Underrated Christian Eriksen is Spurs' most important player

Which is more valuable – the assist or the goal? Football has always lauded the latter over the former, although the assist column almost matters as much as the scorers’ chart in the modern game. Yet for some reason Christian Eriksen, the Premier League’s master of the assist, still doesn’t receive the credit he deserves.

His Spurs teammates are hailed as superstars. Harry Kane is considered the best English centre forward of his generation, with Dele Alli tipped as a future Galactico and even Mauricio Pochettino identified as the vanguard of the next crop of elite coach. All with good reason, but why is Eriksen’s contribution continually overlooked?

Certain players come to define the methods and ideologies of certain managers. They become inseparable from the coaches who make them what they are. There are Mourinho players, Guardiola players and Wenger players. Eriksen has become the epitome of what it is to be a Pochettino player.

Tactically adaptable and positionally interchangeable, the 25-year-old is a favourite of the Spurs manager. Eriksen gives him a certain fluidity in the middle of the pitch, even if he drifts out left and right, but that doesn’t come at the cost of control. In fact, the Dane’s maturity makes him a lynchpin of Pochettino’s side. Without him the system doesn’t work.

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“Christian is a player that does not need too much the feedback of the fans, the media and the people outside,” Pochettino explained after a particularly impressive performance from the midfielder earlier this month. “I like that a lot. He does not need to be recognised. He needs only to feel the love from us inside the club, and he does.

“He is so special and we always call him Golazo, because he is capable of scoring unbelievable goals. The recognition from us is massive. It is true he is so quiet, so calm. He is a very relaxed person but he loves football.”

Indeed, Eriksen has scored a number of ‘golazos’ over the course of his career, but this isn’t why he is so valuable to Tottenham Hotspur. Eriksen doesn’t just dictate the pace, tempo and direction of Spurs’ play, but the tone of it as well. This was highlighted by his performance in Saturday’s FA Cup semi final defeat to Chelsea.

Spurs’ most important player

When Eriksen played well, Spurs played well, matching Antonio Conte’s Premier League pace setters for the majority of the match. But between the 60th and 90th minutes he failed to register a single key pass as Chelsea took a grip of the contest. Eriksen is the heart of Pochettino’s team. He is their most important player.

So important is Eriksen the Spurs boss altered his formation in order to accommodate the Dane. The switch to a 3-4-2-1 shape means Eriksen and Ali can play in the same team, in a system Pochettino refers to as boasting “two number 10s. “If you have two players like Christian and Dele, who can play in the pocket behind the No9, you must create a system that can fit them both,” he says. “That is what it means to be flexible.”

Spurs’ system is like no other in the Premier League, such is their faith in creativity and control so high up the pitch. In that sense, Pochettino has built a side that is in some way comparable to Pep Guardiola’s era defining Barcelona team, with Eriksen their Andres Iniesta. He is the personification of their imagination.

Just four points stand between Spurs and Chelsea at the top of the table, although with only six games left of the Premier League season left to play time is running out for Pochettino’s team to bridge the gap. But if they are to pull off the near impossible Eriksen will be key. He’s always key. He is the key.