Ange Postecoglou needs time but there is no questioning the potential of this resurgent Tottenham Hotspur side, challenging for Champions League football once again after slumping to an eighth-place Premier League finish last year.
Despite the summer sale of Harry Kane, Postecoglou has married into Daniel Levy’s way of life in north London and the shrewd recruitment has formed the bodywork of a new era, the likes of James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Brennan Johnson, Guglielmo Vicario and more.
These players are part of this new wave in part thanks to their athleticism and the dynamic sheen to their skill sets – even shot-stopper Vicario is of the modern cut, ranking among the top 10% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for touches per 90, as per FBref, highlighting his ball-playing presence.
This style of play is a far cry from the counter-playing, conservative styles of recent managers, and for this reason, certain erstwhile phenoms might not thrive under Postecoglou’s wing, with Christian Eriksen among them.
Christian Eriksen’s Spurs career
Tottenham signed Eriksen from Ajax as a 21-year-old for a £11.5m fee back in 2013, with the promising Dane considered one of Europe’s most exciting young midfielders at the time.
While he never won silverware with Tottenham, the now-32-year-old has earned his place among the upper echelon of the club’s modern stars, described as a “world-class player” by former Manchester City forward Craig Bellamy during his time in the capital.
Amassing 305 appearances, he scored 69 goals and supplied 90 assists for Spurs, supercharging Kane, Dele Alli and Heung-min Son in their attacking exploits, striking fear into Europe, at their best, as one of the deadliest offensive units around.
But midway through the 2019/20 campaign, out of contract the upcoming summer, Eriksen completed a £17m transfer to Inter Milan after choosing not to extend his deal.
Christian Eriksen’s current market value
At present, Eriksen plays for Manchester United and while he enjoyed fruitful success last season, scoring twice and providing ten assists for his teammates across 44 appearances as he won the Carabao Cup, he has slumped into mediocrity this term.
Reflecting this, Football Transfers mark his current value at just £11m, which is a staggering drop-off from his £53m value while plying his trade under Mauricio Pochettino for Tottenham.
Of course, he’s ageing and it’s only natural that he would see such a depreciation, but in hindsight, Spurs got the best out of the player during the brightest days of his career, and he would certainly not make the grade at present, under Postecoglou.
Eriksen would flop in Ange’s system
Eriksen is a player of immense technical quality and unparalleled resilience, coming back from cardiac arrest at the 2021 European Championships to continue his Premier League career with Brentford and then United.
When he does hang up the boots, he will go down as one of the Premier League’s greatest contemporary midfielders, but the playermaker struggling to impress at the Theatre of Dreams right now and would unquestionably flop with Postecoglou’s system.
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Christian Eriksen: Key Characteristics |
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Strengths |
Weaknesses |
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Passsing |
Tackling |
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Key passes |
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Taking set-pieces |
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Source: WhoScored |
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Postecoglou relies on fluency and energy, his players must work tirelessly and possess a sense of multi-functionality to make things tick.
Maddison, who is probably the Lilywhites’ closest stylistic match to Eriksen, averages 1.4 dribbles and 5.6 successful duels per outing, whereas Eriksen averages 0.2 dribbles and 1.3 successful duels, as per Sofascore.
There are no two ways about it: it’s grim reading, and for a Man United side striving for success and a place in the top four ahead of Tottenham, he’s hardly proving to outplay Maddison or indeed prove himself worthy of a regular starting berth.
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The Man United star could be on his way out of the club at the end of the season.
Criticised for his “dire” display against Fulham last weekend by Manchester United correspondent Samuel Luckhurst, who handed him a 4/10 match rating for the Manchester Evening News, it does appear that he is approaching the twilight stage of his career in English football.
Considering all this, it would seem that while Eriksen was a defining part of Tottenham’s brightest, most exciting era across the past few decades, he would not work within Postecoglou’s set-up and is best remembered for his past performances.
