Roberto Soldado Starved

[idontgetit]

Turns out he loves a low volley! Inform the men

 

[Blake Griffin]

Spurs (and in particular AVB) must have known what type of striker they were getting before they splashed £26 million on him. They must have analysed his strengths and weaknesses closely. AVB is said to be meticulous in all things, he would have known exactly what he was getting. So why is it taking so long to fit him into an effective system (or fit an effective system round him, if you prefer)? If we're not going to play to his strengths, what was the point of spending all that money?

you'd hope so. i'm not a manager but if i could foresee this problem coming then it surely must've entered avb's mind when he decided to blow £26m on the guy. i said this before we signed him:

benteke was a better fit on and off the pitch. on the pitch we're building a powerful, direct side so instead of buying the player that perfectly fits that(benteke), we buy soldado who is used to playing in a highly creative and technical valencia side, a player who scored zero goals from outside the box last season so he obviously relies on the supply he gets, are we going to give him the same quality of supply? questionable at best. soldado would've been a better fit for chelsea where he can finish off the chances oscar/mata/hazard etc create for him. benteke statistically touches the ball nearly twice as much per game as soldado, he's not just an off the shoulder finisher, he's heavily involved all game, you can go direct to him, he'll cause defenders all kinds of trouble and he has the physical attributes necessary to make it in this league.

off the field, i don't see how spurs can afford to pay £26m on a 28yr old striker. benteke fits everything that has helped spurs get to where they are now, he's young(22), highly talented, he knows the league/country/language and has friends at the club already. soldado's 28, has never played in england, can't speak english, i'm not sure he's any less of a risk than what benteke would've been.

 

[Flashspur]

You have Eriksen and Lamela both struggling to acclimatise and they are probably the two players who will get the best out of the Soldier and the other one is Tommy C but he's away with Harry

I think the work the front 3 behind Soldado need to do is overdue in terms of coming up with a system to play him onside with a neat pass. FFS he scored for fun at Valencia but he had Banega and the like pulling the trigger - why can't AVB see that this is a system that needs working on? All this bluster with Andros and Aaron bombing down the flanks and then coming in to take a wild shot is getting us nowhere!

C'mon Andre show us the goods man

 

[jezz]

Look at defoe, however shit he might be at everything else he moves all over the place. Notice how the same players who can't create chances for soldado are creating for defoe! Is it magic?

He can't get away from defenders, he is pointless in the air, he's not the strongest either. His movement is horrible and simply being good at positioning isn't gonna cut it in this league, and it isn't doing so.

This would hold true if soldado hadnt played in the europa league. he did and scored twice from the very same same players who created for defoe in the europa league.

 

[spursyido1]

I'm not sure if this point has been made before, but it's interesting to go back and look at the start the Berbatov made with us in 2006. There's some info (goals at least) here to refresh the memory:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006–07_Tottenham_Hotspur_F.C._season

Apart from scoring on our first home game to Sheff Utd on Aug 26th, he didn't actually score for us in the league again until the 26th November against Wigan and it was the UEFA games (notably Beskitas away and Brugge at home) that really got him going.

For me this poses a few thoughts:

It's easy to forget the slow starts that some players make and that strikers from overseas leagues need that patience to really get going (there's many similar to Soldado like Bony, Van Wolfswinkel, Eto'o, Osvaldo etc that are hardly banging them in yet in the league).

Should Soldado get a run in the Europa to give him more momentum?

FYI, I do appreciate that Berbatov was possibly showing more to his allround game (possibly assisting etc) than Robby, but ultimately it's the goals that count for a striker and it's a good case to argue we should keep the belief!

 

[Kendall]

I think of Hernandez's winner against Stoke, a cross that he heads in from six yards out. We would never put the ball in the box in the first place because soldado isn't 7'10, whereas Utd know that good delivery will be met by the striker, so give Hernandez service

It's the edge of the box/wing play that pulls defenses apart that enables Hernandez, all 2 ft 5 of him to ghost in like that against a team like Stoke. Our inability to move the ball quickly, which has been an issue since AVB came in in honesty, is hindering everyone. Eriksen and Holtby can't find gaps, Lamela and Chadli can't find space, Townsend shoots because there is a brick wall in front of him and Soldado is surrounded by the Chinese army.

 

[Wardy]

It's easy to forget the slow starts that some players make and that strikers from overseas leagues need that patience to really get going (there's many similar to Soldado like Bony, Van Wolfswinkel, Eto'o, Osvaldo etc that are hardly banging them in yet in the league).

Should Soldado get a run in the Europa to give him more momentum?

It's true and we always expect a lot, because of the price tags. I sometimes wish they would disclose all the transfer fees paid to stop this from happening.

Also agree that Soldado should be playing in Europe to get some goals.

 

[gregga]

He doesn't look good enough so far, at least in this system.

Too limited; requires chances on a plate. Yet to miss a sitter but his attempts from the half chances he's had don't look threatening enough.

 

[Strikeb4ck]

Disagree ^

Could have had a hat trick vs Cardiff were it not for Marshall working off of almost exclusively half chances. Clinically finished his one clear cut chance all season vs Villa.

Holds up the ball pretty well, works hard, and links up well with the midfielders. Wins fouls too. I do think he hasn't been good enough vs the top sides we've played (Chelsea/Arsenal) in his holdup play, but this was his problem at Valencia too when I followed their games vs Barca/Madrid. Think Ade has to be the striker in these games anyways.

Can't really think of one decent chance he had today besides maybe the header off the corner in the first half. His header from 6 yards out at the shitty angle was never a chance, no pace on the ball. Besides that, it's hard for us to pick out a player when the opposition have 10 men in the box. Only chances seem to be when we have 4 players around the top of the box and work an attacking interchange.

 

[gregga]

Disagree ^

Could have had a hat trick vs Cardiff were it not for Marshall working off of almost exclusively half chances. Clinically finished his one clear cut chance all season vs Villa.

Holds up the ball pretty well, works hard, and links up well with the midfielders. Wins fouls too. I do think he hasn't been good enough vs the top sides we've played (Chelsea/Arsenal) in his holdup play, but this was his problem at Valencia too when I followed their games vs Barca/Madrid. Think Ade has to be the striker in these games anyways.

Can't really think of one decent chance he had today besides maybe the header off the corner in the first half. His header from 6 yards out at the shitty angle was never a chance, no pace on the ball. Besides that, it's hard for us to pick out a player when the opposition have 10 men in the box. Only chances seem to be when we have 4 players around the top of the box and work an attacking interchange.

The header off the corner was a great chance - should be scoring from those or at least working the keeper. We had some great chances today - no excuse for not scoring (the team, that is).

 

[yojambo]

You should see the tweets he favourites, very interesting. Don't think he is happy with AVB at all.

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

Playing inverted wingers with a striker who cant hold it up is not working. We are no getting any of our midfield 'in behind' opposition defenses, due to them being able to just hold a line of 4 and sit off. Only question is, do we stick with Soldado until January, or bring Ade back in now? Only other thing I think we could do is go back to traditional style wingers, ie Lennon on the right.

 

[THOWIG]

He needs Lamela in the side. Our current "wingers" only care about taking long range shots.

 

[dondo]

He doesn't look good enough so far, at least in this system.

Too limited; requires chances on a plate. Yet to miss a sitter but his attempts from the half chances he's had don't look threatening enough.

Sadly I agree with this, although service to him has been mostly awful he has to show more.
Today his link up play was terrible, was pushed of the ball way too easily and missed a few decent chances and was no where to be seen when a few good crosses came.
If this guy doesn't start scoring soon think we are in trouble because him and the rest of our striker offer little if their not scoring

 

[double0]

We should of got Benteke.

Everyone's getting blamed Townsend Eriksen Sigurdsson for Soldado not scoring. I'm sorry but fir 26M im expecting much more from my main striker than just being s fox in the box.

Where's Adebayor.!!!

 

[Francis Gibbs]

His fault or not the fact is it's like playing with 10 men when he is playing

 

[sim0n]

he is starved overall, but missed chances today.... frustating for all

 

[CornerPinDreamer]

yup, but he is finally getting chances and so making attempts now... fingers crossed

 

[hybridsoldier]

I feel sorry for Soldado, his movement is fantastic and he really puts a shift in. But ultimately he is one of those strikers who can only score the goals if given the chances. I mean how many times can we say we've seen him miss a good chance this season?

I think the other players can't read his play and our wide players are big issue. They used to stay wide too much under Harry, now under AVB they come inside to an already crowded middle. What you need is intelligent wide players who do both - and fullbacks don't know which way to go.

Lennon - I love him and he's been a good servant - but if he goes wide his crossing is...not very good. If he comes inside his shooting is also...not great. He is good at carrying the ball and running at defenders.

Lamela - has made his name as an inside forward at Roma and a number 10 at River Plate so he can do a great inside forward role for us.

Townsend - has shown he can come inside and shoot, however his crossing when going wide is suspect.

Chadli - again more of an inside forward at Twente...to me hasn't shown any indication he is going to be a first team regular right now.

Eriksen and Gylfi can do the inside forward roles but its not their main positions.

I think people who criticise Soldado don't realise the problem is around him not him. It will take some time but he will come good.

 

[theShiznit]

Started off our better Moves with clever first time passes. Had the where with all to dummy for eriksen for our best chance. and nearly scored with a clever header.
I Cannot be disappointed with his performance today.