Tottenham’s form player Erik Lamela has admitted he cannot always train at full pelt and says he does not know how much of the club’s hectic autumn schedule he will be able to play.
On his first League start of the season, Lamela scored a glancing header in Spurs’s 1-0 win at West Ham on Saturday to make it five goals and three assists in eight appearances this term.
Mauricio Pochettino has said he needs to “carefully manage” the forward in a different way to other players after Lamela was sidelined for 13 months with chronic hip problems, finally returning in November last year.
“This is what we’re doing now and the manager and the staff, they take care of me and all the team.
“My feeling now is good, my hips are feeling better. When you’re injured it’s hard, when you come back, too, because [you’re trying to] feel well like before. But now I’m happy with my feeling on the pitch and my place in the team. I feel very good with my team-mates.”
The Argentine started Spurs’s opening two Champions League group games — the defeats to Inter Milan and Barcelona — and is expected to keep his place for the trip to PSV. With Spurs trailing Inter and Barca by six points, Lamela admits it is a must-win game if they want to reach the Champions League knockouts for the second consecutive campaign.
(Evening Standard)
