Have Some Faith in Erik

[E17yid]

His defiencies so far have been poor first touch, poor passing, "dribbling" straight into players and losing possession over and over in almost every game he's played. Only a blind man could blame his team mates for those mistakes.

He got chances under AVB, so stop this myth of him being mismanaged. He was truly awful almost every time he got a chance - his touch was poor and he couldn't dribble a corpse in those matches.

People saying he's a "thinking man's" Bale, and will be better than Bale and on the level of Messi and C Ronaldo in a few years. Well, the less said about that the better I think.

Having said that, it's obvious that there's more in him than what he's shown so far and that he's struggling to adapt. But blaming AVB and his team mates is lazy and ignorant. I hope he comes good and plays well for us. No one wants a 30 mill pound failure.

Ahem, I think you'll find it's £25m with add ons.

 

[jezz]

His defiencies so far have been poor first touch, poor passing, "dribbling" straight into players and losing possession over and over in almost every game he's played. Only a blind man could blame his team mates for those mistakes.

He got chances under AVB, so stop this myth of him being mismanaged. He was truly awful almost every time he got a chance - his touch was poor and he couldn't dribble a corpse in those matches.

People saying he's a "thinking man's" Bale, and will be better than Bale and on the level of Messi and C Ronaldo in a few years. Well, the less said about that the better I think.

Having said that, it's obvious that there's more in him than what he's shown so far and that he's struggling to adapt. But blaming AVB and his team mates is lazy and ignorant. I hope he comes good and plays well for us. No one wants a 30 mill pound failure.

What a load of rubbish.
You cant even get the price right.
Go back and watch some of the games and tell me were AVB treated him right?
Cardiff Sheriff.
Yes he had some poor performances, but what about other players who waltzed in to the team on the back on nothing performances?
New players need a run of games, not 20 minutes here and there.
Modric Berbatov Bale all got runs in the team and they came good.
Starting 2 games on the trot might help.
So yes he has been woefully mismanaged.
To come out and say its lazy and ignorant to blame AVB is lazy and ignorant on your part.

 

[Spurs Lodge Kittens]

He needs some home game starts.

This is the key thing for me. His 3 prem starts have come away from home to decent teams like City and Southampton, while the other one was away to Fulham on a tight pitch which is always difficult to find time on if you're a player searching for a bit of confidence. Now i know WHL is a tight pitch but it's a little easier when you're also the home team.

He has to start against Stoke after the performances of Chadli and Sig yesterday. I then think he'll be primed for another shift away to Man Utd - where the space he could enjoy there could really suit him.

 

[YiddoInPoland]

His defiencies so far have been poor first touch, poor passing, "dribbling" straight into players and losing possession over and over in almost every game he's played. Only a blind man could blame his team mates for those mistakes.

He got chances under AVB, so stop this myth of him being mismanaged. He was truly awful almost every time he got a chance - his touch was poor and he couldn't dribble a corpse in those matches.

People saying he's a "thinking man's" Bale, and will be better than Bale and on the level of Messi and C Ronaldo in a few years. Well, the less said about that the better I think.

Having said that, it's obvious that there's more in him than what he's shown so far and that he's struggling to adapt. But blaming AVB and his team mates is lazy and ignorant. I hope he comes good and plays well for us. No one wants a 30 mill pound failure.

Awful, really, really? the only games i remember him being bad in was Anzhi away, were the whole team stunk to high heaven and Man City (although i think he was the better of a bad bunch that day) where again the whole team was poor.

If you want to look at it that way that's your prerogative but i can tell you i am not blind and i did say "some of his deficiencies", he is trying a bit to hard and sometimes dribbles he makes he loses to ball, but for me, more time then not he makes the right decisions with the ball and plays with his head up.

Watch matches he has played in and you can see it, he makes simple passes which are there to facilitate an attack, he plays the ball and moves, and 90% of the time other players either pass it back or hold onto the ball completely missing his runs. We all bemoaned that we had no natural players who would give and go, we were all so static and we have a player who's natural game it is to do that and we leave him on the bench. This is how he played in Italy, he was lucky enough to have some more technical players there to actually anticipate his runs, and in Eriksen we have a player like that, although not YET at Totti's level, but we have the ability to use this kid to his strengths and we will see the benefits.

He has been mismanaged in my opinion because here we are in December, and he has started 3 games, and had a handful of other minutes, that's not the way to integrate the player, and if we want to bring up the EL as some form of defense, fine, but we made wholesale changes to that team compared to the one in the league and in matches where he didn't play well and got stick were in games where collectively the team did not play well.

Calling people out as being ignorant because they notice the subtleties and natural way he plays the game is by its very definition ignorance and i could actually throw that back at you because in my opinion because people are looking at a price tag, expecting like for like Bale, he is nothing like Bale.

 

[Chris12]

For some reason, he looks better and more confident coming off the bench than he does actually starting the match I think

 

[melih69]

positive cameo from him. what he needs is a run of 5 games starting in the PL, not chop and change, start one game, on the bench for the next three. sigurdsson gets this and doesn't produce, why can't erik, who has so much more ability and potential?

 

[ultimateloner]

The problem is he doesn't look ready to start.
Alot of people are singing his praises in his small role against WBA but there are more negatives than positives for me..
Positives: Some good feet and does play the right pass.
Negatives: Dives. Didn't even attempt to get into the box when crosses come in. In fact don't think he got into the box at all.

He looks an intelligent player but doesn't have the courage to drive at people. I would prefer to play Townsend over him atm.

 

[jonnyp]

What a load of rubbish.
You cant even get the price right.
Go back and watch some of the games and tell me were AVB treated him right?
Cardiff Sheriff.
Yes he had some poor performances, but what about other players who waltzed in to the team on the back on nothing performances?
New players need a run of games, not 20 minutes here and there.
Modric Berbatov Bale all got runs in the team and they came good.
Starting 2 games on the trot might help.
So yes he has been woefully mismanaged.
To come out and say its lazy and ignorant to blame AVB is lazy and ignorant on your part.

Oh I'm so sorry, it's 30 mill Euro or 25 million pounds. So what, how does 5 million difference in his transfer fee invalidate my opinion? If that's your best argument, then there's really no point in trying to have a serious debate.

I'm judging him by his performances so far, this is something you and YiddoInPoland are simply not understanding because you're so rabidly defensive of him... Sheriff game aside, he's been extremely disappointing.

YiddoInPoland, I don't know why you're mentioning Bale, price tags and expectations. You, jezz and some other people are the ones saying he'll be as good or even better in the future. Not me. So I'm not sure what you're actually trying to argue with that. And I never called people ignorant, I called their argument of mismanagement ignorant, because it fails on the fact that Erik has had plenty of chances to impress but have not taken them.

I haven't said people should give up on him, I've even said there's more in him than what he's shown. I'm just saying he's been very poor, which a lot of other people on here and certainly every other non-Spurs fan I've talked to feel as well, and some of you get all rabidly defensive of him. It's like my niece when I'm negative to Justin Bieber's music. Calm down. Seriously.

jezz, I've been negative about loads of players who're starting games regularly. Dempsey, Sigurdsson to name some since AVB took over. However, I do not understand what that argument has to do with Erik's performances what so ever. You'll have to talk to AVB and Tim about those players starting regularly, not me.

Erik has gotten many chances and has been anywhere from terrible to average, bar Sheriff where he had a good game. His control and touch have been woeful for the most part, his dribbling has consisted of running into people. "Some poor games" and "for the most part he makes the right decisions" - no, that is factually not true. His latest start against Southampton he was poor apart from his involvement in our first goal. Nothing he really did in that game made him deserve to start the next game. I'm not saying he will never come good, I'm just saying right now he hasn't taken his chances, hasn't impressed enough and therefore, rightfully, doesn't deserve to be an automatic starter.

If he doesn't take his chances then it's not mismanagement by the coach or his team mates. Why should he be afforded more patience and time than others? What kind of signal does that send to the rest of the squad?

It's up to him to impress when he gets the chances. Don't blame the coaches, don't blame his team mates. That to me ridiculous.

 

[LiamJM10]

The problem is he doesn't look ready to start.
Alot of people are singing his praises in his small role against WBA but there are more negatives than positives for me..
Positives: Some good feet and does play the right pass.
Negatives: Dives. Didn't even attempt to get into the box when crosses come in. In fact don't think he got into the box at all.

He looks an intelligent player but doesn't have the courage to drive at people. I would prefer to play Townsend over him atm.

Dives? Only one was yesterday, and even then he was shoved and just went down easy.

He doesn't have the courage to drive at people, because he's got no confidence. It's what happens when you're never played. Baffling why. He's not going to get any better say on the bench.

Sherwood needs to stick with him, for a string of games and let him get to grips. Europa League quality aside, he's looked bright in every game there, scoring and assisting. Its what happens when he starts games.

Guys 21 years old, can't expect him to peak in the next year or so but can't simply rule him out after 6 months, in a season where he's started about 5 games in all competitions.

 

[jezz]

Oh I'm so sorry, it's 30 mill Euro or 25 million pounds. So what, how does 5 million difference in his transfer fee invalidate my opinion? If that's your best argument, then there's really no point in trying to have a serious debate.

I'm judging him by his performances so far, this is something you and YiddoInPoland are simply not understanding because you're so rabidly defensive of him... Sheriff game aside, he's been extremely disappointing.

YiddoInPoland, I don't know why you're mentioning Bale, price tags and expectations. You, jezz and some other people are the ones saying he'll be as good or even better in the future. Not me. So I'm not sure what you're actually trying to argue with that. And I never called people ignorant, I called their argument of mismanagement ignorant, because it fails on the fact that Erik has had plenty of chances to impress but have not taken them.

I haven't said people should give up on him, I've even said there's more in him than what he's shown. I'm just saying he's been very poor, which a lot of other people on here and certainly every other non-Spurs fan I've talked to feel as well, and some of you get all rabidly defensive of him. It's like my niece when I'm negative to Justin Bieber's music. Calm down. Seriously.

jezz, I've been negative about loads of players who're starting games regularly. Dempsey, Sigurdsson to name some since AVB took over. However, I do not understand what that argument has to do with Erik's performances what so ever. You'll have to talk to AVB and Tim about those players starting regularly, not me.

Erik has gotten many chances and has been anywhere from terrible to average, bar Sheriff where he had a good game. His control and touch have been woeful for the most part, his dribbling has consisted of running into people. "Some poor games" and "for the most part he makes the right decisions" - no, that is factually not true. His latest start against Southampton he was poor apart from his involvement in our first goal. Nothing he really did in that game made him deserve to start the next game. I'm not saying he will never come good, I'm just saying right now he hasn't taken his chances, hasn't impressed enough and therefore, rightfully, doesn't deserve to be an automatic starter.

If he doesn't take his chances then it's not mismanagement by the coach or his team mates. Why should he be afforded more patience and time than others? What kind of signal does that send to the rest of the squad?

It's up to him to impress when he gets the chances. Don't blame the coaches, don't blame his team mates. That to me ridiculous.

Why Sheriff apart?
He wasnt mismanaged after this game?
Do you mean he actually played well in your eyes.
How would you feel after that game?

 

[king26]

huge talent needs plenty of game time

 

[ultimateloner]

Dives? Only one was yesterday, and even then he was shoved and just went down easy.

He doesn't have the courage to drive at people, because he's got no confidence. It's what happens when you're never played. Baffling why. He's not going to get any better say on the bench.

Sherwood needs to stick with him, for a string of games and let him get to grips. Europa League quality aside, he's looked bright in every game there, scoring and assisting. Its what happens when he starts games.

Guys 21 years old, can't expect him to peak in the next year or so but can't simply rule him out after 6 months, in a season where he's started about 5 games in all competitions.

That was a deliberate dive. He was looking for it and threw himself to the ground.
He needs to justify to the manager that he would play better than the other wingers; you can't pick him just to improve his confidence. It doesn't work that way.

 

[SlotBadger]

you can't pick him just to improve his confidence. It doesn't work that way.

But you're not seeing the long-term goal that this could achieve. Yes, we may suffer in the immediate future but holding onto one of our most promising talents could benefit us down the line in a huge way. Just think if we'd sold Bale to Birmingham all those years ago.

 

[jezz]

That was a deliberate dive. He was looking for it and threw himself to the ground.
He needs to justify to the manager that he would play better than the other wingers; you can't pick him just to improve his confidence. It doesn't work that way.

Try telling that to lennon and townsend or do they a free pass because there English?

 

[ultimateloner]

Try telling that to lennon and townsend or do they a free pass because there English?

Same thing should apply. But who would you pick on pure performance terms? I guess they are all equally unproductive..

 

[ultimateloner]

But you're not seeing the long-term goal that this could achieve. Yes, we may suffer in the immediate future but holding onto one of our most promising talents could benefit us down the line in a huge way. Just think if we'd sold Bale to Birmingham all those years ago.

I understand that and also we don't have great options anyway..the 2 other wingers haven't been productive either. However from what i've seen while he has some skill but has no upper body strength so unless the ball is passed inch perfect (high hopes given the WBA performance) he's very likely to lose it. your confidence falls when you fail too.

 

[hellava_tough]

Needs to skin the shit out of the full-back at every opportunity in my opinion

His dribbling skill is his stand-out talent, so he should be terrorising left and right backs my running at them

This will also open space up for Eriksen playing as number 10 in the middle, because the opposition will look to double-up on Lamella if he's raping their full-back

Bit surprised both AVB and Tim haven't had a go at this for 3 or 4 consecutive matches

 

[beats1]

He is the player we always wanted imo, he is a player made for a 433. Once we move to a fluid 433 I think he will shine.

I think we have much bigger issues with some players than Lamela atm

 

[spurs-r-us]

As said in the OP, he could be a true weapon if he can find form? Who wouldn't want to give him, and us, that opportunity.

 

[thinktank]

His defiencies so far have been poor first touch, poor passing, "dribbling" straight into players and losing possession over and over in almost every game he's played. Only a blind man could blame his team mates for those mistakes.

He got chances under AVB, so stop this myth of him being mismanaged. He was truly awful almost every time he got a chance - his touch was poor and he couldn't dribble a corpse in those matches.

People saying he's a "thinking man's" Bale, and will be better than Bale and on the level of Messi and C Ronaldo in a few years. Well, the less said about that the better I think.

Having said that, it's obvious that there's more in him than what he's shown so far and that he's struggling to adapt. But blaming AVB and his team mates is lazy and ignorant. I hope he comes good and plays well for us. No one wants a 30 mill pound failure.

He's just trying too hard. That's all.

If I was timothy I would give him one instruction for the next game he plays: pass simple.

Sometimes he's on the ball for too long, desperate to make something happen and impact on the game and 'arrive' in the prem.

He needs to just pass quick and simple and not try and force it with messiesque runs, and the rest will come naturally once he's found his rhythm.

Not that it's easy for him to find his rhythm, as no one seems to know how to play one-two's up in this muthrfkng team!