Player Focus: Committed Lamela Finding His Feet After Slow Start at Spurs

There was something almost comic about the frenzy with which Erik Lamela played Sunday’s North London derby. Mauricio Pochettino didn’t say it, but there was a suspicion that when he was substituted with 16 minutes remaining it was for his own protection. He’d already been booked for a wild lunge, but the yellow card did little to calm his over-enthusiasm.
 
Looked at dispassionately, of course, such recklessness is a negative, something that he needs to resolve. But in the context of the derby and in the context of the Argentinian’s career at Tottenham, his commitment was hugely encouraging. Finally, in his third season at the club, it feels as though he truly belongs. Four of the seven signings made with the Gareth Bale money have been moved on, but Lamela remains and at last looks like blossoming.
 
“For all players, they all need confidence, trust in themselves and to be patient,” said Mauricio Pochettino, who isn’t shy of ostracising players he doesn’t think fit in. “Sometimes when they’re very young they need to work hard and adapt, not only in quality, but also to the culture, life and language of a new city. Some players need more time.”
 
Lamela is a player whose career has proceeded in stops and starts. He visited La Masia when he was 12 amid talk of a contract worth €100,000 a year, but his parents decided it was better for him to grow up nearer home in Buenos Aires. Initially it looked an awful decision. He had a growth spurt and his form disintegrated. His balance and co-ordination returned, though, and at 17 he made his debut for River Plate. Within a year he had become a regular, initially playing as a Number 10 behind two strikers and then moving wide, cutting in off the flank.

 
When River were relegated in 2011, he was sold off to the highest bidder, Roma, when in an ideal world he probably would have stayed at River for another couple of seasons of development. That summer he struggled through the Under-20 World Cup with an ankle injury that meant he missed the start of his first season in Italy. It wasn’t as bad as his start at Tottenham, but it was disappointing enough. 15 goals in 30 league starts in 2012/13 redeemed him sufficiently to be sold at a huge profit to Spurs.
 
Since then there has been one season ruined by injury and another of acclimatisation and great promise as he started 25 games last time round. This year, though, he is manifestly at the forefront of Pochettino’s thinking, emerging as an aggressive, hard-working creator. He’s already scored twice in the league, as many goals as he managed in the whole of last season, while three assists puts him on course to surpass last season’s decent tally of seven.
 
Tackles per game are up marginally, and interceptions down, but two things are striking about his defensive stats: firstly, that he is making double the number of tackles per game now as he did in his (admittedly brief) first season at the club, and secondly that he is committing far more fouls now than he was last season. Being generous, let’s say that’s a sign of a renewed competitiveness. Significantly, he’s dribbled past far less than he was. At the same time, he is dribbling less but making more key passes; it feels as though he is more assimilated into the team than before.
 
It’s taken a while, but Lamela is only 23. In a young side that has a secure platform at its heart, he is now perhaps showing just what he is capable of.

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