Rather bizarrely, some Tottenham fans have recently slammed Tottenham winger Erik Lamela, blaming him for the loss against Liverpool, despite him providing the assist for the Harry Kane leveller.
Although Lamela has clearly not reached his full potential as yet, we have seen the Argentine improve slightly over the course of the season, and this was arguably one of his best games this season.
We have compared Lamela’s stats for the latest game against Liverpool to the reverse fixture at White Hart Lane all the way back in August in the third game of the season.
Stats v Liverpool: 31st August:
Shots- 0
Passing- 77%
Chances Created- 0
Crosses- 4
Take Ons- 0
Tackles- 0%
Aerial Duels- 100%
Interceptions- 1
Clearances- 0
Stats v Liverpool- 10th February:
Shots- 2
Passing- 74%
Chances Created- 3
Crosses- 2
Take Ons- 1
Tackles- 50%
Aerial Duels- 33%
Interceptions- 3
Clearances- 0
We can immidiatly see that Lamela was more ambitious in the latest fixture, and took two more shots than the game back in August. The passing stats was pretty much the same, and we can also observe that Lamela had much more of an impact, creating three chances in the game at Anfield, easily outshining the zero that he created in August.
Now, you may be thinking that the crosses stats and the take ons stats are actually lower than the ones earlier on in the season. There is a simple explanation for this. We often saw Lamela cut inside, rather than attempting to take on the full-back on the wing, resulting in less crosses, and less take ons.
Lamela also make more interceptions, and made a lot more tackles, and always looks like he wants to win the ball back, showing that he has taken to the Pochettino style of play. It will be very interesting to see if Lamela can build on his performance against Liverpool in the coming weeks.
