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Player watch: Christian Eriksen

jonathanhotspur

Loose Cannon
Jun 28, 2009
10,292
8,250
Nice piece here.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/04/23/tottenham-now-rely-christian-eriksen-ice-veins/

Tottenham now rely on Christian Eriksen to be the ice in their veins
Around an hour into Tottenham’s game against Chelsea at Wembley, Christian Eriksen did something highly irregular. Eriksen is usually one of Tottenham’s least impetuous players, but here he gave away a scrappy foul in the centre circle, and as the whistle blew, charged after referee Martin Atkinson, arms outstretched, pleading his case. Nor was he prepared to let the matter go: for a full half-minute he tried to engage Atkinson in further discussion, eventually stalking away with a sulky shake of the head.

The match was still level at 2-2, but in retrospect it was possible to see it as a liminal moment in a semi-final that could genuinely have gone to either team. For the last half-hour, Eriksen was buzzing, and not in a good way. He made no key passes between the 60th and 90th minutes,the period during which the game was essentially won and lost. And at the same time as Eriksen was making his impassioned appeal to Atkinson, Chelsea were making their decisive double substitution, bringing on Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.

The point here is not to chastise Eriksen, whose performance in a losing cause would have made him a worthy man-of-the-match but simply to underline the extent to which Eriksen dictates not just Tottenham’s tempo, but their mood. At his best, Eriksen is the ice in Tottenham’s veins, a crucial function in a team that still occasionally struggles with its emotions. His own game is based on a very detached, almost scientific kind of brilliance.

Never was this more apparent than with his exquisite wormhole-assist for Dele Alli’s goal, the sort of pass that seems to operate by its own laws of physics.

Maturity is not simply a function of age. Eriksen has always seemed wise beyond his years. This is a player, after all, who had played in a World Cup and the Champions League before his 19th birthday. Now, at 25, he is that rarest of gems at the highest level: a genuine big-game player. In the last two seasons, he has scored or assisted against Chelsea, Liverpool and both Manchester clubs. At Wembley on Saturday, Chelsea’s front three completed 43 passes during the entire game. Eriksen made 48 passes into the final third alone, as well as assisting both Tottenham goals. When his level dropped late in the game, Tottenham’s dropped with it.

All of which feeds into a broader narrative of improvement, development, sharpening to a point. Eriksen has added muscle mass, lost body fat, added aggression, lost the occasional tendency to disappear not just from games, but from entire months. In the same way that Victor Wanyama has become Tottenham’s defensive enforcer, Eriksen performs the same job further up the pitch: finding space between the lines, directing play, shutting down counter-attacks, like a sort of RoboCop of the final third.

Yet it has taken a good while for Eriksen’s gifts to find a wider appreciation. Last week Eriksen was deemed unworthy not just of a place in the Premier League team of the season, but from the unofficial secondary list of players deemed unlucky to have missed out. Manchester United fans howled about the omission of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Arsenal fans Alexis Sánchez, Manchester City fans David Silva. Tottenham fans seemed more perturbed by the absence of Toby Alderweireld than the man who has participated in a quarter of their goals this season. This, perhaps, reflects English football’s preference for blood and guts over cold brain.

For much of his time in England Eriksen has been regarded as an interesting ornament, a decorative frieze: yes, very nice, but what does it do exactly?


There are parallels here with a player Eriksen regards as the best in the world in his position. In a way, Eriksen is Tottenham’s Andre Iniesta; its quiet architect, its softly beating heart, its tempo and its temperature.

If reports from Spain are to be believed, he might yet become Barcelona’s Iniesta one day. But for now, and even in defeat, Saturday felt like another modest stride forward. If Tottenham are finally to smash the glass ceiling, it will be with Eriksen at the helm: a player who somehow makes all the other parts of the machine work just a little better.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
I've been saying for a long while (and getting mocked for it) that he's the player Barca need to rejuvenate now that Xavi is gone and Iniesta is in his twighlight. None of Rakitic, Andre Gomes, Turan or Denis have his ability or intelligence.
 

kaz Hirai

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2008
17,692
25,340
Most of the talk has been around trying to keep Alli, Kane and Toby but I feel erisken will be the most difficult of battles we have coming up.

Barca was his dream plan all along, let's hope they aren't interested and/or he's super happy at spurs now and no longer wants that change
 

kaz Hirai

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2008
17,692
25,340

Thought that was well known. Primarily because he was a Laudrup fanboy and because of that a barca one

He said the following :

He said: "I'm incredibly happy that they [Spurs] seem happy with me.

"I am very glad that they like what they see.

"Of course I have a dream and a secret plan in my head. But I keep it to myself. Right now I live in the moment and enjoy the success I have."

That was while sherwood was manager mind you!
 

tiger666

Large Member
Jan 4, 2005
27,978
82,214
Thought that was well known. Primarily because he was a Laudrup fanboy and because of that a barca one

He said the following :

He said: "I'm incredibly happy that they [Spurs] seem happy with me.

"I am very glad that they like what they see.

"Of course I have a dream and a secret plan in my head. But I keep it to myself. Right now I live in the moment and enjoy the success I have."

That was while sherwood was manager mind you!

Well ok. That's just you jumping to assumptions though.
 

kaz Hirai

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2008
17,692
25,340
Well ok. That's just you jumping to assumptions though.


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Kiedis

Well-Known Member
Aug 4, 2013
2,926
8,490
Looking at Barcelonas player aquisition lately, I suspect they'll rather go balls deep in for Coutinho instead of Eriksen.
 

THFCSPURS19

The Speaker of the Transfer Rumours Forum
Jan 6, 2013
37,886
130,485
We need to keep him for at least another 2 seasons. He's too pivotal for us to sell him, but in a couple of years, Winks could be able to perform his role.

Gonna sound weird, but part of me hopes he does sign for Barcelona in the future. It's been his life ambition and he would deserve it if he signed for them. I think I'd be proud (although still upset), seeing someone who had spent 6 years with us becoming a key man in the midfield of the biggest club in the world.
 

WalkerboyUK

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2009
21,658
23,476
Barca don't even have a manager lined up for next season. Don't understand why any player would join them until that role is confirmed, so as far as I'm concerned, the "Barca want Eriksen" rumours are utter BS.
 

thebenjamin

Well-Known Member
Jul 1, 2008
12,164
38,545
I suspect they do want him. But they don't have enough money to give Messi a new contract at the moment, so hard to see where they'd find the £70M odd they'd need to buy Christian.

Although I would expect a very public tapping up / unsettling exercise this summer.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
Barca don't even have a manager lined up for next season. Don't understand why any player would join them until that role is confirmed, so as far as I'm concerned, the "Barca want Eriksen" rumours are utter BS.

That hasn't stopped players joining teams in the past lol
 
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