Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that Erik Lamela was riddled with aches and pains after his Tottenham comeback at the weekend – and fans took to Twitter to express their frustration at the demoralising update.
The Spurs manager suggested at a media briefing on Monday night that he is not tempted to rush the return of the attacking midfielder following his appearance for the Under-23s on Saturday.
Lamela played for an hour for the development side in a Premier League 2 clash against Chelsea after 13 months out with a hip injury.
After revealing that Lamela began to struggle after the early stages of the match, Pochettino explained that the Argentine will look to make gradual improvements over a number of weeks and is not close to a first-team recall.
The manager said, as quoted by Football London: “He played for the U23s and he played 60 minutes. After 20 minutes he started to feel something but that’s normal after a year.
“You can train in two hours, but when you compete you feel different. We are happy with him because it’s important. We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks. But we hope he start to feel better and better and be ready to be selected in the first team.”
Spurs fans were hugely concerned at the prospect of Lamela being a long way from a first-team comeback, and some even predicted the doomsday scenario that he won’t be able to play again for the club.
This Is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets:
Poch on Lamela “He played 60 minutes for the u23s but started to feel something after 20 minutes.” Yeah, knackered probably!! Erik Lamela is absolutely nicking a living. Get shot and cut our losses. Pointless! #COYS pic.twitter.com/XEn6sX2QH9
— Ben Harris (@thisisbenharris) November 20, 2017
another 6 months out!
— Kevin Gower™ (@KGower83) November 20, 2017
Here we go..
— Dave (@kindaweirdtbh5) November 20, 2017
wow hes finished
— Lee (@JuniorLee_7) November 20, 2017
Well that comeback lasted long ???????? pic.twitter.com/CYzycK7874
— Janayed.Ilyas (@JanayedIlyas) November 20, 2017
Reckon he won play till new year
— ben rosenheim (@rosy316) November 20, 2017