‘Chaotic’ Lamela goes from sublime to ridiculous with rabona and a red
Hdismissal could end up as turning point in Spurs’ season hsuspension leaves Mourinho with selection headache at Villa
Jose Mourinho has often described Erik Lamela as “chaotic” and it is hard to think of a better word to sum up a performance that went from the sublime to the ridiculous and could cost Tottenham Hotspur dear in their attempt to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
The Spurs head coach had used the term “chaotic” positively over the past few weeks when talking about the Argentine and the influence he can have on games. But the sort of chaos he witnessed at the Emirates was peak Lamela, who started the north London derby with a rabona and finished it with a red card.
Lamela had already attempted a couple of flicks before producing his goal of the season contender after replacing Son Heung-min as a substitute, but they were on Arsenal duo Granit Xhaka and David Luiz.
He got away with both and Mourinho would have loved the fact that, after trying to wind up his opponents with dirty tricks, Lamela embarrassed them with an outrageous piece of skill.
Team-mate Sergio Reguilon put his hands to his head in disbelief, as Lamela wrapped his left boot behind his right to send the ball through the legs of Thomas Partey and into the corner of the net to give Tottenham the lead with an amazing rabona goal.
Ben Davies had reacted identically almost seven years ago, when Lamela had produced his first Tottenham rabona that had looked like a once-in-a-career moment. But that was against Asteras Tripolis in a Europa League stroll, in which Harry Kane finished the game as an emergency goalkeeper after scoring his first-ever hat-trick.
This was in a north London derby at the home of Tottenham’s fierce rivals and should have been the moment for which the 29-year-old would always be remembered by the Spurs supporters. There was
also something special about the fact Lamela had scored the goal while playing as a team-mate of Gareth Bale, the man he was signed to replace in 2013.
Lamela is the last man standing of the so-called “Magnificent Seven”, who joined in the same summer that Bale had left for Real Madrid, and in many ways he has been Tottenham’s great survivor. Signed for
£25.8 million from Roma, Lamela has never been the best or most consistent performer. And yet, when fit, his work rate and effort won over former head coach Mauricio Pochettino and earned an admirer in Mourinho, who has always liked his players to display a certain amount of devil. But the chaos that Mourinho has identified in Lamela is never too far away and it overshadowed his magical strike yesterday, and may yet be looked back upon as part of a turning point in Tottenham’s attempt to climb into this season’s top four. Spurs had already fallen behind by the time Lamela received his first booking for a late challenge on Partey, so it would not be fair to hold him solely responsible.
But his second yellow card for putting his arm just below the face of Kieran Tierney, left 10-man Tottenham with a mountain to climb and could give Mourinho another headache.
Spurs could argue that Lamela had been unlucky, given his eyes had been fixed ahead of him, but the man nicknamed “Coco” had been on the edge during his entire 57 minutes on the pitch.
Lamela would have almost certainly been in line to start at Aston Villa next week if Son is ruled out with the hamstring injury that forced him off against Arsenal, but Mourinho may now be without both. The Portuguese is not short of attacking options, but this is not the time of the season to lose players unnecessarily and Spurs need to bounce back against Villa. This was an opportunity missed in the topfour battle and there will not be many more.
A north London derby defeat will never be a memory which Tottenham fans will attempt to hold on to. But this will surely now be the match they will always remember, long after he has gone, when recalling Lamela and his chaos.