actually finishing the match with the most tackles and fouls to his name of any Tottenham player. That’s of course crucial to Pochettino’s game-plan, which implores his attacking players to press the opposition as high as possible, but it’s even more important against a three-man defence as the centre-backs look to play out of the back and create space in midfield.
In addition to that, it was Pochettino’s decision to switch Lamela’s role at half time that really changed the complexion of the match. Lamela proved far more effective than Heung-min Son in terms of hold-up play upon being moved to centre-forward, and the switch allowed the South Korean international to arrive with speed from deep, rather than begin foot-chases with Chelsea’s defenders at essentially a standing start.
Of course, this isn’t the only impressive performance Lamela has put in recently and Spurs fans have been singing his praises for some time now. The problem though, is how to fit him in the team when Harry Kane fully returns from injury with Son, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen all performing so well of late.
It’s going to be a real headache for Pochettino, especially when Spurs play Manchester City in a few weeks. So, which player would you drop to make room for the England striker? Let us know by voting below…
