Christian Eriksen hasn’t been at his best in the Premier League for Spurs and the pressure is increasing at international level too.
If you thought Christian Eriksen was under pressure to make things happen for Tottenham Hotspur, just imagine what life would be like without Dele Alli, Harry Kane or Harry Winks.
It’s fair to say Spurs’ number 23 doesn’t have the same quality of team-mate at international level and the barrage of criticism that followed his ineffective display for Denmark on Sunday night offers a glimpse at the pressure he’s under when playing for his country.
It’s been a difficult few months for Eriksen, his form suffering amid the relentless speculation surrounding a potential move away from North London.
And despite scoring twice and assisting once during a 6-0 thrashing of Gibraltar last week, the critics turned on the former Ajax star on Sunday night. The 27-year-old wasn’t at his best as Denmark were held to a goalless draw in Georgia but a man who has scored 29 goals for his country has surely done enough over the years to avoid being slaughtered on social media for one below-par display.
At least, this is what Denmark captain Simon Kjaer believes.
“Of course we depend on Christian. There is a lot going on through him. He is trying to create space and it is not for fun,” the new Atalanta defender told Ekstra Bladet.
“With five per cent more and a little luck he could decide (the match against Georgia). But such is football.
“Christian is only a human being. I’m not saying he played a p**s-poor match, but we can’t expect him to score two goals and make two assists every time.”
Kjaer is right. Eriksen will have off days, as every player does, and Denmark’s failure to beat a limited yet well drilled Georgia side is not all down to him.
Perhaps if the likes of Martin Braithwaite, Youssouf Poulsen or Kasper Dolberg had performed to their potential, they wouldn’t have needed to rely solely on Tottenham’s star midfielder to turn one point into three.
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