El curioso caso de Erik Lamela

Erik Lamela has proved a source of great frustration for Spurs fans since his big money move from Roma in 2013. He is clearly a talented player, but expectations are high for a club record signing who was brought in to replace the free-scoring Gareth Bale, and his return of just a single league goal in his Spurs career to date has done little to relieve the pressure on the young Argentine.

“He doesn’t score enough.” “He passes backwards too often.” “He loses possession too easily.” “He doesn’t create enough chances.” “He’s too much of a luxury – we don’t need players that the rest of the team have to carry.” These are just some of the accusations levelled at him from the stands and on social media. And yet he continues to be picked – clearly Pochettino must see something in him. So, who do the statistics support: Pochettino, or the critics?

This season, Lamela has contributed the joint-highest number of assists for Spurs in the league (5). He has provided 34 shot assists, only bettered by Christian Eriksen, and makes an average of 1.7 key passes per game – again, only bettered by the Dane. At 34.4%, he has comfortably the highest cross completion rate of our midfielders except for Nabil Bentaleb (50%), but the Algerian has only attempted 4 crosses to the Argentine’s 32.

[linequote]Against West Ham, he completed 80% of his passes, won four tackles – more than any other non-defender – and touched the ball more times than any other Spurs player except Nabil Bentaleb[/linequote]

In terms of recovery, Lamela makes the most tackles per game of any of our attacking players (2.3), and has a better tackle success rate than Eriksen, Dembele, or Kane (and only marginally below Mason and Bentaleb) – impressive for a player many thought would struggle to adapt to Pochettino’s high-pressing game.

His pass success rate of 82.5% is not the best in the side, but is only 0.3% lower than Eriksen, and is better than the likes of Townsend, Kane, and Mason. Against West Ham, he completed 80% of his passes, won four tackles – more than any other non-defender – and touched the ball more times than any other Spurs player except Nabil Bentaleb. While an argument could be made that many of his passes were sideways or backwards, the vast majority of these were in the attacking third of the pitch, and as a look at the heatmap shows that he was our most advanced player on average, it is unsurprising that his passing options were limited.

Looking across the season as a whole, there is some truth in the comment that many of his passes are backwards or sideways – only 48.6% have gone forwards. However, comparing him with our alternatives on the wing in Chadli (45.1%) and Townsend (43.6%), he is certainly not the worst offender in this regard. Indeed, compare him to other wide men in the league, and he still comes out favourably: Eden Hazard (54.5%), Willian (49.1%), Jesus Navas (44.1%), Ashley Young (43.9%), Raheem Sterling (50.9%).

The simple fact is that as a consequence of leading attacks, particularly against well-organised, deep-lying defences, wide players often need to pass to supporting players behind them. And even ignoring that, his figures aren’t wildly different from the likes of Eriksen (60% of passes forward), Kane (59%), Bentaleb (61%), or Dembele (56%). Only Mason, with a whopping 72.5%, can be said to always look forward.

[fullquote]Taken as a whole then, these statistics all point to Lamela being a vital cog in the Spurs attack, and serve to disprove many of the criticisms frequently levelled at him[/fullquote]

Much has also been made of Lamela’s struggles in taking on opponents. According to Squawka, Lamela has won 55% of his 84 attempted ‘take-ons’ this season. Compare that within the team to Eriksen (65%), Bentaleb (71%), Walker (69%), Mason (65%), Dembele (68%), or Rose (59%), and his success rate does not seem particularly impressive. However, compare him again to the other wingers in Chadli and Townsend, and he comes out comfortably ahead of their 39% and 21% success rates respectively.

You could argue that these are not particularly impressive competitors, so let’s compare him with Bale in 2012/13: Lamela comes out on top again – the Welshman was only successful in 43% of his 138 attempted take-ons that season. Indeed, even compared to Eden Hazard, arguably the best winger in the league at the moment, Lamela is only 8% short of his take-on success rate of 63%. So while he may still frustrate on occasion, his success rate is certainly more impressive than he is often given credit for.

Taken as a whole then, these statistics all point to Lamela being a vital cog in the Spurs attack, and serve to disprove many of the criticisms frequently levelled at him. Indeed, whoscored.com goes as far as to rank him the 6th best Spurs player so far this season (although it must be noted that Hugo Lloris is only 10th in that list, which casts some doubt on its accuracy). So why does he continue to frustrate so much?

I suspect that in large part, it stems not from Lamela himself, but from the ghost of Bale. The Welshman was characterised predominantly by two things: his blistering pace, and his ability to score goals (and often world-class ones at that). Lamela does not match up on either account. He is not quick enough to terrorise defences on the counter attack, and his meagre goal return speaks for itself.

But Lamela should not be defined by Bale. If the Welshman is pace and power, Lamela is guile and grace – poles apart, but potentially both as valuable. Indeed, there is a case to be made that in a Pochettino team that relies on pressing, teamwork, and movement, Lamela is more of an asset than Bale, who, for all his brilliance, was frequently accused of failing to track back or pass in his final season with us.

[linequote]He needs to keep working, most notably on his decision-making, but he is clearly a skilful, hard-working player who should go from strength to strength[/linequote]

The other stick that is frequently used to beat Lamela is his price-tag. At a reported £30m, there has been an inevitable expectation of the spectacular. But it is wrong to judge the Argentine on this. It is not his fault that Levy and Baldini decided to pay such a huge sum for him. If a homegrown player were returning similar statistics to Lamela, we would be full of praise for them – as evidenced by our excitement at the performances of Mason, Bentaleb, and Kane. It is unfair to judge him differently just because another club held us to ransom to secure his signature.

Lamela is establishing himself as a key team member through efficient, effective performances. He may not be scoring rabonas every week, but he’s certainly pulling his weight. Given that this is effectively his first full season in the team and the league, we should be greatly encouraged by this. He needs to keep working, most notably on his decision-making, but he is clearly a skilful, hard-working player who should go from strength to strength as he develops a better rapport with his team-mates and learns more about the league.

So give the kid a break – forget the price-tag and the comparisons with Bale, and appreciate him for the player he is. After all, the stats show that Pochettino is justified in keeping faith with him.