Player Watch Player Watch: Dominic Solanke

[Ruducus]

Reminding me a bit of Defoe so far... fox in the box.

I agree, but he's like a modern Defoe. He's much better at linking up the play & holding up the ball but he definitely has the same instincts & he also has that thing where him facing away from goal, in the box, still feels like a threat.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Reminding me a bit of Defoe so far... fox in the box.

He's definitely a poacher - agree with that. But he's a bloody hard worker as well, and provides some link up. He's also a real physical presence and properly stretches teams with his pace. That's a properly useful player.

If he can get 15 goals this year, while adding the other aspects he does, short of spending 100m+ on a striker, that's as good as we could possibly ask for

 

[C1w8]

I think really good is an overstatement. Beyond just the obvious flaws, even his stats weren't that good:

• He won the ball twice
• Lost the ball 18 times
• Made 2 successful dribbles of 5
• Missed 2 big chances
• Made 1 of 3 successful crosses
• made 22 of 31 passes
• Made zero interception blocks etc.

I think he offered the bare minimum for anyone playing in that position off the ball, but he was objectively awful in the final third. If all of our front 4 had played like Werner, we wouldn't have won the game.

I'm not saying he's not got some value or he didn't play his part but he had a pretty average game. But of course his output in the final third is important in assessing his performance and it was very poor. If he took one of his chance or found a man to get an assist, i'd agree with the idea he had a really good game.

I still quite like him and think he can offer something but he needs to find some level of output in the final third. When our attackers do everything right bar the final pass/shoot we get results like Newcastle & Leicester.

Lists like this are pretty harsh imo. if we drew up a list of missed passes/crosses for our attacking players they would likely all have significant misses, that is the nature of the sport, you take more risks as an attacker (equally i roll my eyes when i see defenders/DMs with 95% pass completion being touted like its some achievement). By being so involved in the game he's testing the defense. I also would attribute one of those missed crosses on maddison looking over his shoulder to scan at the exact moment werner squared it towards him. Every chance the missed passes/crosses, unsuccessful dribbles are being double counted as "Lost the ball" also i'm guessing, and if so painting an unfairly negative picture.

Not sure if he gets much more game time in the immediate term but if he does i reckon he'll be on the end of one of these crosses soon enough for the tap in.

Just need VDV to run down the other wing a couple times and that'll sort it.

 

[npearl4spurs]

He hasn't even gotten started yet. Haven't all three of his goals just been feeding off scraps of rebounds and flicks? He has even gone into second gear yet with quality headers and thumping finishes

 

[synththfc]

The thing is, with the amount of chances we generate and the amount of balls we flash across the 6 yard box, he can still get 20+ goals even if he never scores from a 1 on 1 or what one would think of as a typical opportunity.

His movement in the box is impeccable, up there with Haaland's. He could genuinely hit 30 goals in all competitions if he starts scoring a few goals not from rebound/poacher situations.

 

[Rosco1984]

Have to say I have been impressed with his last 2 performances.

Ive been impressed with all of his performances not just the ones hes scored in. His pressing and link up have been excellent in every game. now hes on a scoring run his confidence will only increase the amount of chances he takes.

 

[Ruducus]

Lists like this are pretty harsh imo. if we drew up a list of missed passes/crosses for our attacking players they would likely all have significant misses, that is the nature of the sport, you take more risks as an attacker (equally i roll my eyes when i see defenders/DMs with 95% pass completion being touted like its some achievement). By being so involved in the game he's testing the defense. I also would attribute one of those missed crosses on maddison looking over his shoulder to scan at the exact moment werner squared it towards him. Every chance the missed passes/crosses, unsuccessful dribbles are being double counted as "Lost the ball" also i'm guessing, and if so painting an unfairly negative picture.

Not sure if he gets much more game time in the immediate term but if he does i reckon he'll be on the end of one of these crosses soon enough for the tap in.

Just need VDV to run down the other wing a couple times and that'll sort it.

Well the list are just the stats for the game, I am not sure how else to evaluate his performance other than what we all saw plus what his stats were. I agree with you that they can be misleading, but I included them as I thought it was clear watching the game Werner wasn't very good & then looking at the stats, we also wasn't very good.

You also take risk for a pay off. If you're taking risks & then missing clear chances & not finding your man for crosses, you aren't helping the team.

 

[Kingellesar]

Ive been impressed with all of his performances not just the ones hes scored in. His pressing and link up have been excellent in every game. now hes on a scoring run his confidence will only increase the amount of chances he takes.

Yeah you could see in the Leicester game that he was going to be a good buy, pressing and working for the team. Now has the goals to back it up and looks like he belongs in that front 3.

Johnson, Solanke, Maddison, Kulu all seem to be hitting form, just need Son to do the same now.

 

[C1w8]

Well the list are just the stats for the game, I am not sure how else to evaluate his performance other than what we all saw plus what his stats were. I agree with you that they can be misleading, but I included them as I thought it was clear watching the game Werner wasn't very good & then looking at the stats, we also wasn't very good.

You also take risk for a pay off. If you're taking risks & then missing clear chances & not finding your man for crosses, you aren't helping the team.

You've come away and thought he had a poor game, i thought he had a good game except for the misses. We've watched the same game and come away with two different opinions of it, and we wont be the only ones., nothing wrong with that. Take the crossing point you just made - for me, the best opportunity werner had to connect on a cross/cut back was the one he sent to maddison, but maddison looked away for a split second to scan the box, and missed his cue. I've notched that one up to madders, you've notched up to Werner, (and so has that list of stats by nature of what they are).

I actually think we probably have a similar view of Werner overall as player going on what you've said in your inital post, just when an extensive list of stats come out to affirm an opinion is when i eye roll a bit, but maybe thats just me.

 

[Ruducus]

You've come away and thought he had a poor game, i thought he had a good game except for the misses. We've watched the same game and come away with two different opinions of it, and we wont be the only ones., nothing wrong with that. Take the crossing point you just made - for me, the best opportunity werner had to connect on a cross/cut back was the one he sent to maddison, but maddison looked away for a split second to scan the box, and missed his cue. I've notched that one up to madders, you've notched up to Werner, (and so has that list of stats by nature of what they are).

I actually think we probably have a similar view of Werner overall as player going on what you've said in your inital post, just when an extensive list of stats come out to affirm an opinion is when i eye roll a bit, but maybe thats just me.

Yeah totally, it's a game of opinions.

I do know what you mean with stats, but generally there are useful for when someone has actually had a good game, despite a few key moments.

Like you said I think we are in agreement. He's doing most things right, apart from turning chances into goals.

 

[Goobers]

He is a far better all round player than I ever gave him credit for but I don't think he is an elite finisher. But his all round game, his hold up, work rate and movement and positioning means that I would now be very surrprised, if fitness allows, he is not close to or clear of 20 goals this season.
I now totally understand why Ange wanted him. I really do. He will never walk out of the shadows of mentions in the same breath as Harry Kane by some but we can appreciate all he does without that nonsense.

 

[bubble07]

Barring injury, by end of season, Solanke will have minimum 15 goals

He should get 20 league goals

 

[west indie]

Kane is a Bayern player and part of our past and that's where he belongs now. We need to focus on fully supporting our here and now, giving Solanke time to settle in and build on field relationships to hopefully push us on.

 

[carpediem991]

He should get 20 league goals

I don't care if he scores 5, 10, 15, 20 or 50 goals, as long as we succeed as a team...

 

[SuperLuka]

I don't care if he scores 5, 10, 15, 20 or 50 goals, as long as we succeed as a team...

I don't disagree in principle however to be successful, our main striker needs to contribute a significant amount of goals.

Our pressing does appear to have gone up a level or two which Solanke has played a significant part of

 

[Danny1]

What Solanke did for us really well is highlighted in the FourFourTwo video on YouTube.
He is able to occupy both centre backs and stop them from playing the pass into the middle. His positioning when they have the ball cuts off the pass between them also which means they either have to play a risky pass into midfield or lump it long where our two centre backs should be able to deal with that.

Add that to the bravery of playing 2 very front foot midfielders in Kulusevski and Maddison meant that neither Mainoo or Ugarte had a second on the ball, and both played incredibly poor as a result.

What we as fans need to realise / remember is that we no longer have Kane and that level of finishing that he possesses is only matched by 5 other people in world football in my opinion (Haaland, Lewandowski, Martinez, Salah & Mbappe).

Solanke will get a good number of goals for us, but more importantly he plays a pivotal role in the way that Ange wants his teams to play. The goals will have to be shared around the team.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

He should get 20 league goals

How often do players get over 20 league a season in the prem? Not all that often when you consider it, and in particular, not when they're not taking pens - not sure who'll be taking ours this year.

To give you some context I put this table together (with the considerable help, i.e. doing all the work, from a helpful AI assistant), or players scoring 20 more than once:

Alan Shearer 7
Harry Kane 6
Sergio Agüero 6
Thierry Henry 5
Mohamed Salah 4
Ruud van Nistelrooy 4
Jamie Vardy 3
Les Ferdinand 3

So the notion of "should" is a tricky one. The very best players, in the very best sides - absolutely they 'should'.

I think getting above 15+ in the league would represent a really good outcome when you consider we're already 6 games in, in a new team, and given what he offers the rest of the side in terms of hard work.

20 goals would be an outstanding achievement

 

[tevezito]

I'm confused. Does "£60m down the drain" not imply that we've wasted money signing him?

Song needs to be adjusted with an anime flavour instead of the other nonsense

Whose the striker in the mask?
Dom Solanke, he's fucking class
Record signing from the Lane
Dom Solanke scores again

Was just scrolling through to see if my lyrical talents were needed and think yours are probably better @mil1lion , but I do like the ironic third line even if some don't get it.

Mine was:

Dom Solanke's fucking class,
Can hold up play and find a pass,
60 million down the drain,
Dom Solanke scores again.

But reckon a merging of yours and the original is the best (and even has your name in it ) :

Whose the striker in the mask?
Dom Solanke, he's fucking class
60 million down the drain
Dom Solanke scores again

 

[C1w8]

How often do players get over 20 league a season in the prem? Not all that often when you consider it, and in particular, not when they're not taking pens - not sure who'll be taking ours this year.

To give you some context I put this table together (with the considerable help, i.e. doing all the work, from a helpful AI assistant), or players scoring 20 more than once:

Alan Shearer 7
Harry Kane 6
Sergio Agüero 6
Thierry Henry 5
Mohamed Salah 4
Ruud van Nistelrooy 4
Jamie Vardy 3
Les Ferdinand 3

So the notion of "should" is a tricky one. The very best players, in the very best sides - absolutely they 'should'.

I think getting above 15+ in the league would represent a really good outcome when you consider we're already 6 games in, in a new team, and given what he offers the rest of the side in terms of hard work.

20 goals would be an outstanding achievement

Presumably this is the "excluding pens" list as theres defo more than that incl... but also including all those who did it once would make the list a lot more extensive and show 20 as much more achievable - I see no real reason to exclude them given many strikers dont play their whole career/only play a few seasons in the prem.

Either way i think of you start 30+ games for a top 4 (hopefully) side you should be on or very close to 20 goals per season.

Hes made a decent start and injuries permitting i reckon hell be right at that mark.

 

[HildoSpur]

How often do players get over 20 league a season in the prem? Not all that often when you consider it, and in particular, not when they're not taking pens - not sure who'll be taking ours this year.

To give you some context I put this table together (with the considerable help, i.e. doing all the work, from a helpful AI assistant), or players scoring 20 more than once:

Alan Shearer 7
Harry Kane 6
Sergio Agüero 6
Thierry Henry 5
Mohamed Salah 4
Ruud van Nistelrooy 4
Jamie Vardy 3
Les Ferdinand 3

So the notion of "should" is a tricky one. The very best players, in the very best sides - absolutely they 'should'.

I think getting above 15+ in the league would represent a really good outcome when you consider we're already 6 games in, in a new team, and given what he offers the rest of the side in terms of hard work.

20 goals would be an outstanding achievement

Yeah many people don't actually realise just how difficult and rare it is for somebody to get 20 league goals and talk like it should be almost an expectation for a decent striker.