POCH HAILS QUIET ‘GOLAZO’ ERIKSEN
MAURICIO POCHETTINO has claimed Christian Eriksen is Spurs’ secret ‘Special One’.
The Great Dane tops the charts for Premier League chances created this season and is level with Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne for assists.
Eriksen’s achievements are overshadowed by the dazzling exploits of Harry Kane and Dele Alli, as Spurs bid to close the gap on Chelsea against Bournemouth today.
But Pochettino insisted everyone inside the club knows the real value of the £12.5million former Ajax playmaker – and Eriksen is happy out of the limelight.
“He is so special,” said the Argentine. “We call him ‘Golazo’, because he is capable of scoring unbelievable goals.
“The recognition from us is massive. He feels that we love him. It is true he is so quiet, so calm, he is a very relaxed person.
“He is a player that does not need too much feedback from fans, the media, the people outside. He always has a smile, he is a happy person and I like him a lot because he does not need to be recognised.
“He needs only to feel the love from us inside the club. I like that a lot.” The form of Eriksen, 25, and Alli (below) has seen Pochettino tweak his system to allow both to play in attacking roles behind the centreforward. “We play with two No.10s,” said the Spurs head coach. “I think it’s important that the new system suits Eriksen. “We are always thinking – that is what it means to be flexible because, if you have two players like Dele and Eriksen, who both can play in behind the No.9, you must create a system to fit them both.
“You can see Dele or Eriksen with a No.9 – Harry, Vincent, Sonny – how they use the pocket and how we create many different things to try to swap the position, play on the right or left, drop sometimes to try to build from the back, when the teams play deeper.
“We try to play now with two No.10s that play facing the opponents’ goal, not back to the opponents’ goal.
“The formation, the system and the philosophy helps Christian and Dele a lot.
“And they help a lot with the system and the philosophy that we play. It goes in both directions.”
With Chelsea playing Manchester United tomorrow – and secondplaced Spurs facing the Premier League leaders in the FA Cup next weekend – Pochettino added: “It’s important for us to get the three points to keep our level, to win games for ourselves and try, as a consequence, to put pressure on them.”