ERIKSEN CASTS HIS MAGIC SPELL
Pochettino praises Danish wizard as ‘the man who makes my Spurs play’
CHriSTiAn EriKSEn is one of those footballers with the rare and priceless ability to turn the course of a game with one flash of brilliance.
He has done it before and will no doubt do it again but rarely will this attribute be illustrated more clearly then it was at Chelsea yesterday in stoppage time at the end of the first half.
Tottenham were a goal down and leaking chances, and pencils were being sharpened to write once more about the psychological barrier they cannot clear at Stamford Bridge. Enter the transformational Eriksen. Collecting a pass 30 yards from goal, he shifted the ball on to his right foot, nudged it forward and, realising he had not been closed down, he went for goal.
‘now you know why i call him “Golazo”,’ beamed Mauricio Pochettino after the match as he basked in a 3-1 victory and the status of becoming the first Spurs boss to win at Stamford Bridge for 28 years.
‘Christian scores unbelievable goals. For sure, that was one of them. it was great. You can see he is so important for us. He has so much talent. Eriksen is a player who makes the team play.’
indeed he does make them play. He opens the door. When defences are packed or when games are tense and the opposition is strong, the Dane has the key. And he never fails to deliver something special against Chelsea.
Sometimes it is the telling pass, such as the exquisite ball to release Son Heung-min, slid effortlessly into space, inviting the South Korean to advance in the build-up to what was ultimately a scruffy third goal.
Eriksen has vision and awareness and he understands his role when Spurs are in possession, finding space, addressing the ball, assessing the angles and selecting the correct option. Once he has done this in a split- second he has the technical class to execute the pass or shot with either foot.
He is to Spurs what Kevin De Bruyne is to Manchester City. Harry Kane brings the goals, Son the pace, Dele Alli the menace and Eriksen is the creator-in-chief.
At the moment, he is performing consistently at the top of his game, and doing it against some exceptional opponents. He would not look out of place if he were passing and moving in Barcelona’s midfield or in Pep Guardiola’s City team.
Eriksen was always destined for the top. He toured some of Europe’s top clubs on trial when he decided to pursue his career outside Denmark. Twice he visited Chelsea but he signed for Ajax.
Since joining Tottenham for what now appears a bargain £12.5million in the post-Bale summer of 2013 he has steadily improved. Especially under Pochettino, who has added a competitive edge and a more aggressive workrate — key elements if a playmaker is to thrive in modern football — without losing his subtle artistry.
The Spurs boss has found the right positions for him to be effective. When it wasn’t working too well during the first half at Chelsea he made a tactical tweak because he wanted to circulate the ball more quickly and bring Eriksen into areas to do more damage.
At 26, the Dane has good experience and a mind sharp enough to apply what he has learned.
Yet his greatest gift remains the ability to influence games with moments of genius. Often they are big games. This season, he has scored against Juventus, real Madrid and Manchester United. The strike for the equaliser at the Bridge was his 12th of the season for Spurs.
There had been a ‘sighter’, earlier in the half, when he cut across the ball from distance, made it wobble in flight and gave Willy Caballero a fright as the goalkeeper shuffled the ball away in a flap.
For the goal itself, Caballero was transfixed, bewildered, feet rooted as he sank on to his haunches. The ball dipped viciously over his head, clipped the bar and crashed into his net. Eriksen slid on his knees and the Tottenham fans in the away end danced in delight.
Up in the TV studio, Thierry Henry made a comparison to Brazilian deadball expert Juninho Pernambucano.
‘The ball swerves a bit and luckily it went in,’ shrugged Eriksen. ‘i can watch that goal all day. it’s difficult to train but it’s good. i thought it went over.’
His modesty is all part of the charm but Alli summed it up neatly.
‘He’s a magician,’ he said, as the twogoal hero acknowledged the man who makes Spurs play.