Lack of end product. Ask yourself this, If we need a goal & we bring lamela on do you honestly think that strikes fear into the opposition in a way it would if say a Mahrez, Bale or even Son was coming on (or whoever the next upcoming version of these players are, I have never seen Malcolm play so can't comment on him personally).
If we are aiming (and due to the incredible job MP has done we are) to win big trophies and compete with city etc & the elite clubs in Europe then this is the standard we are looking for.
A player who was ok for us in the past now becomes vulnerable. Tough but ambitious. Thats where we are as a club.
Add in his injury record etc and contract situation.
Me personally, I like him, appreciate his work effort etc and the boy clearly has bags of talent. That said I have never seen an AM so shy around the goal, hesitant to get shots off and react in the box. Is he more of a freestyler (who works very hard) than a premiership goal threat? I'm still unsure. (I know this won't be popular but just being honest).
MP won't be concerned with who can wind up jack whilshere to the pleasure of the fans, he's looking to add extra goals & matchwinners to his attacking options. Add 10 points to our current total.
Sometimes popular players leave for the good of the club. To me he's a decent squad option and I live in hope he will get more dynamic around the box but MP will know what he's doing & if he is sacrificed and replaced with someone the club think have a higher celine than for me it's happy days as just shows his far we have come and what a good place we are in as a club.
This is a nuanced response and you raise fair points: for the fact is that no, I don't see him as a game changer offensively- someone who strikes terror into the hearts of the opposition a la a Son (or- hopefully- a Lucas). But I would argue that that's not his job. Stay with me here.
Yes, he's an Attacking Mid- and AM's are supposed to get goals, which he just plain does not. I won't even argue that. BUT- and this is a big "but"- while he doesn't strike fear, he does strike dread. Meaning, when he comes on you know he could if not score than at least contribute to a goal- which he often does. The quintessence of Lamela was that half turn against Juve away- the one that freed up Dele- that led to the foul- that resulted in Eriksen blasting it home. LAMELA made that play- everyone else contributed to it. I'm sorry, but that is not nothing; indeed, that's very much something. A huge, massive, potentially club-altering "something." Had we won that tie, just think of the difference it would've made to our club. And he would've been a major factor in that reality (not to mention- without going too far afield- we did lose back at home in the match in which Lamela didn't start-- but we'll leave that one alone...)
Is Lamela a game-changer off the bench late in the game? Well, for that matter is Christian Eriksen? I mean yeah, maybe more than Lamela, but still, not really: at least not in the way, say, Bale was. Neither Eriksen nor Lamela are straight-up goal scorers (though I'll grant you that Eriksen is terrifying weapon when it comes to us having a free kick from just outside the area). My point is that not every player is a Son or a Bale.
I honestly think that the problem most people who don't care for Lamela have lies in the fact that he COULD BE a Bale or a Son or a Mahrez, but it's almost as if he chooses not to be; as if he's hiding from his own talent. It's weird-- one gets the feeling that he could be a prodigious goal scorer but he's almost "shy" in a way- and so unselfish that he just looks to pass every time when he could- and sometimes should- shoot. That's the issue-- that his offensive potential doesn't jibe with his lack of output. He has "end-product"- if by end-product you count him making goals for others. But as for him banging in goals- well, thus far he never really has- and one wonders if he ever really will. It's as if he's afraid of his own ability.
Lastly, let me say this: who would scare you more to produce a goal in the last twenty minutes of a match: Erik Lamela or Danny Wellbeck? Well, admittedly it'd be Wellbeck. But ask yourself this: who would you rather have on your team: Danny Wellbeck or Erik Lamela? So my point is that- while he's not a terror-inducer in terms of coming on late and bagging a goal- he's a far better player- and does ten times more for us than Danny Wellbeck ever could or would.
To wit: Lamela happens to be a part, one in which the whole itself is better than the sum of his parts, lol.
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