Charlie Nicholas says Tottenham are already missing Christian Eriksen.
Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas says Tottenham are already showing signs they are missing Christian Eriksen after his January departure for Inter Milan.
Spurs are missing Son Heung-min through injury but Nicholas suggested that their build-up play has suffered without the Danish playmaker.
He said: “Tottenham were patting themselves on the back after their match against RB Leipzig. But why? They turned up for 15-20 minutes. Heung-Min Son is now injured, so what is their out ball? Lucas Moura played on the shoulder when he was scoring, so he could get in behind. But he does not link the play up; that is not his game.
“You can already see why they miss Christian Eriksen. They did get some fabulous money for him but you can see the difference in where Tottenham are going. They need an out-ball to get up the pitch. That is my point regarding Moura – Tottenham need to be able to get out.”
Eriksen, 28, has effectively been replaced by Giovani Lo Celso in the Tottenham side and you won’t hear too many complaints about how he’s getting on.
Lo Celso does operate in a deeper role – perhaps he would be able to exert more influence if he was higher up – but the Argentine can replace the creativity lost by Tottenham when Eriksen went.
What Spurs need is some kind of focal point, but all they have right now is players capable of running in behind. That wouldn’t have changed if Eriksen was still at the club.
It was best for Tottenham to get rid of Eriksen because his heart clearly wasn’t in it and they have effectively replaced him already with Lo Celso. Their issues at present lie elsewhere.
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