Eriksen has disappointed at Tottenham
3 min read
Danish manager Morten Olsen was very critical of 22-year-old Christian Eriksen and his remarks to the Danish press after a narrow loss to Portugal has raised a few eyebrows among Spurs fans.
It is rather rare for a manager to publicly criticize one of his star players in the manner Olsen did, blaming the defeat on Eriksen.
Journalist Ben Pearce, who writes about Spurs for Tottenham Tottenham & Wood Green Journal, understood the criticism and to an extent I have to agree with him, he has a point.
The team is everything when a manager talks after a game usually and individual criticism very tame compared to a supporters view. Olsen not only laid the blame for the defeat squarely at Eriksen's feet but he also reminded him he is not playing at Ajax now, he has moved up a level and his game better follow suit quickly.
Pearce feels Eriksen's performances have been disappointing and to a degree they have. Overall we would have hoped to have seen more, there have been signs, some lovely chips, a free-kick hitting the bar, a goal but is it really enough, have we seen much improvement from the time he arrived?
He had his best spell under Tim Sherwood who freed him a little from defensive duties and played Aaron Lennon on the other side for his defensive qualities to balance things a little, giving Eriksen more freedom to attack. Back in a system, he hasn't yet found the way to combine the system requirements with his individual creative flair. We hope he finds the key soon, tomorrow would be a good time to respond to the criticism.
Given the way Eriksen trained last season, Sherwood commented he had to drag him off the training field, it would be hard to criticise his attitude so a possible lack of competition for his place is unlikely to having a great affect.
The key is possibly the width, if the full-backs get forward we have width and can look dangerous, if they don't we lack width and are easy to defend against. He has no great pace himself so has little choice but to cut inside if starting wide and when central has no pace either side of him.
Usually when you play counter-attacking football, for that's what we are doing at the moment and what Danny Rose admits we'll be doing against Manchester City, you play it with pace in the side, we simply don't have pace. We try to win the ball high up the pitch and strike from there quickly so the need for speed is negated.
That involves a lot of pressing and Eriksen has done his share of that. His quick thinking against Arsenal led to the goal, he realised the Arsenal defender had few options and the pass to Flamini was the obvious one. Moving to close Flamini down the Arsenal man seemed totally unaware Eriksen was about. The ball was moved to Lamela, a quick pass to Chadli and Spurs are 1-0 up.
All four forward players played their part, nobody mentions Adebayor closing down the Arsenal defender with the ball and giving him either a pass back to the keeper or a pass centrally to Flamini as his only options. That is all down to where he positions himself when closing down which is a skill Pochettino teaches all his players.
As the players get better we get better, now Eriksen must find the key to individual expression which may flourish if he interchanged more. Chadli is the player getting in all the scoring positions, Adebayor isn't, Lamela isn't, that restricts what Eriksen can do with the ball.
The front four are doing OK you'd say but there is a lot more to come from them, as a unit and individually.
It is rather rare for a manager to publicly criticize one of his star players in the manner Olsen did, blaming the defeat on Eriksen.
Journalist Ben Pearce, who writes about Spurs for Tottenham Tottenham & Wood Green Journal, understood the criticism and to an extent I have to agree with him, he has a point.
The team is everything when a manager talks after a game usually and individual criticism very tame compared to a supporters view. Olsen not only laid the blame for the defeat squarely at Eriksen's feet but he also reminded him he is not playing at Ajax now, he has moved up a level and his game better follow suit quickly.
He had his best spell under Tim Sherwood who freed him a little from defensive duties and played Aaron Lennon on the other side for his defensive qualities to balance things a little, giving Eriksen more freedom to attack. Back in a system, he hasn't yet found the way to combine the system requirements with his individual creative flair. We hope he finds the key soon, tomorrow would be a good time to respond to the criticism.
Given the way Eriksen trained last season, Sherwood commented he had to drag him off the training field, it would be hard to criticise his attitude so a possible lack of competition for his place is unlikely to having a great affect.
The key is possibly the width, if the full-backs get forward we have width and can look dangerous, if they don't we lack width and are easy to defend against. He has no great pace himself so has little choice but to cut inside if starting wide and when central has no pace either side of him.
Usually when you play counter-attacking football, for that's what we are doing at the moment and what Danny Rose admits we'll be doing against Manchester City, you play it with pace in the side, we simply don't have pace. We try to win the ball high up the pitch and strike from there quickly so the need for speed is negated.
That involves a lot of pressing and Eriksen has done his share of that. His quick thinking against Arsenal led to the goal, he realised the Arsenal defender had few options and the pass to Flamini was the obvious one. Moving to close Flamini down the Arsenal man seemed totally unaware Eriksen was about. The ball was moved to Lamela, a quick pass to Chadli and Spurs are 1-0 up.
All four forward players played their part, nobody mentions Adebayor closing down the Arsenal defender with the ball and giving him either a pass back to the keeper or a pass centrally to Flamini as his only options. That is all down to where he positions himself when closing down which is a skill Pochettino teaches all his players.
As the players get better we get better, now Eriksen must find the key to individual expression which may flourish if he interchanged more. Chadli is the player getting in all the scoring positions, Adebayor isn't, Lamela isn't, that restricts what Eriksen can do with the ball.
The front four are doing OK you'd say but there is a lot more to come from them, as a unit and individually.
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