It’s Eriksen who really makes Tottenham tick
IHAVE been saying for more than a year that Christian Eriksen is one of the top players in Europe. I don’t see a team in the Champions League that he doesn’t get into, which is worrying for Spurs. His contract runs until 2020 and he and the club have a huge decision to make.
His game has the feel of what Luka Modric was to the team I played in. We had some outstanding players such as Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart. But Luka had something extra. He knitted us together as a team.
That’s how I view Christian and you could see it when he came on against Inter on Wednesday. Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Son Heung-min are wonderful players. But when Christian plays, they react off him and play better. He’s like a catalyst. Christian brings the team together: the player everyone looks for when they have the ball. He takes responsibility for the ball in deep areas and with the goals he’s now adding, that makes him irreplaceable.
I hope the second half of the season is really strong for Tottenham and that the move to the new stadium provides a momentum that means he can see his future there. He’s been with the club for five years, developing and improving every season: to lose him now would be heartbreaking.
One more thing: when Gareth Bale left, it is pretty much accepted Tottenham spent the £100million badly. And, of course, Roberto Soldado and Vlad Chiriches didn’t work out. But that summer they also bought Erik Lamela and Eriksen, the latter for £12.5m. So maybe it didn’t turn out quite so bad.
SUCCESS . . . ON A BUDGET
PEOPLE may still joke about typical Spurs and use that word, ‘Spursy’, so beloved by their detractors. But Mauricio Pochettino has changed that. When they had their blip recently at Watford, Inter and PSV Eindhoven, what was intriguing was that it was remarkable. You don’t normally see a Pochettino team losing like that, conceding late or falling apart in the last few minutes. This team are different.
I bumped into Mauricio in September, and he believed that no matter what was happening, it would come round eventually. He trains hard, even if the players are tired. And he knows that the team can suffer because of the intensity of the training. But he accepts that, because he believes it will pay dividends now we’re heading into Christmas and the deep winter.
I know what the sceptics will say. They’ll bring up the Champions League last-16 against Juventus and the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea last season. And mention the lack of trophies. But I’m not sure many people who watch football quite get what Mauricio and Spurs are achieving.
Take a look at clubs’ respective wage bills. For the 2016-17 season, Tottenham were paying £127m a year. That’s about two-thirds of Arsenal’s wage bill of £199m. And about half of Manchester United’s and Manchester City’s at £264m and £244m respectively.
Even before the issues over the stadium this season, the fact they haven’t signed players, that nine of his first team were involved in the World Cup semi- finals or, in Son Heung- min’s case, the Asian Cup final, Pochettino had effectively been fighting with one hand behind his back.
It’s fine to talk about them being ‘Spursy’ by missing out to Juventus (just) in the last 16 of the Champions League or Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinal. But remember they are competing against squads with much bigger resources. And that may make the difference in key moments.
Tottenham are consistently getting the better of much bigger-spending rivals such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in the Premier League. Of course, all those clubs have won trophies in recent years, and trophies are the measure of success.
But you must accept that qualifying for the Champions League for the third successive season represents continued progress for Spurs. Mauricio is building a club who expect to be in the top four every season. Tottenham haven’t had that before. And he’s done that on a budget.