Andre Villas-Boas praises the courage of Tottenham Hotspur's £30m man Erik Lamela

Erik Lamela gets praise from the Spurs boss

Tottenham management and players alike were queuing up to heap praise on midfielder Erik Lamela, as the Argentinian gave a glimpse of the talent that persuaded Andre Villas-Boas to part with up to £30 million to prise him from Roma.

Tottenham won 2-1 to defeat FC Sheriff at White Hart Lane, with Lamela opening the scoring on 60 minutes, before winning the penalty for the side’s second goal.

Villas-Boas told BBC Sport that he hoped that Lamela could use the match winning performance as a platform, whilst Jermain Defoe – Spurs new record goalscorer in Europe – echoed his manager’s talk of patience in an interview with Sky Sports.

The club’s record signing has endured a slow start at the club since his summer move, and is yet to start a league game for Spurs, but Villas-Boas hopes that he can now progress following last night’s sparkling display.

“We had been waiting for Lamela to have a game like this. Hopefully he can now progress,” said the Spurs boss.

“He is very creative and has no fear to take on his man and beat him,” he continued. “[Scoring] can only help in his confidence.”

Defoe was equally impressed with his team-mate, and stressed the difficulties of moving to a new country at such a young age.

“I thought Erik was fantastic. It’s not easy for a youngster to come into this country and settle straight away. It takes time,” said Defoe.

“It was a great performance from the first whistle, and when he scored his goal that was brilliant for him.”

Lamela successfully completed 11 take ons against FC Sheriff. Spurs team mate Andros Townsend has completed the most take ons in the Premier League this season (51), but the most that he has made in a single game has been 9 – a figure eclipsed last night by Lamela.

Lamela Take Ons v FC Sheriff