Spurs’ Lamela in UEFA Europa League XI

UEFA has seen fit to honor Spur’s forward Spurs’ Érik Lamela a spot in their group stage best XI for the Europa League.

With five goals in as many games, it makes sense that Lamela would be the one Spurs player included in the team of the half-season. Three of those goals, of course, came in a hat-trick against Monaco last week, but that shouldn’t downplay his contributions in the four games prior.

Indeed, Lamela was in many ways the most consistent attacking threat Spurs fielded in the six opening games of the tournament. His game has always balanced build up and attack – for better and for worse – but against the likes of Monaco, Anderlecht and Qarabag, he tended to favor the latter.

Why this would be the case is a bit of a question. The easy answer would be that the state of the competition was low enough that he could be more direct. Even looking at his stats on WhoScored, you see his shot rate go up in almost equal measure to his key passes going down. He becomes more a forward and less a playmaker.

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Those five goals are a direct result of that European inversion. Looking deeper, though, and holes begin to poke through that theory. It’s not as if Group J were a cakewalk. In fact, by most estimates it was among the harder groups in the tournament this term.

Monaco had finished third in France the year before and was sitting in fourth place when Spurs played them last week. Anderlecht are a perennial contender in Belgium, and gave Spurs two tough games, one of which they won. Qarabag were the undisputed minnows of the group but still managed to be something close to ferocious in both matches.

All of which is to say that the average level of this competition isn’t dramatically different than, say, the bottom half teams of the Premier League. Lamela has done better against teams in that area of the table so far this term – an assist against Sunderland, a goal against Bournemouth and another assist against Aston Villa – while also turning in less tangible though no less vital performances against mid-table and higher sides.

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One suspects that all aspects of his game would have been improved if Lamela were just slightly more competent at finishing. Perhaps that deficiency comes as a consequence of the more intensive pressing game he’ll often play from the right wing, one that usually requires him to operate farther away from goal that he might have when, say, he scored 15 goals in his last season with Roma.

Given that Spurs suffered slightly from a lack of direct play in the second half against Newcastle, would the team benefit from a more advanced, attacking role for Lamela? Or is it simply a matter of the competition that defines how productive his game can be? We might get more answers to these questions as he continues to mature this season, but for the time being it’s safe to say his pressing game takes priority over any additional goals he might provide.