Tottenham Hotspur were one of the surprise packages last season as Mauricio Pochettino with his double training sessions built up the new Tottenham Hotspur team. We all associated the Spurs gameplay with words like “high intensity”, “fast paced” and “ruthless” and All analogies point towards the fact that Tottenham were on a different level last season. Players like Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Harry Kane all blossomed for Spurs and spring came early at White Hart Lane. Kevin Wimmer, Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose were some of the star performers last season.
Although, one such player who rose to the occasion when the chance came but could not do enough to hold his place in the team was Eric Lamela. He scored that beautiful Rabona goal last year, which would put the famous tekkers to shame. The freestyle footballers had a field day and Eric Lamela’s beautiful shot was a toast of the entire footballing community. But somehow he could not further improve his game and kind of had a stunted growth. But even with an in and out season, he did manage to score 11 goals and assist further 10.
However, 2016 has been his year. From April 2016, Lamela, in the Premier League has played 7 games and has scored 3 times and assisted another 4 for his team. His form has been blistering and if we take the pre-season into account as well his goal against Inter Milan was a class apart and he also set up another 2 goals for the Londoners that evening. His goal against Juventus was noteworthy too. But there are some things that Lamela has to address if he wants to establish himself as one of the Premier League’s best and brightest. His finishing is one problem. He has the pace to run clear of the defenders and find himself in acres of space but still manage to bottle the shot. The Argentine missed a host of chances last season with his shots often turning into a whimper and ending up comfortably in the goalkeeper’s arms.
However, he has started this season in blistering form. The first game against Everton was a toughie and Spurs were downright out of the contest in the first half. Being a goal down it was proving to be very difficult for Tottenham players to break down the stoic Everton defence. But finally, after a long wait, Eric Lamela showed his strength and met Kyle Walker’s fine cross with a fine header to restore parity. Finding that space between those two defenders and his very emotional celebration afterwards were some of the traits that the Spurs’ fans are looking for in the Argentine this summer.
Both Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen showed fine form in front of a packed house at Goodison Park and it looks like Tottenham Hotspur are on the right track and will definitely mount a title challenge this year. If Erik Lamela shows up as well then Spurs might be a hard team to beat the entire season.
